Hello, beautiful people. I hope everyone is doing great. Due to the current state in the world, I am at home practicing social distancing. Hence I have some free time to blog.

This variety section has been on hold since I completed Heart Signal because it was difficult for me to decide on the next program to tackle. Recently I saw a few clips of Youth With You Season 2, and even though I am not the biggest fan of audition programs, I still want to check it out. Now, if this program fails to keep my attention by episode three, I will drop it. My thoughts on this show will be in the form of a recap/short commentary.

Youth With You 2 is an iQIYI produced program that focuses on the journey of 100 girls as they try to realize their dreams of becoming idols. The show incorporates a youth producer representative and mentors that help guide the girls. Only 9 girls will be chosen to debut at the end of this program. Right now, I am kind of confused about how the mentor vs youth producer line up works, but I will figure things out while watching. All I need to do now is remember their names. We have KUN as the Youth Producer Representative, BLACKPINK’s LISA as the Dance mentor, JONY J as the Rap mentor and Ella as the Vocal mentor. 

Youth With You 2 is available on the iQIYI app with English subtitles.

(Please note – this is a real-time review/recap. This means I am typing down my exact thoughts while watching the show.)

My Thoughts on Episode 1 – Part 1:

• Finger crossed🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼. I hope this turns out good and exciting.
• The intro is quite dramatic. I almost thought I was watching the wrong episode.
• Ahhh!!! iQIYI is killing me with so many product placements. It’s already five minutes into the episode, and they are still showing sponsored products.
• Can we just begin the actual program, please???
• So KUN debuted in 2018, and he is a singer and producer. I like that they are giving us a proper introduction to each mentor.
• Ella is from Taiwan, and she is also a singer. She is a member of the popular girl group S.H.E, which debuted in 2001. I know the group, but I don’t follow their music.
• I really love the set design for this show.
• LISA is so adorable, I can’t.😍😍😍
• JONY J is the director of the rap record label known as SHOOC. He is known as “the hip-pop poet.”
• I love when Lisa speaks her home language, it just flows so beautifully.
• I love that the mentors get to sit and talk with the trainees first instead of just starting off by judging their performances. This is different from other audition shows I have watched.
• Lmao, I live for the hilarious edits in Chinese variety shows.
• Lol, the independent trainee, Jue Chen, gave very straightforward responses that made everyone feel very awkward. I like her.😂😂😂
• Esther Yu. I know her from the Chinese drama Find Yourself.
• I don’t know the Chinese companies, but all the girls are beautiful, and I am excited to see their performances.
• Awww, KUN is so considerate. He actually asked them to stop and make sure that LISA could understand what everyone was saying. I like him.😍😍😍
• Hmmm, seeing them eating dinner is making me hungry. I guess it’s time to visit my kitchen.
• Chinese variety shows are always so cringy with their product placements.
• Yes, now the audition begins, and we are going to get performances from each mentor.
• Lisa did great. At first, I wasn’t really feeling her performance, but once she started dancing to “Attention” by Charlie Puth, I felt the heat.
• Excellent stage presence and she is also an impressive dancer. So I believe these ladies will learn a lot from her.
• Who’s next??
• Okay, JONY J. I love his flow, and the song is perfect. He is performing his own song – “My Man”
• The lyrics are touching. This song is, for sure, going on my playlist.
• I got goosebumps from his performance. He will be a great mentor for these ladies.
• Up next is Ella. She is performing her own song – “How Old Are You”
• Her voice is beautiful, she sounds like a calm flowing stream. The mentors keep on giving me goosebumps, and this song is also going on my playlist.
• This is one of the things I appreciate audition programs for. I get to discover new music.
• Ella will definitely be a great vocal coach for the girls.
• It’s KUN’s turn now. His stage is way upbeat than the rest, and he is performing his own song – “Young”
• He is a great performer, a good dancer, and I love his energy. He really hypes the crowd.
• He was once a former trainee on the show, so the girls will see him as a success story that inspires them to work harder towards their dreams.
• Alright, now it is the trainees’ turn to perform. They have to compete on stage to get a rating between A to F.
• l like that have everyone’s name on screen when they speak or sing. That way, my brain doesn’t have to work to so hard.
• The first group – TOV Entertainment Vs. LIONHEART: The TOV group did great. I love their energy, and they are also good dancers. The mentors gave them constructive feedback.
• The trainee from LIONHEART is cute. I love her deep tone, but she seemed out of breath a lot. Maybe she was nervous.
• The mentors also noticed that she was nervous and not too used to singing and dancing at the same time.
• Lol, Ella is too playful.
• Their ratings – Kelly Lin from LIONHEART got a C | TOV Entertainment – Marco Lin got a C, Hazel Chen also got a C, and K Lu got a B.
• I think their rating was befitting to the performances they showed.
• I am enjoying Youth With You 2 so far.
• I will check out part 2 of episode 1 later today.