Akdong Musician takes the crown on K-pop Star 2

The brother-sister duo Akdong Musician’s Lee Soo-hyun and Lee Chan-hyuk have battled their way to victory by beating out all the competition and winning the second season of the singing survival audition program “K-pop Star 2.”

The final showdown of the competition came down to the wire with the duo battling out again the gifted 10-year-old performer Bang Ye-dam. The contestants’ final challenges were to perform a song that had previously been performed by the opposing contestant as well as a song chosen by the judges. 

Akdong Musician performed their take on Hanson’s “MMMBop” and judges’ choice “Hot Goodbye,” by the Toys. Bang performed Tamia’s “Officially Missing You” as well as the judge’s selection “Karma Chameleon” by Culture Club. In the end, the sibling duo prevailed over Bang by a slim three-point margin.

The Lees first earned a spot on the audition program with the members’ self-composed song “Don’t Cross Your Legs” and instantly became an audience favorite. The duo’s other playful compositions such as “A Foreigner’s Confession,” “Crescendo” and “It is Ramen” have riddled the top of the local music charts after their debut on the show. The two revealed that together they have written more than 50 songs thus far.

As the winners of the competition program, Akdong Musician will get to sign a contract with one of the big three entertainment agencies here: S.M. Entertainment, YG Entertainment or JYP Entertainment.

The winner of “K-pop Star 1,” Park Ji-min, who went on to sign with JYPE as a member of the vocal duo project “15&” along with young vocalist Baek Ye-rin, took the stage on Sunday night as guest performers to announce their group’s new songs. The ladies of 15& unveiled their newest single “Somebody,” which topped all the main local music charts.

“Somebody” is the first single that the duo has released in the last six months. 15& debuted in October with the ballad “I Dream.” However, the duo did not make as explosive an impact on the music scene as last year’s “K-pop Star” runner-up Lee Hi, with her debut single “1,2,3,4.”

15& performed four guerilla concerts in Seoul on Monday including at Hanlim Multi Art School, Sogang University, Sejong University and at Gangnam Station, where the duo’s performance was streamed live via Ustream.

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)