After their appearance in Mnet's band survival program, "Great Seoul Invasion", the Korean band Lacuna is gaining more attention for their fairytale-like signature music, as well as their idol-like visuals. Along with the increase of their popularity, they have been selling out their shows in Korea.

Lacuna is composed of the band's frontman, Jang KyungMin, the star guitarist from JTBC's "Super Band 2", Jung MinHyuk, bassist Kim Ho, and drummer Oh Isaak. After appearing in the band survival show, the four-member band received compliments from Korean netizens, which has caused them to trend in social media platforms.

Mnet

I checked them out once because the vocalist is handsome, but now I’m listening to their music non-stop. How come I didn't find out about them earlier?

Jang KyungMin was also referred to as the "Cha EunWoo" of the band world, capturing the hearts of the viewers through his visuals.

Mnet

During the 1st round of the "Great Seoul Invastion", which aired on August 3, Lacuna performed 'Dancing In The Rain', the title song of their EP "Hello, Wonderland". The performance received the highest score from four of their rivals, and favorable reviews such as "The only stage that gave goosebumps while watching the first round," and "The most band-like, liveliest performance so far."

Watch their 1st round performance ('Dancing In The Rain') here.

The star potential, guitar performance, and the emotional line of the song are perfect.
"Great Seoul Invasion" Team Leader Kim JaeHwan

Impressive performance using effectors, unrivaled sound, and great stage presence.
"Great Seoul Invasion" Team Leader JukJae

The latest episode of the band survival program featured the mission for the 2nd round, "Song of the Decade", which was a one-on-one "death match" between the bands. Lacuna represented the 1990s through their new song '1998', which was written and arranged in just one day. Lacuna received a lot of positive comments but the round was not a lucky one for them, as their rival Yudabinband won majority of the votes from the live audiences.

Check out Lacuna's performance of '1998' for the 2nd round of "Great Seoul Invasion" here.

After their defeat to Yudabinband, Lacuna was selected to be part the "BAND POOL", where bands will have to complete a mini-mission to be able to proceed to the 3rd round. The mini mission is to cover one of BTS' hit songs in their own signature style. Fans are anticipating which BTS hit song Lacuna will be covering in the coming episode.

"Great Seoul Invasion", a survival program that aims to shine the spotlight on talented K-Bands, airs every Wednesday at 9:40 KST.

Are you looking forward to Lacuna's performance? Which BTS hit song do wish Lacuna to cover? Let us know in the comment section below.

Mnet is back with another competition reality show, and this time, it is a battle of the bands - Korean style! "Great Seoul Invasion", titled so to indicate a reverse globalization by subverting the cultural dominance of the West, is a competition reality show featuring MZ generation bands, aiming to create the ultimate global band that will conquer the music industry.

The winner will receive 100 Million KRW as a prize, alongside their own studio, the chance to produce their own album as well as gigs, and tours at festivals in and out of South Korea.

Korean bands have long been loved by fans all over the world, but their popularity has certainly not reached the scale of K-Pop, especially when it comes to the mainstream market. Mnet's "Great Seoul Invasion" is an amazing attempt to shine the spotlight on the immense talent of K-Bands, just as they did with K-Dance ("Street Woman Fighter, "Be Mbitious", "Street Man Fighter", "Any Body Can Dance").

Mnet

Hosted by actor Yoon Bak, who serves as the representative for an elusive Mr. G, the kingpin of the program, the competition will be held over a period of 120 days and will feature numerous twists and turns that won't allow anyone to put down their guards or lose hope.

Here's everything you need to know about "Great Seoul Invasion"!

Team Leaders

Mnet

SORAN's Ko YoungBae & Kwon EunBi

The Midnight Romance's MINUE & N.Flying (Lee SeungHyub & Kim JaeHyun)

Thornapple's Yoon SungHyun & Kim JaeHwan

Peppertones & JukJae

Participants

48 bands participated in the preliminary round (Round 0), out of which, 18 qualifying bands were selected to move on to Round 1 - "Express Yourself", based on the number of likes on their audition videos uploaded on YouTube.

The 18 bands who competed in Round 1 have to evaluate other bands on a scale of 0-100. At the same time, the Team Leaders will be picking their teams based on this round.

Round 1

D82

LACUNA

PATZ

UNDER HILLS

W24

SURL

Walking After U

Band Nah

MACGUFFIN (MGFF)

OWALLOIL

South Club

YUDABINBAND

ONEWE

CHA SE DAE

Touched

Hangronan

Hey Men

Hwanho

In the middle of Round 1, when all the Team Leaders had picked 2 teams each, Yoon Bak introduced a new rule that mandated that only 8 teams out of 18 will make it into Round 2. As such, if the Leaders wanted to pick another team, they would have to use a Change Card to swap out one of their teams for another.

Initially, Team Ko YoungBae & Kwon EunBi had picked W24 & YUDABINBAND, but they swapped W24 for Band Nah; Team MINUE & N.Flying had picked D82 & ONEWE, and they stuck to their choices; Team Yoon SungHyun & Kim JaeHwan picked Touched & CHA SE DAE but later swapped CHA SE DAE for LACUNA; Peppertones & JukJae picked PATZ & Hangronan first but finally chose Hey Men over PATZ.

Following this, there was another rule change, which allowed Team Leaders to choose another additional band. Check out the final Team lineup after Round 1 below.

Team Ko YoungBae & Kwon EunBi

YUDABINBAND

Band Nah

OWALLOIL

Team MINUE & N.Flying (Lee SeungHyub & Kim JaeHyun)

D82

ONEWE

SURL

Team Yoon SungHyun & Kim JaeHwan

Touched

LACUNA

CHA SE DAE **

Team Peppertones & JukJae

Hangronan

Hey Men

PATZ

**CHA SE DAE withdrew their participation in the program of their own volition, leaving Team Yoon SungHyun & Kim JaeHwan with only 2 bands.

Finally, there was yet another rule change, where all the Team Leaders could pick 4 bands to create a band pool. These bands will not belong to any Team as of now but they might come into play later on in the competition. W24, MACGUFFIN (MGFF), South Club, and Walking After U were picked for the band pool.

Ultimately, UNDER HILLS and Hwanho were eliminated.

Round 2

In this round, we saw a one-on-one battle between the bands, where the winner would move on to the next round, and the loser would be eliminated. However, the band with the highest score among the losing bands will also progress to the next round. The score would be calculated by adding  jury votes (accounting for 60% of the total) and audience votes (accounting for the remaining 40%).

So far, OWALLOIL went up against Hangronan, Band Nah against PATZ, and ONEWE against Hey Men. Considering Mnet's frequent rule changes, the results might not be as apparent as they seem, so buckle up, because it is going to be quite the ride!

Are you watching "Great Seoul Invasion"? What do you think of the show? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section down below!

Welcome to the 37th article of Kpopmap's weekly series: Kpopmap Mood Playlist! In this series, with articles released every Friday, we create a playlist of unique songs across various genres such as K-Pop, K-Rock/Indie/Hip-Hop/R&B, ballads, city pop, and more, exclusively curated for a very specific mood. Through this series, we want to introduce you to artists and genres as well as give you the perfect collection of songs to jam out to, regardless of how particular your mood is. You can even request a playlist in the comments down below!

You can find all our "Mood Playlists" by clicking here!

This week's Mood Playlist is dedicated to the unforgettable feeling of first love and the not-so-subtle melancholy of seeing it fall apart. If the rainy weather has got you reminiscing about your unrequited first love, tune into this playlist for the perfect background score.

1. '나의 거짓말은 새벽 늦게 자는 것'  ('One Sided Love') - Lacuna

K-Band Lacuna that is currently participating in the Mnet competition show "Great Seoul Invasion" has an extraordinary discography. 'One Sided Love' has a moody, transient tinge that is simply irresistible.

2. '좋은 밤 좋은 꿈 - 너드커넥션' ('Good Night Good Dream') - Nerd Connection

'Good Night Good Dream' is characterized by an addictive gloom that hurts just as much as it heals. Nerd Connection is a force to be reckoned with in the K-Band scene and this song just proves their skill even more.

3. '그 후' ('And Then') - Shin HaeGyeong

Shin HaeGyeong's voice is as angelic as it gets and this song just brings it out even more. You cannot help but be transported to a world of nostalgia with 'And Then'.

4. '주저하는 연인들을 위해' ('For Lovers Who Hesitate') - JANNABI

'For Lovers Who Hesitate' is one of those songs that virtually anyone can relate to, even if they've never experienced anything like it before. It is evocative, ethereal and oh so lovely.

5. '사람이 사랑하면 안돼요' ('Don't Love Anybody') - Zunhozoon