Sibling duo tops K-Pop Star 2

Lee Soo-hyun, 13, left, and Lee Chan-hyuk, 16, of Akdong Musicians perform during the final of the SBS TV singing contest “K-Pop Star 2,” which aired on Sunday. / Courtesy of SBS

By Baek Byung-yeul

Akdong Musicians, a brother-sister duo of Lee Chan-hyuk and Lee Soo-hyun, won the SBS television singing contest "K-Pop Star 2’’ in the much-anticipated final that aired Sunday.

The top-place finish was the icing on the cake for Akdong Musicians, who emerged as a household name with performances over the past five months. Soo-hyun, 13, can really sing, while her brother Chan-hyuk, 16, shows creativity as a songwriter. Judging by their songs’ download numbers and YouTube hits, they are already one of the most influential acts on the current music scene.

In the final stage, Chan-hyuk and Soo-hyun faced another teenager, 11-year-old Bang Ye-dam, the son of Bang Dae-shik, a well-established writer and singer of television advertising jingles.

Bang sang "Officially Missing You,’’ a song by Canadian R&B artist Tamia, which Akdong Musicians also nailed earlier in the competition.

Bang received a combined 289 points from the show’s three judges – JYP Entertainment President Park Jin-young, YG Entertainment head Yang Hyun-suk and SM Entertainment singer BOA. However, Akdong Musicians topped him by getting 231 points with their version of the Hanson hit "MMMBop.’’

Akdong Musicians edged Bang in the following round as well, with their version of ``Passionate Goodbye,’’ a song by Korean vocal group Toy, scoring 282 points, one point more than Bang managed with Culture Club’s "Karma Chameleon.’’

After they won the judges in the two rounds, text message voting by viewers sealed the win for Akdong Musicians.

“I didn’t really expect we could reach this place. I still can’t believe that we could surpass all the other teams in the top 10 that performed extremely well. We can’t thank you enough,” Chan-hyuk said in his acceptance speech. Soo-hyun added, ``This is a bigger honor than we deserve.’’

Akdong Musicians have garnered a significant following since last year. Their debut song, “Don’t Cross Your Legs,” went to No. 2 on the Gaon Chart, which tracks music downloads on different websites, in December. Their follow-up, “You Are Attractive,” written by Chan-hyuk, made it to the top in following weeks, beating a slew of opportunistic Christmas carols.

In a K-pop scene populated by formulaic music and bleached-out personalities, Akdong Musicians seem to be a breath of fresh air.

Akdong Musicians receive a cash prize of 300 million won ($260,000), a car and the freedom to choose between the three entertainment agencies – SM Entertainment, JYP Entertainment and YG Entertainment – to release an album.

K-Pop Star 2 scored a 13.7 percent viewer rating in its last program, topping all the shows that aired in the same time slot.