(MBC Every 1)

More than a year has passed since GFriend’s phenomenal performance of “Rough” in double speed. Now, it turns out that the “2X Dance” is not a mere fad, but is widely considered as a rite of passage for K-pop musicians.

Many more K-pop idol groups are joining the bandwagon, by performing their lead tracks in double speed. The performances are widely believed to help the artists with the promotion of new releases.

GFriend’s performed “Rough” in double speed on MBC Every 1‘s “Weekly Idol” on Feb. 3, 2016, after a fan requested it. The eye-popping performance not only drew acclaim from co-hosts of the show, Defconn and Jung Yong-hwa of CN Blue, but it also set the new standard of “flashy choreography,” a crucial element of any idol group. One of the subtitles of the episode put it as “the new world of K-pop dance.”

GFriend, known for rigorous practices ? up to 16 hours a day -- succeeded in proving their quality in the improvised dance session. Throughout the year, the group won 29 times on music competition TV shows, partly on the back of the public attention after the episode was aired.

(MBC Every 1)

Thanks to other K-pop groups adept at dancing following the trend, the ’2X Dance‘ has risen to become an established corner on the cable channel show.

Particularly, the July 27 episode last year, designed to celebrate the show’s fifth year, featured a double speed dance session where GOT7, Twice, GFriend and BTOB took turns.

Other entertainment programs, such as “Kiss the Radio” and “Amigo TV” began to employ the format of ‘2X Dance,’ but differences with the original one from “Weekly Idol” could be spotted. The Christmas episode of “Amigo TV” showed I.O.I dancing along to “Pick Me” in a pace which gradually quickened. “Kiss the Radio” on Tuesday released via its YouTube channel the four members of Twice dancing along to “Knock Knock” after they lost a game during the radio show.

(KBS Radio)

The ‘2X Dance’ phenomenon is not limited to K-pop musicians. More and more online K-pop fans are turning tech-savvy, enabling them to take to the ‘2X Dance’ videos and edit them in many ways.

Some fans juxtapose the ‘2X Dance’ video of their favorite artists against the original choreography to compare the two.

Some others edit videos of their favorite K-pop artists’ dance at original pace in order to increase the speed, upload them, and name them “2X Speed Video.” Such fans intend to share it with others for the sake of entertainment, assuming that their favorite artists really danced along at such fast paces.

The clips of idol groups circulating online usually include keywords such as “unedited,” in a bid to avoid controversy among fans whether their performances are genuine.

By Son Ji-hyoung (consnow@heraldcorp.com)