Mnet’s power-packed street dance show has finally reached its conclusion with dance crew BEBE winning the trophy of Street Woman Fighter 2. The crew consisted of seven members Bada Lee, Lusher, Tatter, Kyma, Minah, Cheche, and Sowoen. Together, they competed in various dance challenges against Jam Republic, 1MILLION, Lady Bounce, MANNEQUEEN, TSUBAKILL, DEEP N DAP, and Wolf’Lo.
To reach this stage, the seven dancers had to prove their talent in creating memorable, trendy, and exciting choreographies, and pull off quick-witted freestyle battles based on efficient dance techniques. While the crew did manage to leave a mark in various challenges; many fans believe that the major reason for BEBE becoming the winning crew is Bada Lee’s popularity.
In this article, we will explore BEBE’s performance throughout the show, noting their impact on the missions, and see for ourselves if Bada Lee’s popularity was the major reason for their win or not. Let the battle begin!
Street Woman Fighter 2: BEBE’s performance in each mission
Team BEBE in Street Woman Fighter 2 has long been mocked as ‘Bada and Girls’ similar to dance crew HOOK in the debut season and WeDemBoyz in Street Man Fighter. Their crew’s average age was also less than the others which made them appear as students rather than competition for other crews.
However, similar to Bada Lee, other members Lusher, Tatter, Kyma, and Minah have experience working along with popular K-pop stars such as Kai, SEVENTEEN Jun, SHINee Min-ho, CL, NCT Ten, The Boyz, GOT7 Jay B, and aespa. They also have experience as dance instructors at OFD Studio.
The group’s maknaes Cheche and Sowoen have appeared on ‘Show Me The Money 11’ to perform with Lee Young Ji. If that isn’t enough to establish them as a competent crew, then let’s take a look at their performance in various missions on Street Woman Fighter 2.
• No Respect, Battle Of The Weakest
In the first mission, Bada competed against 1MILLION’s Redy in a one-on-one freestyle battle and won with three votes. Kyma also stood against 1MILLION Amy and won with three votes. Following this, the crew fought against DEEP N DAP; once again winning with three votes.
Apart from these Tatter competed with Wolf’Lo’s Yeni Cho and Bada with MANNEQUEEN’s Redlic in unaired battles. In the end, BEBE came in third place with 6 wins and only one loss.
• Class Mission
In the class mission, BEBE performed exceedingly well. Bada’s Smoke Challenge soon took over the Korean Entertainment industry and she also gained the highest scores in the leader group. Although they did suffer in the middle group (Kyma and Cheche) receiving the worst dancers’ titles, their overall scores helped them secure their third position.
• K-Pop Death Match
In the third mission of the season, BEBE performed ‘Not Shy’ by ITZY and ‘MANIAC’ by Stray Kids against TSUBAKILL. In this round, they not only won against the popular Japanese crew with high judges scores and public votes but also garnered the overall highest scores (980).
• Mega Crew Mission
In the Mega Crew Mission, BEBE competed against Lady Bounce and Wolf’Lo in the ‘All Gender’ category. They performed an enticing piece on Baekhyun’s ‘Psycho’ with the minimum number of dancers (30). Despite the low scores from judges, they managed to win the hearts of the public and secure fourth place with Lady Bounce and MANNEQUEEN tied for third place.
• HwaSa Choreography Mission
In the fifth mission, BEBE said, ‘Ask Yourself, the reason why I am here‘ and the public answered. They received the highest scores from Global votes and extra points from people’s participation in the Chili Challenge. Despite 1MILLIOM winning HwaSa’s choice, BEBE won the overall round.
• Battle Performance Mission
The Battle Performance Mission was one of the toughest missions of the Street Woman Fighter 2. All the crews were tested on their choreography and freestyle battle skills in a back-to-back round. BEBE performed ‘Cool Off’ by Missy Elliot in the freestyle section, ‘Fire’ by SEVENTEEN in a 1-on-1 battle, and ‘Crimson’ by Bewhy in the crew performance section.
In this round, they gained 100% judges and live audience votes, and second-highest Global public votes. These scores were added to their HwaSa Choreography Mission scores garnering them a total of 1040 points and making them winners of both missions.
• Global Artist Mission + Ending Credit Mission
The final ranking for Street Woman Fighter 2 was decided on these two missions. The scores were calculated by adding the Live Broadcast Votes (80% weightage and limited to Korea) to the Crew Performance Vote (20% weightage and open for the global audience since the beginning of the show).
In these two rounds, BEBE performed “Cockiness (Love It)” + “S&M” by Rihanna and “Praise” by Kanye West + Self-produced song by Bebe (Prod. mindset of JustJerk) + “Run It” by DJ Snake. While Jam Republic received the highest global votes, BEBE won the show with high live broadcast votes and second-highest global votes.
Did BEBE win Street Woman Fighter 2 due to Bada Lee’s popularity?
After analyzing the performance of BEBE through all the missions of Street Woman Fighter 2, we can better understand how the crew starting from ‘Bada and Girls’ slowly grew their impact on the show.
CONGRATULATIONS, BEBE for winning Street Woman Fighter 2!💙#TeamBebe#StreetWomanFighter2 pic.twitter.com/86ez20QDwf
— Stage Fighter – COMING SOON (@SWF2_tweets) October 31, 2023
They not only proved their strength in one-on-one battles but also their immense knowledge in formatting trendy, attractive, and memorable choreographies. Through each mission, the crew also showcased their synergy and teamwork, making eye-catching synchronization possible.
As Street Woman Fighter 2’s later mission rankings are heavily based on public votes, we cannot rule out the crew’s popularity as the major reason for their win. Additionally, the final ranking was completely based on audience votes; who have clearly been mesmerized by Bada Lee. Well, we can say that Bada Lee’s popularity did have a lot to do with their win.
However, this does not undermine their talent or shadow their success as SWF2 is a show which decides winners based on public choices. Winning your audiences’ hearts through street dancing is the major concept of the show and BEBE has proven their efficiency in that.
Keeping that in mind, what I find even more fascinating is that if the weightage of Live Broadcast voting (limited to Korea) and the Global votes were reversed, then Jam Republic would have been the winning crew.
Audrey Lane speaks about those Jammies who throw hate comments at Team Bebe. pic.twitter.com/MfSK8Qdagk
— Stage Fighter – COMING SOON (@SWF2_tweets) November 2, 2023
It does make me wonder about the final ranking if the judge’s votes were added, the public votes were of equal weightage, and the scores of the past missions had an impact on the final scores. Nevertheless, BEBE has fairly and fluidly won the Street Woman Fighter 2; taking home the trophy, 50 Million Won (37000$ approx), and Amonds diamond rings.
