If you know me, you know I love doing post-experience debriefs — because apparently my brain doesn’t know how to just vibe without also wanting to analyze everything after. So here it is: my end-of-year breakdown of all 6 covers I did this year with my dance team Koreos.
Quick context for anyone who’s not in the loop: my dance team does subunit covers each quarter (fall, winter, spring), typically two per quarter. A subunit is a smaller group within the larger team — you get assigned a song, casted as a specific member, and sometimes you sign up for a leadership role in that project. I landed in exactly 6 subunit covers this year, zero quick covers (a short-turnaround project that our group covers of a trending song), and honestly? That was fully intentional. I only want to do covers I’m actually excited about, and quick covers just haven’t been calling my name this era. No regrets.
Looking back, I’m genuinely grateful for how the year played out. There were some unexpected favorites, a few covers I was lukewarm about going in that turned into highlights, and overall — good vibes, good people, good memories. My analytical brain wanted to actually quantify all of that, so naturally I started with a ratings breakdown before diving into the thoughts. That’s just how my mind works. 🤷🏻♂️
The Ratings Breakdown
I rated each cover across 4 categories that genuinely matter to me when I reflect on a cover experience: how difficult the choreography was, how much I enjoyed the overall experience, how comfortable I felt in the dance itself, and how much I actually love the song. Here’s how they stacked up.
Dance Difficulty & Complexity (easy → hard)
Pretty self-explanatory. But obviously, it’s my own subjective rating.
- Shine — 1/5
- Fear — 1.5/5
- Butterfly — 2/5
- Go In Blind — 2/5
- Supersonic — 3/5
- Talk Saxy — 4/5
Enjoyment (most → least)
This one factors in group vibes, how the OSLs (Official Subunit Leader) led, and how much the song itself contributed to the overall feel.
- Shine — 5/5
- Supersonic — 4/5
- Butterfly — 4/5
- Talk Saxy — 3.5/5
- Fear — 3.5/5
- Go In Blind — 1.5/5
Dance Comfort & Style Fit
How much the choreo matched my style and how comfortable I felt performing it.
- Butterfly — 5/5
- Fear — 4.5/5
- Shine — 4/5
- Go In Blind — 3.5/5
- Talk Saxy — 3/5
- Supersonic — 1.5/5
Song Love
How much I love the song and actually listen to it.
- Shine — 5/5
- Supersonic — 5/5
- Butterfly — 4/5
- Talk Saxy — 2.5/5
- Fear — 2/5
- Go In Blind — 1/5
Cover-by-Cover Thoughts
My reflections and overall thoughts on each cover.
Talk Saxy (RIIZE)
This is probably my 4th favorite RIIZE song, which already puts it ahead of most of their discography for me since I don’t really vibe with their stuff in general. The dance was exactly what you’d expect — exhausting, nonstop, the kind of choreo that never lets you breathe — but the song is catchy and the group energy was genuinely fun. Leading-wise, our leaders had a lot on their plates and weren’t always the most prepared, but we made it work and I think we still put together a solid cover all things considered.
Also happy I got Shotaro as my first pref — he’s one of the stronger dancers in the group and honestly my favorite, so that was a win. Good overall vibes, and it set a decent tone for the year.
Go In Blind (&Team)
Genuinely, I didn’t vibe with any of the subunit options this particular round — but Go In Blind felt like the least painful of the choices. The choreo was very much my style. And it wasn’t difficult at all: lots of rest parts, repeating sections, nothing too complicated. Significantly easier than Talk Saxy, which I appreciated.
That said, the song just doesn’t do anything for me. I always skip it when it comes up in my playlist, and that feeling didn’t change over the course of the cover. My person’s solo parts were easy to execute and I had no complaints there, but I’ll be honest — I was pretty apathetic throughout. The saving grace was that it wasn’t a lot of dancing and didn’t stress me out. Sometimes that’s enough.
Butterfly (BTS)
My last BTS cover, and I’m really glad I got to lead this one. Butterfly is one of those older-era BTS songs that feels like a genuine time capsule — the vocal ballad energy, the slower and more intentional movement, hard-hitting isolations when early BTS felt like they needed to prove themselves — and it was such a refreshing change of pace from the usual high-energy stuff we do. Nostalgic in the best way.
We did randomized casting for member parts and I got lucky landing Jungkook as my first pref. The choreo is very much my style (lots of isolations, controlled movement, fast sections and speed changes), and I was happy with how the group responded to cleaning notes — they took the feedback well and it showed in the final product. It had also been a while since I led a cover, so it felt good to step back into that role. I honestly couldn’t even remember the last one I led before this.
Shine (Pentagon)
This one genuinely surprised me. I wasn’t a huge fan of the song going into it — like, I was fine with it, but I wasn’t expecting to fall in love with it. By the end of the cover, Shine was on repeat for basically the entire month. The vibe of the dance just clicked with me in a way I didn’t anticipate.
My person was originally my second pref, but by the end he became my hard first pref — which tends to happen when someone has that combination of strong singing and strong dancing I’m always looking for. Easily the most unexpectedly fun cover of the year.
One small thing I’ll note: I missed the signup window to offer a co-lead, and looking back, I probably would’ve loved that. I did try to step up as an unofficial support — keeping vibes up, helping us stay on track when things slipped — but it would’ve been nice to formalize that to take the load off of Nova a bit.
Fear (Seventeen)
Fear was a lot of things at once. It was my second time this year co-leading (a rare occurrence), it was an SVT cover (which automatically means a larger cast and more moving parts), and my main focus going in was actually less about myself and more about helping Maya lead for the first time. That framing made the whole experience feel different — more purposeful, almost like mentorship through choreography.
I got my bias S.Coups as my person, which worked out perfectly since he’s pretty much always my first pref and nobody else seemed to want him. The dance itself is completely my style, but cleaning 12 other people and drilling them to hit that crisp, precise SVT aesthetic was genuinely intensive work. SVT covers have a reputation for being stressful — big casts, high expectations — and I really tried to counter that by keeping things calm, taking on the heavier lifting so Maya wouldn’t feel overwhelmed, and just being a steady presence throughout.
I think it worked. She seemed to learn a lot without being too stressed, and that honestly meant more to me than anything else about this cover. Oh, and it was a full-circle moment — Fear was one of my old Koreos audition songs, so doing it with the team hit a little different.
Side note: it’s funny because I think I average about one SVT cover each year with Koreos, so I’m glad to have checked that box for my last year haha.
Supersonic (fromis_9)
I had been waiting for this one. Supersonic has been one of my favorite songs since it dropped — it was another old audition song that I never got tired of — and it’s exactly the kind of track I love: incredible vocals paired with clean, sharp choreography. That combination just does it for me every time.
Also I was NOT feeling any of the other subunit options this round. I would’ve been miserable in any other group as none of the dances or songs appealed to me. This was my 1st-4th pref, with the 4 other songs being a tie for last pref.
Doing girl-group choreo I actually like is always a fun challenge because it pushes me to work on feminine lines and performance energy that doesn’t come as naturally to me. It’s the kind of challenge I genuinely enjoy though — Le Sserafim, Blackpink, Twice are usually the ones that hit that sweet spot for me, and Supersonic fit right in that lane.
The icing on top was knowing we were in good hands with Shasia and Angela leading — two of the OSLs I respect the most. They come prepared, they’re on top of things, and that sets the whole tone for the experience. My person ended up being my third pref going in, but — you guessed it — became my hard first pref by the end. Strong dancer, great vocal parts, perfect combo. Loved every bit of this one.
Overall Thoughts
Looking at the year as a whole, I’m just really grateful. Grateful that I mostly got the subunits I wanted to be in. Grateful that I mostly loved the parts and members I ended up with — sometimes after not even expecting to. Grateful for the chances to lead and co-lead and support in ways that felt meaningful beyond just learning choreo. Grateful for good OSLs who made the experience better, and for the absence of any real drama or big issues.
The covers I was most excited about delivered. The ones I was unsure about surprised me. And even the one I was a bit meh about (looking at you, Go In Blind) at least didn’t make me miserable — which, honestly, is all you can ask for when you’re listening to a song on repeat for weeks.
Six covers, three quarters, and a lot of intentional hours practicing to make sure I did my best for my last era on the team. 💪🔥
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