A Korean reality survival show that started in 2019. Competing are six established acts that all consist of women only. These are girl groups AOA, Mamamoo, Lovelyz, Oh My Girl and (G)I-DLE, as well as soloist Park Bom. The goal is to have a comeback at the same time and see which one does best.
As the show starts, they get assignments where they have to compete with each other both as groups and in units. The ranking is determined by audience voting, voting by a designated special group and voting amongst themselves. Any group that ends up sixth twice in a row will be removed from the show permanently.
Apart from the competition in music and performance, they also play different games for perks and are shown getting to know the other groups better as they go to a retreat.
The show is already known to giving a boost to the popularity of all participating acts.
A second season, Queendom 2, premiered in 2022, bringing girlgroups VIVIZ, WJSN (Cosmic Girls), LOONA, Kep1er and Brave Girls, as well as soloist Hyolyn, as the new competitors.
This show provides examples of:
- Action Girl: Chanmi kicks some ass in the final.
- A Day in the Limelight: Once they split up into units, there is more attention for individual participants. Especially the vocal performers get a lot of screen time.
- Yein from Lovelyz got a lot of positive attention for her dance performance.
- Animal Motifs: Rapper Cheetah supports Park Bom in one episode.
- Badass Boast: Usually downplayed as a joke.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Hwasa is happy with Kei's enthusiasm for singing together and therefore chooses her, but Kei is enthusiastic even when Hwasa wants to take a nap. Hwasa jokingly asks whether she can return her.
- Bilingual Bonus:
- (G)I-dle started their first performance with lines spoken by Minnie in Thai.
- Some of the singing is in English and sometimes English phrases are spoken by the idols as well.
- The Cameo: Other artists and people in the industry show up as well.
-
Career Resurrection: AOA is full in the spotlight again, thanks to the show. - Combat Hand Fan: Used by Moonbyul in her dance break.
- Cool Big Sis: The older members towards the younger, often.
- Cool Mask: Lovelyz final performance.
- Moonbyul is chosen as the leader of Six Puzzles as she is known to be a kind mentor towards younger idols.
- Cover Version: The second round has all the acts covering each other's songs.
- Fangirl: The groups often fangirl over each other.
- Kei specifically enjoys fangirling over Hwasa.
- Minnie saying she almost fell in love with Hye Jeong after AOA's performance in the finals.
- First-Name Basis: As they get to know each other better, several of the women insist that those younger than them can just speak informally to them.
-
Friendly Fandoms: This trope is working its magic amongst fandoms of the acts, as they enjoy the nice moments between them. - Friendly Rivalry: Often so friendly that it's hardly a rivalry anymore. Taken up even more once members from different bands have to work together and get along rather well.
- Friendship Moment: Happens frequently. They often encourage each other in small and big ways
- Park Bom preparing welcoming decorations for (G)I-dle.
- Mamamoo starts singing 2NE1 songs in their dressing room. Park Bom hears them and joins in through the wall.
- Hyojung running over to Park Bom after the third round and both complimenting each other over their performances.
- Genki Girl: Kei from Lovelyz.
- Genre Refugee: At the start of episode 10, all of Oh My Girl are standing on stage unmoving, unsmiling and looking rather intimidating. Well, except Hyojung, who is smiling, clapping, waving and making several other gestures by herself.
- Genre Savvy: When Lovelyz can choose a category of people who can vote as a designated group, they suspect that older ladies will like their cheerful music and pick the housewives category. They indeed get their vote.
- Girl Group: All competing acts apart from Park Bom, and she was in one before.
- "Good Luck" Gesture: Yein has a lot for (G)-Idle after they say Lovelyz did better than them.
- Halloween Episode: Oh My Girl in the third round.
- Hotter and Sexier: Oh My Girl and Lovelyz get to show different sides of themselves. Also exploited by some of the dancers, as they can choose their own style.
- I Can Still Fight!: Oh My Girl's YooA, who was injured, but still goes to participate in round 2 by standing at a different place from the rest.
- Jack of All Trades: A lot of them can sing and/or, dance, write songs and plan performances. The show also gives the opportunity for some of them to bring in new ideas.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover: AOA's Chanmi even posts a clip of her cat on the Queendom group chat, making the cat 'tell' them all they were great.
- Lady in a Power Suit: AOA as they covered Mamamoo's Egotistic.
- Lady Looks Like a Dude: Mamamoo's Moonbyul at times.
- The Leader: More obviously dominant in some groups than others.
- Log Fic: The Queendom group chat comes across as this, with members cheering, leaving random smileys or introducing their cat.
- Love Letter: Mamamoo makes some for AOA when they cover each other's songs. They do it Love Actually style.
- Magical Incantation: (G)I-dle's first performance.
- Ms. Fanservice: Happens a lot, but not with all.
- Older Than They Look: Mamamoo thought Kei was younger than Hwasa, but they are the same age.
- Our Vampires Are Different: These vampires can sing, as Oh My Girl proves.
- Picked Last: Hyejeong has to wait rather long before she gets a partner as others first compete to be Hwasa's duet partner and then Park Bom's.
- Playing Against Type: They get to reinvent first one of their own songs and then one of a competing group. That's just the first two rounds. From there they continue to take the opportunity to try new things.
- Practical Joke: After it's finally decided that Hwasa will have a duet with Kei, Minnie and Hyejeong come back into the room, pretending they still want to have a chance.
- Precision F-Strike: Jimin.
- Radial Ass Kicking: Chanmi vs a bunch of mooks in the final.
- Reaction Shot: Jimin and Solar's tend to be particularly good.
- The Rock Star: Jimin always wanted to be a rock star. She gets her chance in the third round.
- Running Gag: Kei really likes Hwasa. Kei immediately links arms with Hwasa when they go to the retreat and she mentions it about five times a minute whenever they are on screen together. When they finish their duet, they link arms again as they go off stage.
- Say It with Hearts: Solar and Park Bom make heart signs at each other when Bom chooses Mamamoo as the best performers in round 3.
- Skinny Dipping: Hwasa suggests they swim naked so they can't be filmed.
- Signature Style: Played with as acts try new styles.
- Sixth Ranger: Happens in the first episode. All groups are aware of who is competing before they start, except they don't know that the sixth participant is soloist Park Bom.
- Sound-Effect Bleep: This is sometimes done to keep tension about certain things like upcoming cameos, rankings etc.
- Stage Name: Lots of the performers have these.
- Theme Tune: The groups have standard group introduction. Once they split up into units, they make news ones for the units.
- Title Drop: Often done by MC Da Hee.
- Wholesome Crossdresser: The dancers who participated in AOA's rendition of Egotistic.
- The Wild West: AOA's performance in the final.
- Wreathed in Flames: Played with. Whenever a team places low and they are motivated by it, people mention them looking like they are on fire. Flame effects are added too.
