From Ballad Queen to Superstar K Legends: MBC’s ‘The Champions’ Delivers Its Most Emotional Night Yet

MBC’s groundbreaking music variety show The Champions (1등들) delivered one of its most emotionally charged episodes yet on March 22, as three iconic audition winners from different eras took the stage to remind viewers why they once captured the hearts of an entire nation. Lee Yeji, Ulala Session, and Baek Cheong-gang — each a champion from a different generation of Korean singing competitions — brought the house down with performances that ranged from gut-wrenching ballads to electrifying vocal harmonies.

The episode aired as part of the show’s ongoing competition format, which has been drawing massive attention since its premiere on February 15. The Champions has become the centerpiece of what media outlets are calling a music variety renaissance in South Korea, pulling together winners from the country’s most legendary audition programs and pitting them against each other in a battle for the ultimate title: the champion of champions.

Lee Yeji Silences the Room With a Ballad Masterclass

Lee Yeji, who won SBS’s Our Ballad (우리들의 발라드), had already proven herself as one of the show’s most formidable competitors. In a previous episode, she had dethroned Superstar K2 winner Huh Gak from the top spot, sending shockwaves through both the panel and the audience. On March 22, she performed the emotional ballad Even Just Having You in This World (그대가 이 세상에 있는 것만으로), a song that demands both technical precision and raw emotional vulnerability.

Her rendition was nothing short of spellbinding. From the opening notes, Lee Yeji demonstrated the kind of vocal control that separates good singers from great ones — effortlessly navigating the song’s dynamic shifts while maintaining the emotional thread that gives the ballad its devastating power. The performance clocked in at just over five minutes, but every second felt earned, building to a climax that left the studio audience visibly moved.

What makes Lee Yeji’s journey on The Champions particularly compelling is the stakes involved. Unlike some competitors who arrived with massive existing fanbases, her victory on Our Ballad gave her a loyal but relatively modest following. On this show, she has been proving night after night that raw talent and emotional authenticity can rival even the biggest names in the industry.

Ulala Session Returns With the Song That Started It All

If Lee Yeji’s performance was a masterclass in restraint and emotion, Ulala Session’s appearance was pure, unbridled energy. The vocal group, winners of Mnet’s Superstar K3, performed their signature hit Short Hair (단발머리) — the very song that helped catapult them to fame during their legendary audition run years ago.

Ulala Session’s story is one of the most remarkable in Korean entertainment history. The group’s journey on Superstar K3 was marked not only by extraordinary vocal talent but by a deeply personal narrative that resonated with millions of viewers. Their return to a competitive stage after years away from the spotlight carried enormous emotional weight, and they channeled every ounce of that history into their nearly four-minute performance.

The group’s trademark harmonies were as tight as ever, and their stage presence showed that the years since their audition days have only sharpened their ability to command a room. Short Hair sounded simultaneously nostalgic and fresh — a testament to the timelessness of the arrangement and the group’s evolved artistry. For longtime fans of Korean music competition shows, watching Ulala Session perform on the The Champions stage was a powerful reminder of why the Superstar K franchise became a cultural phenomenon.

Baek Cheong-gang Proves the Ballad King Title Still Fits

Rounding out the trio of performances that defined the March 22 episode, Baek Cheong-gang — winner of MBC’s own The Great Birth Season 1 (위대한 탄생1) — delivered a rendition of Even Though I Loved (사랑했지만) that showcased the vocal depth and emotional maturity that first earned him the crown on his original audition show.

At nearly six minutes, Baek Cheong-gang’s performance was the longest of the three, and he used every moment to build a narrative arc within the song itself. His approach was notably different from Lee Yeji’s — where she wielded precision like a scalpel, Baek Cheong-gang painted with broad, sweeping strokes of emotion, allowing his naturally rich vocal tone to carry the weight of the lyrics. The result was a performance that felt less like a competition entry and more like a personal confession.

The Great Birth was one of MBC’s first major entries into the audition genre, and Baek Cheong-gang’s victory in its inaugural season helped establish the show as a legitimate platform for discovering vocal talent. His presence on The Champions connects the show’s earliest roots to its current iteration, creating a through-line of musical history that gives the program much of its emotional resonance.

The Bigger Picture: Why The Champions Matters

What sets The Champions apart from typical music variety programming is not just the caliber of its contestants, but the narrative richness each performer brings to the stage. Every competitor carries the weight of their original audition story — the nerves, the triumphs, the years of work that followed. When Lee Yeji sings, viewers remember the moment she was crowned on Our Ballad. When Ulala Session harmonizes, the memories of their Superstar K3 journey come flooding back.

The show features a roster that reads like a who’s who of Korean audition history. Beyond the three performers highlighted in the March 22 clips, the season has featured Huh Gak (Superstar K2), Park Jimin (K-Pop Star Season 1), Son Seung-yeon (Voice Korea Season 1), Park Chang-geun (Tomorrow’s National Singer), and Kim Ki-tae (Sing Again 2), among others. Hosted by actress Lee Min-jung and LE SSERAFIM’s Kim Chaewon, the show has attracted attention not only for its musical performances but for its innovative judging format that prioritizes audience connection over technical perfection alone.

The March 22 episode also generated significant buzz around Park Jimin’s emotional comeback performance. The K-Pop Star Season 1 winner had been on hiatus for three years due to thyroid disease, and her return to the stage — in the face of earlier criticism that she looked overwhelmed — became one of the most talked-about moments in the show’s run so far.

With Kim Ki-tae of Sing Again 2 having been crowned the show’s ultimate champion, The Champions has already cemented its place as one of the most significant music variety programs of 2026. But its real achievement may be something harder to quantify: it has reminded Korean audiences that the singers who once won their hearts through audition shows are still capable of delivering performances that stop people in their tracks — and that the stories behind those voices are far from over.