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The Street Man Fighter is in the news once again, but this time it’s for a good reason. The choreography by We Dem Boyz’s leader Vata for the song New Thing produced by Zico and featuring Homies, has gone viral online.
TikTokers across the world have been hopping onto this dance challenge called the SSAEBING challenge and now even K-pop idols have jumped on the trend.
Coincidentally, TikTok challenges became huge in K-pop after Zico started the Any Song dance challenge and collaborated with several idols. Since then, TikTok dance challenges have become a staple in the K-pop industry, with every group and soloist creating their own challenges to promote their song.
Dance challenges are also a staple for the Street Fighter series. The Street Woman Fighter choreography for the song Hey Mama by WAYB’s leader NO:ZE went viral in 2021. This elevated the show’s popularity as the choreography was loved and covered by both idols and non-dancers as well.
So, it does not come as a surprise that the choreography from Street Man Fighter has gone viral we well. Dance challenges have become an inherent part of internet culture and every day a new challenge is discovered, which K-pop idols recreate to keep up with the trends.
Let’s take a look at some of the K-pop idols who covered the New Thing dance challenge.
NCT’s Mark, ENHYPEN’s Ni-ki, SEVENTEEN’s Hoshi, and more dance to viral Street Man Fighter choreography for New Thing
1) NCT Dream’s Mark
NCT's Mark performed the SSAEBING challenge and showed off his polished dancing skills. The video spread on Twitter like wildfire, reaching the fifth position on worldwide trends. Mark had asked fellow member Jisung to teach him the dance after watching his video online.
2) NCT Dream’s Jisung
NCT Dream member Jisung also performed the viral trend from Street Man Fighter, proving his dance prodigy title with his clean routine. Jisung was inspired by SEVENTEEN's Hoshi's New Thing dance cover and decided to give it a go himself. NCTzens have Hoshi to thank for this beautiful cover of Vata's choreography.
3) ENHYPEN’s Ni-ki
ENHYPEN's Ni-ki showed off his cool charm in his interpretation of the viral SSAEBING challenge from Street Man Fighter. Despite only having debuted recently, Ni-ki has years of dance experience under his belt which clearly comes through in all his dance challenge videos. His performance to Hype Boy with New Jeans members also went viral online.
4) TXT’s Yeonjun
TXT's Yeonjun proved why he was known as the ace trainee of HYBE with his powerful performance of Vata's choreography for New Thing. TXT is known for its social media presence, especially on TikTok and Yeonjun is a master of TikTok trends.
Undoubtedly, he jumped on the SSAEBING challenge as well and fans were not let down by his impeccable performance. He is nominated for the No.1 place for the New Thing Challenge award on Idol Champ and is currently in the second position as per his votes.
5) SEVENTEEN’s Hoshi
SEVENTEEN's Hoshi was one of the first idols to take up the viral challenge from Street Man Fighter and even inspired NCT Dream's Jisung to film his own video. Hoshi lived up to his dance leader title with his performance to New Thing.
6) NMIXX's Jinni, Kyujin, and Haewon
NMIXX's Jinni, Kyujin, and Haewon were accompanied by We Dem Boyz's Vata for their version of the SSAEBING challenge. Despite dancing with Vata, the girls were not overshadowed by him and managed to perfectly keep up with the original creator.
7) ASTRO’s Moonbin and Sanha
Not only did ASTRO's Moonbin and Sanha show off their professional dancing skills with the SSAEBING challenge, but they also managed to film the video in a cinematic manner. Their phenomenal performance was elevated with the esthetic filming of the video.
8) ENHYPEN’s Jay
ENHYPEN member Jay showed off his swag in his version of the viral trend from Street Man Fighter. His video is one of the top-most viewed and liked videos under the New Thing audio on TikTok and has accumulated over 4.6 million views and thousands of likes online.
9) ITZY’s Ryujin and Yeji
ITZY's Ryujin and Yeji also hopped on the SSAEBING trend and uploaded a dance challenge video of their own. Their controlled yet impactful moves following along with Vata's choreography prove why they are few of the best fourth-generation K-pop dancers in the industry.
10) Choi Yena
Former IZ*ONE member Choi Yena uploaded her version of the SSAEBING challenge on Instagram which was drastically different from her everyday cute appearance. The video was well received and was liked by the producer of New Thing, Zico, as well.
Despite Vata being praised for his choreography of New Thing on Street Man Fighter, like most things surrounding the show, the matter was also embroiled in controversy.
It turned out that Vata’s choreography was not as original as one would have thought, as he was accused of plagiarizing the choreography of dancer Anze Skrube for the SSAEBING challenge.
What made matters worse was that a member of We Dem Boyz had in previous episodes accused another team, Just Jerk, on Street Man Fighter of having plagiarized. This act of hypocrisy has been continuously called out by netizens on social media platforms.
