If you’re a “World of Dance” fan, the name UPeepz sounded awfully familiar when they were introduced in “The Qualifiers 2.” That’s because the Filipino hip-hop crew has a close connection to previous world finalists, the Junior Division team VPeepz (who also happened to make our list of the show’s best contestants ever). Turns out these grown-ups coached VPeepz, which means they had a lot to live up to. How did they do? Watch their performance above.
Derek Hough loved their “style” and thought they lived up to the Peepz name their young predecessors made for themselves. But the Peepz name is both a blessing and a curse since it raises the bar for the judges’ expectations. Jennifer Lopez told them they have to “surpass” their proteges to stand out this year, and as of now UPeepz are about as good as VPeepz were, “if not a tiny bit below.” Ne-Yo agreed with Lopez that while it was “super clean,” he wanted more “energy” from the choreography.
So were they good enough to advance to the Duels? It was actually a close call on a night when the judges were especially strict with their judgments. Lopez didn’t give them an outright yes, but thought they were good enough for a call-back. They did get yeses from both Hough and Ne-Yo, though, putting them through to the next round by the skin of their teeth. And that’s just what Ne-Yo told them as they were celebrating: they’ll need to up their choreography game if they’re going to win their Duel and live up to VPeepz’s example. They’ll be expecting more.
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