TXT’s KMA 2026 encore of ‘Stick With You’ sparks mixed netizen reactions
TXT drew mixed reactions after their encore performance of “Stick With You” at the 2026 KM Chart Awards on July 25.
The group attended the ‘2026 KM Chart Awards’ (KMA) and won several prizes, including the Daesang (Grand Prize) for “Artist of the Year.” They also won the “Best Popular Song” award for “Stick With You,” which led to the encore performance that became a hot topic online.
TXT did an encore performance of ‘Stick With You’ 🎉🥳pic.twitter.com/6MfO14cWdx
— TXT Charts (@TXTChartData) July 25, 2026
대상이란거 정말 좋은거구나(당연좋지어디문제있니) 하하더 앵콜 무대를 풀로 말아줌 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/3FbROVurGv
— 오물조물 (@txt_sarangdan2) July 25, 2026
Videos of the encore circulated online and sparked debate among K-netizens. One widely shared post called the live vocals “shockingly raw,” and hundreds of commenters criticized the performance. Others pushed back, saying the group sounded fine and blaming the venue’s sound quality. The split in opinion was captured in a thread where netizens ended up divided over the clip.
Netizens wrote:
“I thought their live vocals would be bad because of how intense the choreography is, but they were just walking around interacting with the audience and THAT’S how they sang? What?? This is shocking, lol”
“Wow… are they really considered.. singers…? But they don’t even have basic vocal technique mastered”
“They seriously won a Daesang?”
“Isn’t it just an audio equipment problem? They sound good in the fancam videos”
“The sound quality just seems poor”
“‘Vocal kings’ lol… Where? Is there even a member who’s a vocalist in this group?”
“Isn’t TXT actually known for having good live vocals? I think the audio mixing was just a bit off”
“Oh no… It doesn’t really seem like a sound system issue; it actually looks like the audio director was doing them a favor by turning down their vocals and turning up the backtrack…”
“I remember them always being good at live singing… Maybe the audio setup was wrong? I mean, they were singing but their voices were getting completely drowned out”
“It seems like an audio equipment issue.. They’re in their eighth year as a group, and their live vocals have never been a problem before”
“Their performance is actually better than I thought it would be, lol. Everyone was making such a huge fuss about it that I watched it just to see how badly they did, but it’s really just a normal K-pop encore performance, haha”
“Huh? From people’s reactions, I was wondering just how bad it would be, but it just seems like… an audio issue or something? To me, it doesn’t seem like they’re bad at singing live…”
“But isn’t their pitch actually spot-on?”
“The sound quality does seem bad, but even with that, it’s a relief every time it’s Hueningkai’s turn to sing, lol”
“It’s really surprising that they won a Daesang”
“Isn’t this actually pretty good, though?”
“It’s just a typical live performance by a modern idol group lol. It wasn’t a total disaster, but it certainly wasn’t good either. Fans need to be more realistic”
Meanwhile, TXT took home multiple notable awards at this year’s KM Chart Awards, including Artist Of The Year (Daesang), Best Male Popular Group, Best Male Solo Artist, Best Popular Song (‘Stick With You’) and Ultimate 12 (Bonsang).