The more distance from 2019, the more ITZY’s debut year feels like a watershed moment in K-pop. Their triple punch of Dalla Dalla, ICY and Wannabe has proven even more influential than expected, developing a sound and attitude that has dominated both the charts and the tastes of many fans. So, my initial question after listening to M.A.F.I.A (In The Morning) is: where the hell did that ITZY go?
Rather than continue to set trends, the girls have challenged BLACKPINK’s drop-chorus style. It’s not an awkward fit, but M.A.F.I.A is an awkward song. It’s largely hookless, with a vacuum of melody and noisy production that borrows familiar K-pop sounds and samples without bringing anything new to the table. I’m shocked that such a high-profile release, from an agency as huge as JYP, could wind up this… dull.
ITZY have megawatt charisma, and that pulls M.A.F.I.A over the finish line – but just barely. The track has no sense of humor about its own ridiculousness. It’s largely joyless, intent on posturing and posing rather than finding a hook or moment worth investing in. I’ll be relieved when K-pop loses its relentless gun metaphors as fuel to showcase a group’s “bad girl” or “bad boy” image. It’s a tired old trope, and usually comes across as disingenuous and more than a little silly.
As a song, M.A.F.I.A doesn’t have much to offer beyond these tropes. Its spoken-word boasts don’t succeed as engaging hip-hop, its irritating synth samples don’t craft an addictive instrumental, and there’s no knockout centerpiece to salvage the song’s weaker moments. It’s just a bunch of pissed off “ring ding ding” taunts strung together for three minutes, as if the most grating parts of BLACKPINK’s How You Like That had been extended into an entire song. This is a hard pass for me, coming from one of K-pop’s most promising rookies. That makes M.A.F.I.A doubly disappointing.
| Hooks | 6 |
| Production | 7 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 6 |
| RATING | 6.75 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
JYP and trying to sabotage his groups
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On listening to the teaser I thought of that title LOONA originally promoted last year (yeah I forgot the name and I don’t want to remember, that’s how much I ended up hating it), the end product is… meh, I know CLC is gone but it doesn’t mean that market *has* to be filled.
Also, there is 0 chance that they actually sold 260k albums, there I said it.
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The reason why they ended up with that amount are the 11 shops that offer video call events/photocard freebies and of course the fans would eat it up.
Inflation as we see it.
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I am not even sure they have that amount of rabid fans to support this. They get consistently crushed in all the award voting events.
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Lol what? Since when was award show votes a measure of a group’s success? TWICE do surprisingly poorly whenever there are voting polls for award shows and yet they’re the highest-selling girl group ever in K-pop. I really don’t understand how difficult it is to grasp that ITZY’s sales have been increasing with each release.
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Is CLC your standard for girl crush?
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No I just felt some structural resemblance between this and helicopter, and I went back and listened and well they actually are quite different.
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Yeah I think they are really different personally but thats ok. CLC is one of my standards for girls crush lol. They know how to be badass w/o being tacky imo
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If boy groups who can’t reach the top 100 on melon can sell 500+k albums then ITZY definitely can. The song was fun for me but also sounds nothing like LOONA’s so what or Why Not? Both of those songs had interesting choruses to me with more than just typical drops. Why not at least had the goofy fun Di Da Dum chorus that reminded me of 2nd gen and So What had the escalating Vocals. I think the song you’re trying to reference is Pretty Savage by BP as that’s basically the same chorus
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I literally didn’t even make it through the whole song. I think I feel worse about the song for the girls because I really think it doesn’t pull on any of their strengths both musically and performance wise.
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I got a solid minute and a half and I regret listening to all of it. Like the girls have so much potential and their debut year is a great example of that but this song choice is not it. Not by a long shot like there’s no charisma to this, it’s so soulless. You know that’s the problem-it lacks energy, it lacks personality, it’s grating, and honestly an insult to the girls. They’re overflowing with sassiness and they tackle vibrant high energy songs so well. If this is girlcrush can we please go back to their teencrush days. I thought not shy was bad but god I prefer it so much more than this. This should have never left the producers computer. I don’t actually hate songs-I’m just ambivalent which is about the worst thing a piece of art can be but I might actually say that I hated this.
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Sounds a lot like Gimme Gimme by NCT to me. Both rely on their jarring instrumentals to drive the song, which doesn’t really go anywhere. Such a shame as I’ve liked all of Itzy’s past material, including Not Shy.
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Not Shy grew on me too. This one…we’ll see.
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At least Gimme Gimme had some melody
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8 for longevity? why?
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Because whether I like it or not, I know this track will eventually worm its way into my head. Maybe longevity isn’t always a good thing haha
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I thought it meant how long it’d stay in your listening rotation. Good to know, I was genuinely shocked
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It’s more of a “do I think the song will grow on me or not” rating, which is why it’s rarely a low number because almost everything ends up growing me whether I like it or not.
It’s definitely the most nebulous of my criteria, and I honestly don’t know if I would still include it if I were re-starting this blog from scratch.
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If there was a chance you would be re-starting this blog, what would you replace longevity with?
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I admire your optimism, but the only way this is going to worm its way into my head is if they tattoo M.A.F.I.A on a bunch on annelids and toss them in the coffin before they plant me.
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I love this comment so much. Thank you for making it
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The fact that Itzy was on track to be one of the new generation of kpop’s great groups and they just COMPLETELY ruined that with one song. They should be absolutely embarrassed at whatever this is. Truly horrible song and an utter shock that they would destroy every last trace of their goodwill with this comeback.
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I highly doubt that as people said that about Icy and Not Shy and were singing it the next week. It will definitely grow and I think you guys are being a little dramatic lmao. Even if it’s not their outright best it gets attention like signal or How You Like That. That’s all you need nowadays. No one is forgetting ITZY and plenty of groups have bounced back from bad charting songs to best charting the next comeback
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right? how is this song any worse than icy or not shy? the dramatics
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Ooh, I actually loved ICY. It’s got a great groove.
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Well Icy and not shy we’re unique so it just took people some getting used to but they really let Itzy’s aura shine through. This is just straight up generic and doesn’t feel like an itzy song at all
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Nick, I know this is your KPOP blog. However, you’ve mentioned how some western songs have lyrics that had turned you off, especially in reference to english lyrics in kpop ( ONF’s gepetto comes to mind). So my question to you…. what are the best english language songs ( from the west) lyrically? and a follow up would be: what contibutes to good lyrics in your book?
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This is a great question, and I’m going to try to comb my memory for examples. I don’t listen to English-language music nearly as often as I used to, so this will be like dusting off the cobwebs. I’ll get back to you!
As far as my preferences, here’s what I look for:
1. Do no harm.
For me, lyrics are not the most important ingredient in a song. It’s just a personal preference. I’m much more invested in the music, so for me “good lyrics” do nothing to distract from the music itself.
2. Specific, yet universal
I like when lyrics paint a specific story, using personal and unique details to illustrate a universal theme. I much prefer this to vague cliches, but if the lyrics are vague enough that’s okay too because then I can ignore them and focus on the music.
3. The less “I/Me” the better
I prefer lyrics written about a character, or ones that are written in such a way that the protagonist could be anyone. The less “I’s” and “me’s” in a song, the better. I’m not a fan of “diary pop,” or music that exists solely to fuel a tabloid narrative or public feud. So while I like specific imagery and love when music feels deeply personal to the artist, I prefer it not to feel self-indulgent.
That’s what I’ve got off the top of my head. But, you’ve inspired me to think about this further! Honestly, the reason I mostly listen to K-pop/J-pop now is to *avoid* lyrics, which is weird because I do so much writing myself. Maybe that’s why I’m hyper-attuned to words in pop songs?
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I also love ambiguity! Lyrics that get my imagination working are always a plus. This track immediately comes to mind, especially with how well the lyrics match the shifting tempo and instrumentation. (And yes, I realize that it’s got a ton of “I/me” in it… but it’s a story song from the perspective of a character!)
Abba got real dark during their latter years, but they were always fantastic lyricists even when their songs were more fluffy novelty than edgy synthpop.
Abba – The Visitors ‘https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLI2DxUZx5M’
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WHOA, I had no idea ABBA could sound like that. That transition into the chorus gave me chills. I totally agree, the lyrics match the music so well. The visual I have is pretty terrifying… “I have been waiting for these visitors” …a simple lyric but in context you can’t help but wonder what’s going on. I wanna dance, but also lock the door and hide under my bed
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More of my favorites. I guess I love story-songs with vivid imagery, specific settings and dark undertones. Who knew? Haha
Tinashé – Zambezi “https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcHpCTQDlHI”
Laakso – Norrköping “https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKfCyS2i_pE”
Laakso – Västerbron “https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxgVBn0dj0Q”
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It’s funny that you listen to kpop-jpop to avoid lyrics. Often When I try to introduce Kpop to people who haven’t heard it before they say they don’t like it because they can’t understand the lyrics. For me,if lyrics matter that much…just go read a poem.
Also, I realize “rain on me” kinda goes the vague route and can be seen as both personal to gaga and the listener. I mention it cause it was mytop song on spotify last year (85 plays lol)
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The fact that I don’t understand the lyrics is a big reason I like K-pop! If the lyrics are dumb or problematic I can’t tell (usually), and I can just enjoy the quality of the music.
Once when I was younger I watched a scene from a musical performed in Swedish (written by ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, actually) and I was able to understand the broad strokes of what was happening despite not knowing what they said. After looking up the english translation, I felt proud of myself for understanding correctly, and I felt comforted by the universality of it.
I like doing that with K-pop, seeing how much I can understand without knowing and then checking to see if I’m right.
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With K-pop, I feel like there’s usually enough concept and random English lyrics to get the point across, but I like how it feels more ambiguous. It lets my imagination run, which I much prefer over everything being spelled out for me.
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I think you might be right about being hyper-attuned to the words because you write a lot yourself. When you’re writing a lot yourself, you tend to view any text through a more critical lense – at least in my experience. I’m not really a writer, but I prefer Kpop and Jpop for the exact same reason. When listening to English music, I can’t always turn off my brain and I end up noticing awkward lyrics or grammatical errors which distracts me from the song.
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I have thoughts here.
Rhymes
Curls into the melody
Curls into the sound and meaning of the language
Uses alliteration cleverly
Uses vowels and consonants well
Tells a story
Overt when they need to be
Covert when they need to be
And yet seems seamless, effortless, and timeless
Here is an example, Paul Simon “Boy in the Bubble” from mid 80’s. I could write an essay about this song. The lyrics are old but still relevant, and tick all of the above. Apparently there are no lyric videos available, so here is a concert version.
‘https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hk7MCvCHNQA
It’s a turn-around jump shot
It’s everybody jump start
It’s every generation throws a hero up the pop charts
Medicine is magical and magical is art
Think of the boy in the bubble
And the baby with the baboon heart
And I believe
These are the days of lasers in the jungle
Lasers in the jungle somewhere
Staccato signals of constant information
A loose affiliation of millionaires
And billionaires and baby
These are the days of miracle and wonder
This is the long distance call
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all, oh yeah
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Yes. A voice of reason. Paul Simon is an amazing poet from an amazing era in music history. It’s unfortunate that today’s generation don’t have even one great musical poet, let alone an abundance of them as people had in the 60s.
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I’m not an expert, but these young people are quite ‘poetic’ in my book:
Angel Olsen (born 1987)
Zach Condon from Beirut (born 1985)
Jens Lekman (born 1981)
Tamino (born 1996)
FKA twigs (born 1988)
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The B sides on the album are 10 times better than Mafia in the Morning and I literally don’t know why JYP would compose this and pick this out for them when Kidding Me actually used their talents perfectly and had an amazing melody.
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I agree, Kidding Me has a drop that works much better
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My thumb was hovering on that back button before the first verse was over.
Who do I blame for this?
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JYP. He inevitably seems responsible for most of his company’s recent lackluster girl group releases. Not Shy and Mafia are both by him. Twice’s Signal, I’m Gonna Be A Star. All of the “edgy” songs he gets involved in tend to tank, but he does some much better work on a bit more retro-ish and slow burn songs like Feel Special, What is Love, Sunmi’s 24 Hours. For me, Wannabe was ITZY’s knockout moment. I’d love for them to work with Galactika again, who are also responsible for Dalla Dalla. Why JYP has gone in a different direction after Wannabe performed so well is beyond me. There’s no need to fix what isn’t broken, and it’s very reminiscent of the drop in the quality of Twice’s early singles when you had Black Eyed Pilsung heavily responsible for LOA, Cheer UP, TT, and then JYP suddenly taking the reigns for Signal.
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Oh god so it was JYP afterall. I remember hating Signal with a passion, that song’s ending leaves a bad taste on my ears.
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Even when the teasers are just out I already kinda prepared in a way that the song is probably gonna be their weakest one, but to be honest, on first listen I find it just *a little* better than Not Shy? Like yeah 3/4 of the song is them posturing and talking stuff, but it’s Itzy so it works? Just barely though.
JYP is really sabotaging Itzy tbh, their concept and the fun dance tracks in their first three releases are excellent. I hope this mafia game roleplay song is just a one-time thing.
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I blame earattack, first got7 and now ITZY
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yep, they really do be attack our ears ay?
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Not surprising, Earattack worked on this. (third on song composition)
Do we get a buried treasure with this one?
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Nope. Unfortunately, the album is a big miss for me 😦
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Such a quick review. This song was so underwhelming and the instrumental really annoys. It sounds like they threw up some scraps together. I barely remember any of the song even after a few listens, everything except the annoying Synth, so the longevity is justified ig.
When the 3rd teaser came out, I was already let down. I hoped atleast the verses could have been better, but this is disappointing from such a promising group.
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With Not Shy, it felt like an awkward rookie attempt to copy ITZY. This feels like the bottom of the barrel, fourth rate rookie BP/ITZY soundalike attempt from a company that’s never launched an idol group before. I also can’t help but notice that the amount of English has drastically increased in ITZY’s EP this go around, and combined with their English language releases, it seems clear JYP is targeting the US market. They have NiziU for Twice’s older sound in Japan, Twice’s more mature sound for Korea and Japan as well, so that leaves the US as ITZY’s natural and obvious target. I just don’t why agencies think that aiming for the US means stripping songs of a melody and sung chorus. It’s just frustrating because performance oriented stages don’t need to be devoid of an actual song (see GFriend, Dreamcatcher, Ateez, ACE, etc.).
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I guess there’s an obvious reason they performed Sorry Not Sorry first before the title track in the showcase, I guess they know the title song’s lacking. Atleast the first one was more interesting… Sorry not Sorry sounds like a 4minute and an Nct song but so Itzy at the same time, FAR BETTER than the BP title track. If this was a double title track it would have been a little better.
Actually, as I’m listening to the album, the bsides definitely stand out alot more compared to the title track. Is this some sort of American marketing strategy? It’s not fun.
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On a side note, maybe their limit testing the fans? Put out an eh song then see how the audience are gonna eat it up so they can atleast avoid or profit from bad songs in the future.
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I’m not quite how this made it as the title track (actually, it’s pretty obvious. The only reason it’s the title track is because JYP was involved in it.) when “Sorry Not Sorry” fits in a lot better with previous ITZY title tracks and is a much better song than this.
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Yeah this is disappointing it sounds so generic when Itzy’s music is usually so unique
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Wow. I think I just felt my soul leave my body.
Why on earth, with all the uber talented songwriters and producers they have on hand, did JYP come up with this steaming garbage pile of a ‘song’, and simultaneously sabotage one of their top acts??? Poor ITZY …
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the way this disappointed me… i was really hoping for this to be good but it’s just not it. this is itzy’s hylt but i find hylt to be a tad better and more exciting cause at least it went somewhere, while itzy’s didn’t really go anywhere and i find it really bland. i want them to go back to the mammoth hooks they created before!!
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There’s a lot to unpack here:
1. Mafia in the Morning is so weak compared to literally every other title track ITZY has done, it’s not even funny. I found Not Shy fun even if I think it was their weakest at the time. That said, I actually don’t hate this song, I find the chorus lackluster, but it has some hooks (some bad, some better) pulled really down by bad production. It’s still not really bad to listen honestly, but the verses and half of the chorus are not great at all.
2. Shout out to Lia! She made this song at least worthwhile to listen just for her. Her voice is crazy good. They’re finally utilizing her in such an amazing capacity, she caught my attention immediately this time. All the parts I liked were hers along with Chaeryong’s parts in her prechorus and the 누구일까 Mafia at the end of the chorus. This is the prechorus, the bridge and the outro.
3. What a bridge! If the entire song matched the melody like that, it would’ve been great, even with the lackluster instrumental. But no, we are stuck with this.
4. This song really doesn’t like change much? That’s not a bad thing in certain songs (Cherry), but why not like ramp it up for this. With such a great bridge, you could include some kind of dance-break, add more brass or just more percussion for the final chorus instead of just… nothing.
5. If I had to rank this, 6 to 6.5 basically. Take out all the verses, and the rap part of the chorus, you could get maybe get an 8 overall (maybe even higher if you reworked some parts). Lia’s parts (and by extension Chaeryong’s) are that good. The production needs to change a lot though to just actually sound better.
6. As for the other songs in the album. I am impressed by Sorry Not Sorry, it’s basically the intro to Not Shy’s MV but the entire song with insane production and some great melodies and a better rap chorus than Mafia in the Morning.
Kidding Me’s melodic bridge and prechorus + EDM parts are great, but its raps are not as good.
Wild Wild West starts off nice, and though I’m not fully sold on the raps, I like the first part of the chorus, with the descending chromaticism. The bridge is great as always.
SHOOT has vocal processing that’s really bad and a bad chorus too.
I love TENNIS’s approach with such a sparse guitar + bass production but keeping it going with melodies. It has an amazing chorus/pre-chorus though maybe not the best hook (HERE I GO SMASHING SMASHING).
7. As I’ve learned from listening, just give Lia the bridge every time and make it super melodic. She knocks it out the park with basically all the bridges she sings.
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I can’t believe I forgot to mention this.
8. If you tole me this was made by some nugu company, I probably would’ve believed you. Without the charisma of the girls and their great voices, this would’ve failed HARD. It’s already flopping about with the bad production, but without any hint of that ITZY charm this song would have just been bad without any good qualities.
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they did better last time TT, from dalla dalla to this song??? TT it’s a step down for them musically i think
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This sounds like How You Like That stripped of any of it’s redeeming qualities. Not only is this dull, it is actively un-enjoyable to me.
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Okay the one good thing that came out of this song for me was the actual use of Lia’s vocal abilities. I was so happy they actually had her show off her vocal talents with the bridge. Like FINALLY, this girl can sing let her show it.
As for the song…eh 7/10. Would say 6, but I know it will grow on me. The choreography is too killer not to see some live stages.
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Damn….I can’t think of a girl group track which has overtly impressed me. I was just researching and turns out, not even one girl group track has reached the 8.75 mark this year.
And even worse, Only three have made the 8.5.
Dreamcatcher’s Odd Eye
TRI.BE’s Doom Da Da
Cherry Bullet’s Love So Sweet.
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You might not have taken this as a “challenge accepted”, so feel free to ignore, but your comment inspired me to look back at the year so far.
I do think it’s been surprisingly rife with good soloists – we had “Lilac” by IU, “abittipsy” by Youha, Yubin’s comback, Wendy’s first solo, “Tail” from Sunmi, “Lose” from Wonho, etc.
As for girl groups, I think “Odd Eye” and “Love So Sweet” are standing out at the moment. I’m not sure what I’d add to that list – I thought “Hwaa” and “Unnatural” were okay. “Ponzona” was pretty neat. I actually thought “Blood Night” from G-reyish was quite good (but with poor mixing).
So, yeah. Maybe I’m forgetting something, but I do think it’s been shallow for quality GG music this year. I’m hoping for better things in the rest of the year!
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I loved the female soloists this year! Almost all of them are excellent but I’ll always place the magnetic sunmi at the top of the pack. That chorus is excellent!
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I think part of it is that there just haven’t been many chances for great girl group songs so far. The year has been flush with boy group releases, but there have only been a fraction of high-profile girl group comebacks in comparison.
I’ve got my fingers crossed for Oh My Girl. Don’t disappoint me, girls!
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Dun Dun Dance looks promising!
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Woah Nick you’re awake too? Whaaaaat? I noticed that we live in the same time zone so I thought this was going to come out in the morning. Also lyric wise Mafia in the Morning feels like the angrier version of Not Shy. Transitioning from “Hey I’m not shy I’ll come to you when I want” to “You’re mine and there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it”
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Oh nevermind this was posted at 9Pm oops. Also I accidently liked my own comment so that may be taken the wrong way…
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The name M.A.F.I.A makes sense.. ..because this song is a crime.
M.ake
A.ll
F.ans
I.nstantly
A.ngry
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I’m sorry but this song is shit. there are no redeeming qualities at all. How You Like That at least had an amazing breakdown finale, this one just doesn’t have anything. I guess some k-pop groups are bound to have their worst singles.
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Going to treat this like “More and More” and pretend it didn’t happen and get extra pumped in the fall when they release something out of this world!
More seriously, their only track I’ve liked is Wannabe. I think their music is just not for me and that’s cool! But this is so…not them? It’s ‘bad’ in a way that’s just lackluster, not something coming up to taste. I’m sure it’ll grow on a lot of people when the performances come out. They have fun stages.
Itzy are so young and influential in the industry I’m worried about duplicates of this coming out now. Everyone in the group doesn’t have to ‘rap’. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
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I agree. Itzy please stop rapping you’re not great at it
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It sounds like Chungha Bicycle. The first and second verse should be singing not rapping or more singing and less rapping.(and i think only ryujin has a good sound doing rap, yeji and yuna was not bad but prefer them singing).The pre-chourus part is the best, also the instrumental in this part sounds really nice. The chorus lack of hooks but still catchy, and yuna ring ding ding ding ding is not necessary. Because i still love Itzy i will give this 7.25.
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I am going to be the nth to say that this song is a pale imitation of How You Like That, which I also did not like.
Also, there they are again. Rap triplets. onetwothree fourfivesix seven. C’mon people, you can get more creative than that with a rap rhythm.
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I actually like this song a lot…? It grew on me as it went on and the hooks were instantaneous for me. And I know most will think it doesn’t even come close but it sort of reminded me of Exo’s Overdose.
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I think joyless is a good description. I’m pretty sure this will grow on me if I listen to it enough, but I’m not convinced to put in in my playlist. What is that bleep bleep bleep in the song? Is it some ubiquitous rap background? I hear it all the time.
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While I seem to not hate this as much as everyone else, this is clearly a huge step down from their other work (and this is coming from someone who LOVED Not Shy!). I actually quite liked the production – I’ve been hoping that Itzy would dip its toes into more abrasive, experimental electronic textures, and I think they did that well here. The song itself, on the other hand, is painfully underwritten. The verses are entirely forgettable, and the chorus feels like 5 random hook lines strung together, with none of them being especially catchy. The saving grace of this song is clearly the members of Itzy themselves, who are putting every ounce of charisma they can into a real dead fish of a song. Special mention goes to Lia, who is finally getting a chance to show her unique and engaging vocal tone, not only on this song but across the whole mini album.
Speaking of which, Sorry Not Sorry is one of the best kpop songs released this year. I haven’t been able to get the main hook out of my head since I first heard the teaser, and the production sits at the wonderfully wacky intersection of spaghetti Western and Celtic jig. It seems that this will be the “promoted B-side”, which I am thrilled about – maybe a Buried Treasure on the way? – and I hope to see them perform it on music shows and such. If not, I will simply pretend that MITM did not happen, bide my time for Itzy’s fall release, and hope that JYP doesn’t screw up Twice or Stray Kids next.
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Sorry Not Sorry is a bop and a half and I am disappointed that we won’t get a Buried Treasure for it. It’s actually a fantastic song that plays to ITZY’s strengths much better than whatever the hell How You Like That 2.0 was.
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they need more “wannabe’s” and less “MA.FI.A’s” in their discography
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I can admit that there were some moments that fell a little flat, but I actually really liked the song. 😅 I was extremely taken by ITZY’s performance.
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I’m…so confused.
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I’m a huge fan of beat drop choruses…when they work. I’m actually offended that How You Like That was rated so much lower than whatever this was. At least How You Like That somewhat sold the style and Lisa’s rapping was good, this song was just bad. The awkward pauses in the chorus killed any impact it might’ve left, and the verses were plain bad. I’m a rap fan and there were parts that had some good potential (Yuna’s part in the first verse, Yeji’s part in the second verse)…if the writers decided they wanted to actually rhyme. I’m sure it’s not THAT hard to rhyme…and I’m convinced they wanted to sabotage Ryujin with that awkward “haha” line. Poor girl.
I’m actually usually a lover of basic “bad girl” concepts, but the song has to make sense and most importantly the girls have to shine. When it comes to the girls themselves, Lia and Chaeryeong’s vocal parts were the only decent parts of the song, but even then (except for Lia’s bridge, which I actually like quite a bit) the song made them sound a little boring. I’m used to seeing ITZY be totally magnetic performers, and it’s just sad that the girls put all this work into it for a song that just wasn’t worth it. Still rooting for them though.
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Oh, silly me, How You Like That was only rated .5 lower. Haha still though, I would rate this song a 5 at best.
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This is soooo bad, barely a 3 for me. It definitely shows JYP doesn’t understand ITZY’s strengths, of the group only Ryunjin is a good rapper, so giving them a song that relies so much on rapping was the wrong move. The song is a literal mess and misses what characterizes ITZY as a girl group. It’s such a shame, I was looking forward to them expanding on a sound similar to “Wannabe”.
Also, what the hell is “Mafia in the House” supposed to mean?
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Only BAP were the best at playing “bad boys” in their productions.
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this is actually their best song after wannabe
though that’s not saying much
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About Itzy only “wannabe” is listenable. Dalla and Icy are a joke
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Agree with most of comments. This seems very unlike Itzy and not in a good way. There is barely any melody here. I always thought that Itzy’s sound was a bit unique in K-Pop. Dalla Dalla, Icy and Wannabe were all bombastic tracks that had this electro- pop sound to it? Not sure if I’m using the correct words. I guess they”ll have another chance to come up with a better title track this year but for now I am sitting this one out.
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Itzy used to be fun. Even Icy, which I still have never grown to love (the song is mostly good, but that chorus is awful), at least doesn’t take itself too seriously and I appreciate it.
The last two comebacks have just been droll, generic “girl crush.” This one is less irritating than Not Shy, but I still don’t love it.
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I keep trying to sit through the whole song… I’ve tried with the music video and with their Mnet comeback performance. I can’t do it. To me, that elevates this song to a whole new level of weak and I feel bad for the Itzy girls, who are talented and charismatic. But even they can’t make a song so badly produced and meaningless salvagable. It’s a shame because Wannabe is a gem and I really liked Icy and Dalla Dalla too. If it ain’t broke…
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Can we talk about how this comment section has almost 100 comments? It’s really great so see everyone’s opinions about the song but oh man the popular opinion here is that this song crashes and burns into the girl crush sphere. The song has grown onto me quite a bit but I’m just super shocked about how much people dislike it…
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Never apologize for having your own opinion. I like Hot Issue’s “Gratata”, even though most people think it’s a hot steaming pile of fetid dingo kidneys.
Viva la difference! Can you imagine a world where everyone liked the same song? Where’s the fun in that?
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Agree 100%! Variety is the spice of life, as they say 🙂
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This cb is so disappointing to me. The song is horrible, the MV is so repetitive, i dont even know what JYP is thinking rn. Like how would he put this song as their title track? Im pretty sure every B-side are better than all of their title tracks, I already enjoyed it at my first listening. So plsss, i hope JYP or any ITZY’s producer can see this, i hope u guys can do better at their next comeback. And dont blame it on the girls, they have nothing to do with the song, they are actually very talented and have lots of potential, it is just so disrespectful for JYP to do this to them. Please just dont make any songs from now on, you are ruining your own artists.
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Totally agree, when I first heard it I was just confused from start to end. Just as You said it “where did THAT Itzy go?” I thought their sound to be pretty unique before. Now it sounds like Blackpink (which I’m not a fan of). I’m tired of this extreme girl crush trend going on and the thing that annoys me the most is the random words in the background during the song. The MV is also very weirdly cut and edited.
The girls pull it off amazingly though and I really like Lias vocals.
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This will be one of the worst songs of the year for sure.
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Every time a new comment is coming in this post, I brace myself that it would be them insulting this site or the rating but nope, almost everyone agrees that this comeback is dumpster fire.
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Oof doof, my post (below), was meant as a reply to yours.
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That’s an insult to dumpster fires.
Sorry, I had to. 😛
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I find it good that the moment I am craving for stunning girl group tracks, they are finally throwing their ring into the competition. Really Excited for Everglow, Rocket Punch and especially Oh My Girl!
and goddamn fromis_9 man.
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OMG really delivered with “Dear OHMYGIRL”. The entire release is spin-worthy.
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