Review

Song Review: ILLIT – Jellyous

When deciding which song off ILLIT’s newest album to feature as a “buried treasure,” I waffled between Oops and Jellyous. I’m glad I chose the former because now I get to write about the newly-promoted Jellyous as well. This is also another chance to wax poetic about how much Do The Dance has grown on me over the past few weeks. It’s by far my favorite ILLIT title track at this point.

Jellyous is also fun, though not as uniquely ear-catching. At its worst, the song conforms to the muted sing-song approach I’ve grown so tired of in K-pop, but a few elements lift it beyond these overused trends. A retro — almost chiptunes — thread of percussion supports the bulk of the track, adding to ILLIT’s mystical girl conceit. Then, we get a nice post-chorus that lets the herky-jerky phrasing of the melodies finally stretch into something more robust. These are the melodic moments ILLIT need more of. These refrains flesh out the track and push it beyond pure novelty.

Ultimately, Jellyous is too repetitive and flat to completely win me over in the way Do The Dance did, but it makes for a nice b-side and a decent promotional follow-up. My hope is that the group continue to tease out the more thrilling elements of their songs and eventually end up in a sonic landscape closer to a senior artist like Lovelyz (whose musical touches poke out here and there across ILLIT’s album in promising ways).

Hooks 8
 Production 8
 Longevity 8
 Bias 8
 RATING 8

Grade: B-

10 thoughts on “Song Review: ILLIT – Jellyous

  1. Ooh, I like this one, it’s really cute, I love the little blippy-bloppy retro synths and percussions throughout the track, though I agree it’s really repetitive and almost wears out its stay, but the post-chorus offers a set of decent, serviceable falsettos that is a nice contrast to the repetitive catchphrases. Do The Dance also grew on me a bit, and I hope the girls take the strengths from both tracks and develop their niche.

    Rating’s the same.

    Liked by 2 people

  2. For the current post-NewJeans gestalt, the song works very well. That said, I think it skews a bit young in both the content and voice styling, so for me it is a pass.

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  3. How many Illit songs do I have in my Playlist? None

    They are simply too childish for me. Also, I don’t appreciate all their variations of dududada, tiktiktaktak…

    This one is actually not that bad. As a matter fact, compared to all the other releases that came out today, I think this is by far the best one. 7.75/10

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  4. I really wish they gave us a song with more chest voice and not all head voice. I want to feel a little soul in my music. Some attitude. As others have said, it sounds childish. I think that’s my main issue with Illit and why Cherish is the only song I really care to listen to. At least the chorus is somewhat different than their other releases, but honestly it’s probably the most forgettable hook they’ve released. Actually is there even a hook?

    6.25 (6,6,6,7)

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  5. Bro what is it with their music videos and always having to open their mouths or showing so many close ups of it?? So gross, what even is the concept? Song is made for kids. Pass.

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      • I mean, I never said it was explicitly inappropriate, I just find it disgusting. Like i do not want to know what’s inside their mouths or other people’s mouths lol, they just show it so often for some reason. But now that you mention it, I guess subconsciously it is kind of inappropriate if that’s what you took from my observation..

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    • respectfully fuck off lol, their concept is literally horror dream core and that mouth opening part is the concept

      and if youre referring to cherish, either check out the meaning or dont bother comment cause cherish mv was literally about sarangnees (which is wisdom teeth in korean)

      Liked by 1 person

  6. Not really about Jellyous, but I caught up to Illit late and really enjoy the EP in its entirety. A big annoyance i have with K-pop (and also a lot of people on here) is that songs recently have been ending too quickly but here I don’t mind it as much since they’re all paced out well and have fresh ideas in mind.

    Do the Dance, Little Monster, and Bamsopoong are my faves.

    Liked by 1 person

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