From competing to debut as a girl group member to finally performing on the big stage as a group of 5, Belift Lab’s newest girl group, ILLIT has debuted with their extended play, SUPER REAL ME.
It was June 1, 2023 when Korean television network JTBC and entertainment company under HYBE Corporation BELIFT LAB announced that they have begun filming for the new survival program R U Next?, which aims to create the agency’s next global girl group. R U Next? premiered on June 30, 2023 with the live finale being on September 1st. On September 1st, 2023 the final members were chosen: Yunah, Minju, Moka, Wonhee, Iroha, and Youngseo, forming the group, ILLIT. The group’s name, ILLIT, derives from the phrase “I will be it.” Originally, the group was supposed to debut as a 6-member group, but Youngseo, who was a pre-debut member, left the group before their debut in January of 2024 after coming to a mutual agreement to terminate her contract with BELIFT LAB. On February 13, 2024, BELIFT LAB confirmed that ILLIT would be debuting in March and on February 21, it was confirmed that the group’s debut date would be on March 25 with the mini album SUPER REAL ME.
The extended play consists of 4 songs: My World, Magnetic, Midnight Fiction, and Lucky Girl Syndrome. The album first opens with My World, an upbeat pop song with bubbly underwater background noises and chanty lyrics as the 5 members repeatedly sing, “This is my world.”
Magnetic, the group’s debut title track song, is a combination of the house and pluggnb genre, making the track one of the first songs in K-Pop with this genre. The song explores the sensation of being drawn to someone you have feelings for like a magnet, “My heart feels like a giant magnet, Everything about you sticks to my heart, boy, We’re magnetized, I admit it.” The lyrics capture the excitement of irresistibly falling in love with someone. The mixture of the house and pluggnb make for a sugary, sweet track, making Magnetic an automatic earworm.
The 3rd track on the album is Midnight Fiction, a softer pop song. The sound is dreamy with almost nostalgic sounding synths in the background. This track specifically highlights the girls and their vocals, which give a soft and angelic feel in their songs. The chorus then picks up with a faster drum beat and melody with the girls singing the reverbed lyric, “Midnight Fiction.” The lyrics contain the idea of escapism, leaving this reality behind to indulge in the enchanting world of imagination and dreams.
Lucky Girl Syndrome, the last track on the group’s EP, is a fun, upbeat song that has an addictive flute melody running through the entire song. Promoted alongside the group’s title track, Lucky Girl Syndrome is a perfect closer to this whimsical and dreamlike album.
With this album, ILLIT had made a great start to their career, vocally and musically. As they have continued to promote the album, the extended play has also seen great commercial success, with Magnetic, making history being the very first K-Pop debut song to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 91. The EP is not only cohesive and well-engineered but also incredibly addictive and sweet. It is safe to say that from here on out, ILLIT is only going up.
