Hm… Idk how to say this without it being seen as an attack. It’s not an attack, it comes from a place of love considering the fact I’m talking about my ult group here.
Itzy aren’t as loved as they used to be, and JYP is going to have to work hard if they want to get them back up. Itzy got 21 music show wins in 2019, 13 in 2020 and 8 in 2021. So far they only have 3 this year. The number drops every year, and it seems less people care about the fact they’re from JYP and only tune in if they like them. When ITZY debuted, they were a fresh new girl group, from a big3 company and were one of the main marking points that 4th gen had begun. Now, they’re competing against so many other big names, like aespa, IVE, NewJeans, LeSserafim, STAYC. YG also needs to debut a 4th gen girl group soon. Itzy are still at the top of their game at the moment, but if JYP doesn’t find a way to keep the audience’s attention on them people are going to move onto other groups.
The problem is with ITZY, is they’ve sort of been caught in the middle of TWICE, NMIXX and NiziU. TWICE is handling mature concepts, NNIXX appears to be doing girl crush though I suppose DICE will solidify that, and NiziU while a Japanese group is hammering down on cute concepts. So ITZY’s only choice is the bright and energetic concept they’ve gone for. I personally think ITZY would suit a girl crush concept better, after all they started with teen crush but none of them are teens anymore. They fit the concept of Mafia and Voltage so well. I’m not saying they shouldn’t do bright, I mean Loco was a girl crush concept ig but wasn’t a dark one it was a bright girl crush if you get what I mean. I think JYP should play on their strengths because everyone lost their mind at MAMA with their circus stage, and then everyone was HYPED for the royal concept. I also think tiktok is sabotaging ITZY. Groups these days make choreos specifically for them to go viral. Loco and Sneakers both suffer from this imo. Dalla Dalla, Icy and Wannabe were good because they were good choreos. They were addicting AND they showed off ITZY’s strength. Not Shy was also an amazing choreo even if it was mostly known for its ITZAYYYYs (which were iconic). And Mafia too, I don’t think Mafia fell victim to the tiktok curse coz it had so many quick small movements that are really hard to perfect.
Maybe this is the direction ITZY themselves want to take. I personally love their 6 first title tracks and Sneakers is fine too. I’m still supporting them, and they still have loads of midzys behind them. Itzy will never be a small group, but when I see all these fandoms starting to call other groups “the 4th gen leaders” (even though that title is stupid), I can’t blame them for saying it, because these new groups are catching up now. Itzy may have gotten a head start but if JYP don’t step their game up, they might get lost in a sea of big names.
Almost every bside on checkmate got better reception than Sneakers, and all of them had a more girl crush vibe to them. Yeji even said she thought Racer would’ve been a good title track. I’ve seen people saying What I Want would’ve been a good title track. Even though I didn’t like any of the 4 bsides (Domino was a fan song so I’m excluding it from the “girl crush bsides” list), people seem to want badass ITZY SO JYP LISTEN AND NEXT KOREAN COMEBACK GIVE BADASS ITZY!!!