ITZY’s rise to the top of K-pop

When they stormed into the K-pop industry with “Dalla Dalla” in 2019, girl group ITZY wanted to offer something different – the literal translation of the word dalla (달라), in Korean. Still teenagers at the time, Lia, Yeji, Ryujin, Chaeryeong, and Yuna came forth with a confidence way beyond their years. They looked and sounded like seasoned veterans as they sang: “Don’t measure me by your standards alone / I love being myself, I’m nobody else / I’m different.”

“Being different and loving yourself because of it” became their adage, permeating most of their work so far. In 2020, they inspired the meme “wouldn’t last a day in ITZY” with “Not Shy”, where they assert themselves as “not shy, not me / ITZ-AYYYY.” In 2022, “Sneakers” reinforced their quirks: “Call me crazy, call me trouble / Or you can call me weirdo, I'mma make this clear though / I got all I need to make it through.” And in their latest release, October 15th’s GOLD, they confidently exclaim in the title track: “Head to toe, we’re G-O-L-D, gold.”

Almost six years later, ITZY’s empowering ethos only grew stronger. They are a leading group in the industry, with two studio albums, nine mini-albums, and two successful world tours under their belts. However, when talking to Dazed over Zoom, they are anything but their boastful image. Gathered up in a nondescript conference room, the quintet is cool and collected, careful even, picking the words to use like blocks off a Jenga tower.

Gold comes with two lead singles: the hard-hitting, ITZY-style title track, and the sweeter, melodic “Imaginary Friend.” But don’t ask them to pick favourites. “We can’t choose,” says leader Yeji. “All the members have different picks,” Lia adds. “‘Imaginary Friend’ has a style that we haven’t tried before, and ‘Gold’ is a song where we can show a lot of energy, performance-wise. It was really hard to drop one and pick another. Since ITZY is all about showing different sides, we thought it would be nice to include them all.”

Gold has 11 tracks, although only six are unreleased – the latter half of the album is composed of the songs from ITZY’s latest EP, January’s Born to Be, re-recorded with Lia’s vocals. That is because Lia spent the past year in a health-related hiatus, and Gold marks her official return to the stage. “At first, while preparing the album and being back on schedule, I was kind of nervous,” she shares. “But then, as soon as I got into [it] with our members, I realised how comfortable I am. It didn’t really take much time to get used to it again. I really missed our members and our [fans], MIDZYs. I’m very happy that I could be here, included in this comeback.”

Among the new tracks, some of the member’s most-cherished are “Five”, which Yeji says that “shows our bond from the first meeting to the present, the process and feelings, so I think it’s really special”, and “Supernatural”, that Chaeryeong loves for its “mysterious and dreamy” vibes. “Bad Girls R Us” also adds a sassy layer to the ITZY we already know, with beats that meet halfway between country pop and jazz finesse.

The tracklist also includes “VAY,” a song written and featured by JYP Entertainment labelmate and Stray Kids’ member Changbin. “I was really happy to get this song from him, because he said that he wrote it just for us,” shared Ryujin. “Since he knows us, what we can do best and what are each member’s [strongest] points, it was very comfortable and also very fun to record with him.” In the end, Changbin was impressed. “He said that it was much better than the recording guide,” adds Yeji.

That comment shows how much ITZY have developed throughout these years – a theme that underlines Gold as a whole. For example, the album’s photoshoot was divided in three parts: “we are still different”, “we are still the same”, and “our world is still different”, meaning that ITZY remain the “Dalla Dalla” girls of debut, but continue to bring their original flavours to the world.

And in the album concept trailer, each member takes on a different role than what they are used to, but still convey their essence. “I think it somehow relates to all of us,” says Lia about the video. “We didn’t intentionally pick the characters, but it turned out that [they were] very relatable, so it was easy to get into the character and express it out.”

When reflecting about all the changes they went through, Yeji says that “I thought I was closer to the members from the beginning, but as time goes by, I feel that we can get closer than this. I think what’s different is that we cherish each other more.” For Ryujin, they also got “better and faster on stage, recording the songs, and memorising the choreographies”. But one thing that never changed is the message they want to tell every MIDZY: “love yourself”.

At the core of loving yourself is acceptance – of yourself and of others. “Everyone is different, and realising and accepting [that] leads to loving yourself for just who you are,” says Lia. “At the same time, you [learn] to respect other people [because they] are different too.”

“I learned that people are all different while doing team things,” says Ryujin. “So, I learned how to respect others and how to cooperate with someone you don’t really match.” And when conflicts inevitably arise, they resort to democracy. “We mostly vote,” she adds. “We don’t want to argue with each other and get in a bad mood.” To Chaeryeong, learning how to adapt to life’s ups and downs has been the most remarkable. “Things never go as expected,” she says. “I have to think in many different directions, and practise more and more to be prepared.”

As they enter this new era, everything they learned so far plays a major role in how they want to evolve. “I wish that our music will always give people strength and energy, this has never changed,” says Chaeryeong. “I wish our hard work and health will never change too.” Yuna, who kept to herself for most of the conversation, adds in: “I wish I will never lose hope, and to keep moving forward with hope.”

To Yeji, time is “a precious thing,” and she hopes that every moment spent with members and fans “will always be meaningful”. As for Lia, she hopes the public will see ITZY as a complete ensemble, able to grow and yet maintain their original essence. “Our members have very different charms and different styles, but at the same time, together as a team, we go along very well. I want them to see us as a whole package.”