Will Illit ever go higher than NewJeans did? I doubt it

    I won't comment about NJ's ultimate fate in this piece.


    However, it is true that NJ got the best trainees, which skewed the whole girl group plans of Hybe.


    Because the best trainees were gone, LeSserafim had to do with two people from IZOne, who are now showing their age, and what was remaining and their best member was lost because of the bullying accusation.


    Illit is even worse - again the only member who could speak English was lost because of an unknown cause, which has made Yunah completely superfluous. If Hybe had flexibility it would have cut Yunah, made Minju the leader, and would have added one of the people from R U Next to fill the gap. Why BeliefLab did not cut Yunah after Youngseo's departure is only known to its head, but that left Illit with only 2 members who are worth anything, Minju (YG Trainee) and Iroha (JYP trainee).


    Yunah does not belong there, Moka can't sing to save her life, and Wonhee simply can do nothing. It doesn't help that the latter two are injury prone as well.



    NJ has all of its members getting fame. Hyein was less known but the Senior Singer had given Hyein a chance to collaborate in a song of the former owner of Edam Entertainment so Hyein was recognized too.


    Illit has no members who can speak English, one member who is completely incompatible with the group's concept and two members who subtract more from the group than add to it.


    Although its second album is being delayed because of the MHJ circus and the injuries of the members, its execs will be thinking hard about what to do with it, since if its 2nd album does not do as well as Magnetic, it will probably see a future not too different from MissA, with only Minju surviving, and Iroha probably returning to Japan where because of her young age she will get one more shot.


    The Hybe plan was probably like this - NJ conquers world, LeSserafim mostly concentrating in Japan and USA to some degree as it became popular in there, and after LsSserafim moves to USA, like Twice did, Illit takes over in Japan.


    But because of MHJ NJ is now useless to Hybe, so Illit , who was never intended to advance outside of Japan, now has to fulfill the role intended fro NJ, which I do not think it is capable of.


    It would have been cruel to Yunah, but I think she should have been replaced by an English speaking member if BeliefLab had plans to promote Illit beyond Japan. Business is business.


    Not replacing Yunah will probably result Illit reaching a lower height than NJ did.

    Tbh at the end of the day Illit is a Kpop group so it shouldn’t be the be all end all if they can speak English or not :melon_think: Also I’m sure they’ll learn along the job just like most idols learn to speak Japanese and improve their English with time.


    Will they go higher than NJ probably not. They feel like a lesser version than NJ even during their debut years. Less popular, less hype, less discussions about them, less positivity overall. I don’t even know if they have any solid fans on AKP. I guess only time will tell :huuh:

    Quote from Tatiana1820

    they should have debuted chanelle instead of yunah. they would have had another lead vocalist and an english speaking member who is also beautiful and would match the group. yunah really really doesn't fit in. like REALLY.

    Indeed. I think they thought Channelle (and Jeemin) did not fit with Wonhee.


    But Yunah is not a fit with the group. She does not hide that she doesn't want to do the cutesy stuff for the group.

    Quote from foreveraespaaa

    Tbh at the end of the day Illit is a Kpop group so it shouldn’t be the be all end all if they can speak English or not :melon_think: Also I’m sure they’ll learn along the job just like most idols learn to speak Japanese and improve their English with time.


    Will they go higher than NJ probably not. They feel like a lesser version than NJ even during their debut years. Less popular, less hype, less discussions about them, less positivity overall. I don’t even know if they have any solid fans on AKP. I guess only time will tell :huuh:

    They already started with a huge disadvantage which is unlikely to improve because of the inherent weakness of the group members.

    No.


    I think this easy listening y2k trend is starting to fizzle out. Hybe can still produce catchy songs like magnetic, lucky girl and touch, but I feel like they’ll need to pivot soon. These songs should have gone to NJ and they would have had a more successful comeback this year.


    It’ll be hard to recreate nj’s rise, mhj aesthetics and vision combined with Hybes resources and fanbase made for an insane climb to the top.

    Yunah fits in fine as long as the styling isn't super juvenile. She looks great in a more elegant style like here. Even if she's not a lot of people's favourite she's not useless at all. She's one of the more stable vocalists, her tone adds a nice dynamic to the songs, she's demonstrated good leadership skills during RUNext, she's actually entertaining and good at variety. Most of the other members are kinda quiet and introverted, it would be boring without her.

    Yunah is great. Just stick to the history lessons

  • AllKill VIP

    What do you mean by higher? I feel like Magnetic was as big if not bigger than any NJ song globally.

    And if they want to sell as many albums as NJ, they need to attach them to some fashion item like the beach and murakami bags.

    It‘s only in SK that NJ was impressive but now, the SK charts are dead anyway.

    One thing is, Illit doesnt have the western look that BP had and NJ have. Illit are also clearly aiming at a younger crowd than NJ.

    I believe Katseye is supposed to be NJs successor not Illit. KS seem like a mix between NJ and BP.

    But if anything, LSF, Illit and now KS success shows that what NJ did globally was nothing special. It’s not BTS that no one can touch.

    Quote from LCJK

    What do you mean by higher? I feel like Magnetic was as big if not bigger than any NJ song globally.

    It absolutely was not. When you talk about objective facts, leave how you "feel" out of it.


    Super Shy debuted at #66 and peaked at #48 on the Billboard Hot 100, spending 8 weeks on the chart, the second most weeks on the chart after only Cupid.


    Magnetic debuted at #91 and spent 1 week on the chart.


    Super Shy is also easily the most critically acclaimed girl group song in K-Pop history


    Q9ffSIMPuL4HwViboa9Zwz9GbHKLacs1TO_aeq_jZfQtCwnVyPQuvVFMIlY41w0WOzAiT0sbwa2S8GTMJBiezhnmU5INjoni4eCMx4iHcHmcQ24WrehsBa8WBTUWVksI20iQwrNKSTd6Mg6NaosOVGw


    ILLIT will never reach NewJeans' level. At best, their peak is becoming the Kobe Bryant to New Jeans' Michael Jordan. That's their absolute maximum potential.

    Quote from LCJK

    It‘s only in SK that NJ was impressive

    What is homie talking about?


    NewJeans literally are the fastest IDOL GROUP in history to 5 billion streams on Spotify, the only girl group ever to have 5 songs chart on the BB Hot 100 in a single calendar year, was only the second group in history to achieve a #1 best selling album on the Billboard 200, outselling the Barbie OST in the states, tied BLACKPINK for the most weeks spent on said Billboard 200, and they have the highest second week sales in BB 200 history by any girl group.


    But they were "only impressive in Korea"


    LMAO


    But in other threads, haters told me they were only impressive in the West.


    Pick a narrative and stick with it.

    Quote from Cold_Wave

    Yunah fits in fine as long as the styling isn't super juvenile. She looks great in a more elegant style like here. Even if she's not a lot of people's favourite she's not useless at all. She's one of the more stable vocalists, her tone adds a nice dynamic to the songs, she's demonstrated good leadership skills during RUNext, she's actually entertaining and good at variety. Most of the other members are kinda quiet and introverted, it would be boring without her.

    Yunah is great. Just stick to the history lessons

    Yunah is like Sowon of GFriend, never really fitting into the group until the end of its life.


    Yunah's vocals are average, but since the vocals of the other 3 are nothing to write home about, that does help her somewhat since otherwise it would be all Minju solo, like Oak Juhyun of Finkle who sang about 50% of every Finkl songs.


    She does well in variety shows, yes, since she is the only one with a reaction, the Japanese barely understanding what is going on and Wonhee being someone out of water all the time.

    Quote from stxr

    i hope illits music can be versital

    Not with Wonhee, who was selected precisely because of the Girl Next Door concept and does not look like someone who will do girl crush. They will probably try that near the end of the contract after new acts begin to take their positions.

    Quote from 2PS1

    No.


    I think this easy listening y2k trend is starting to fizzle out. Hybe can still produce catchy songs like magnetic, lucky girl and touch, but I feel like they’ll need to pivot soon. These songs should have gone to NJ and they would have had a more successful comeback this year.


    It’ll be hard to recreate nj’s rise, mhj aesthetics and vision combined with Hybes resources and fanbase made for an insane climb to the top.

    Given the mess in Hybe it is unlikely that such songs will be given to NJ anytime soon. NJ will be operated like Enhypen, endless tours around the world with no great songs.


    Yet it is true that Illit simply does not have the material to rise as high as NJ. The very quality of the members are, I will put it this way, quite different.

    I am sure somewhere in the contract the company reserved the right to cut members as it saw fit, and since Youngseo left so the original contract was invalid, the company should have chosen someone else. Yunah could have sued Beliftlab, which would take quite a long time, while Illit, with better members would have grown leaps and bounds.


    Why Beliftlab did not pull Yunah out is a mystery which will limit Illit's potentials.

    If hybe puts the resources on it of course, the only reason newjeans reached whatever high point in their career was because of those same hybe resources in combination with some other factors but hybe was the biggest part of it, once hybe cut the flow newjeans career shattered like a castle of glass. Any group who get the same from hybe will achieve just as much as newjeans, magnetic is the biggest group song of the year by a huge margin, almost bigger than anything njs released and this is just their debut, it destroyed newjeans on spotify japan so hard I can barely believe it.


    So is just a matter of how much hybe puts their money on it, all other things you mentioned are mostly irrelevant.

    Le Sserafim's Crazy—Katseye Touch, “Illit,“Magnetic”—are dominating the streaming charts right now. The most streamed tracks on Spotify daily.


    It's clear that "Illit" will surpass "NJ" without a doubt since they are 5th gen girl group, more potential. They will also surpass all Hybe girl groups, in exception to Katseye. With the most anticipated comeback of the year set for October, we're all eagerly awaiting the release, ready for both the tea and the incredible music.

    Hybe's girl groups haven't faced any major flops recently, so you might want to focus on your own faves' performance. The Le Sserafim vocal controversy and the MHJ/Hybe drama benefits aren't going to be enough to save them from being back to underperforming again, no more. #Truth Spoken

    :pepepizza::pepe-shrug:

    Edited 2 times, last by Wateris ().

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