Recently, HYBE’s youngest girl group, ILLIT, made their debut with the EP SUPER REAL ME and the title track “Magnetic.” The group held its debut showcase on March 25 at the Blue Square Hall in Itaewon, Seoul, in the presence of around 100 members from the press.
While the reaction to ILLIT’s songs and performance was favorable from both the fans and the media, the group received some mild criticism over their tautological answers during the showcase. A Korean media outlet that otherwise praised ILLIT’s debut EP and stage presence mentioned that the members were unable to give satisfactory answers to the media’s questions and kept repeating specific keywords.
For example, when asked if being under a massive label like HYBE put pressure on them, they responded, “There are many seniors in our company that we want to emulate. We will remember that and do our best.” When asked further about what makes ILLIT unique from their seniors like LE SSERAFIM and NewJeans, they answered, “The charm of our team is that we can fully immerse ourselves in any moment. Our fans love this side of us. When we are on stage, we will focus on being on stage, and when we are off stage, we will show you how we have fun among ourselves.”
There were many more instances throughout the Q&A where ILLIT’s responses remained pretty similar despite the questions being on different topics.
Reporter: Please answer in detail about what makes you different from NewJeans, a fellow group with teenage members.
ILLIT: We want to show ourselves having fun a lot on stage as well as having fun off stage.
Reporter: Is there something you want to achieve beyond numbers?
ILLIT: We want to be like our seniors, have fun both on and off stage and become more relaxed. We want to become a group in which the members can continue to have fun comfortably and happily with each other.
Reporter: What do you think are the standards for being called a fifth-generation girl group and do you feel any pressure?
ILLIT: Our goal is to allow the public to enjoy a variety of music by showing them our honest, confident, quirky, and innocence side with our own charm.
While the reporters showed understanding that the ILLIT members were nervous, evident in how their voices shook and they stuttered while introducing themselves, their disappointment in the “AI-like” answers was apparent.
Meanwhile, netizens had mixed reactions to this report, with some asking for the media to cut the young girls some slack while others demanding better media training for them.
- “Since they’re rookies, it’s understandable that they were awkward and didn’t know how to answer well. Why did they put out an article like that… LOL. This is low, even for the reporters.”
- “It has the same vibe as ‘What do you want to eat?/ My goal is to eat delicious food.’/ ‘How does your food taste? My goal is to enjoy the tasty food well.’/ ‘How is it different from what you ate yesterday? My goal is to eat something delicious and enjoy it.’ LOL.”
- “I don’t know how old they are but they must have been nervous as young rookies who just debuted. It is normal for them not to be able to speak properly without training.”
- “Isn’t this just a negative publicity tactic? LOL. HYBE is known for forced negative virality.”
- “I’m frustrated just by reading it. LOL. I’m sure they practiced a few answers with expected questions but it seems like they repeated the same answer over and over.”
