I use Sneakers as an example of what happened with the change in direction for 4th gen. ITZY was originally marketed as a group of dancing machines. When they debuted, they were doing strong choreographies nobody had ever seen in a girl group before. The floor work, the powerful moves, etc, and this defined the direction 4th gen gg choreography would go in. HOWEVER, the rise in Tiktok suddenly favoured easily digestible songs with a short hook and simple choreography so people could participate in the dance challenges and spread the songs easier, which caused another shift in the direction 4th gen went in. And that's EXACTLY what sneakers is, with its outrageous marketing, easy choreography, basic chorus lyrics that is practically all in English, and stagnant baseline and tune. It's a new Tiktok marketing ploy. The same problems occur in Cheshire- the chorus is super easy, very basic tune so that people can do the dance challenges. It's so so frustrating
I don't think "Sneakers" is a bad song. I think it just came at a weird time in their discography. I think it was mentioned in the video, but "Sneakers" definitely sounds like it would have dropped in their early stuff, along with "Dalla Dalla" and "Icy". It's not my favorite of their tracks, but the styling and the bait and switch teasers were all over the place and confusing af. In some ways, I feel like "Cheshire" is a response to the outcry over "Sneakers", as it has this, 'what is fake and what is real doesn't matter as long as you have fun' idea, almost like saying, Itzy's style can be more than one vibe and fans/listeners should just enjoy it and not be 'so serious'. Am I the only one who picked up on that, or am I just overanalyzing, lol? I think the Korean market dug "Sneakers" way more than international listeners. It'll be interesting to see where they go next.
That's a really fun take on Cheshire! I don't know if that's what they intended with the messaging, but I like it a lot, so that's how it exists in my head now 😂
everybodys saying that the korean market loved sneakers more than the international fans. meanwhile, my friend, my mom and me, who are european midzys are just vibing hard to that song lol.
I remember when the teasers came out and people (me included) WAS HYPED ASF FOR THE ROYAL/REGAL imagery in them… and then they released the song… and we thought it was a prank… thinking we were “checkmated” like the chess board visual with one of the members… bruh - VERY bad advertising i cant lie
I think I kinda get what they were going for with mixing royal concept into sneakers, but I think it just wasn't executed well enough and the song itself came in a weird time with what music people were expecting from them. I think they were trying to do a take on the wearing sneakers with a dress but with a twist. Fits into itzys you do you concept. But they didn't commit to it hard enough. Like they were afraid it would be too ridiculous to just go with really royal/regal outfits and have them wear sneakers. Tho I'd personally still hate the song, the visual concept would've been more interesting imo
I’d like to correct you a bit. Mafia in the Morning wasn’t actually well received, I’d even say it was their most controversial one to that date with people saying that this concept isn’t Itzy or that the noise went to far. And while Loco was better received some said it was bait lackluster and forgettable. I think people just wanted an iconic song like Wannabe 2.0 or Icy 2.0 while still maturing in their concept. Itzy was unfortunately trapped in between 50% wanting the old Itzy back and the other half wanting a more mature side. When the royal teasers dropped I think a lot of people were really excited to see Itzys take on the royal concept with their sound. It to be exactly what people wanted, a more mature comeback with the Itzy flair to it, without being too girl crush’s. So pretty much wannabe with royal concept. Bc of that the expectations were high and when you’re expectations are that high it can only go downwards and so it did. What I’d also like to mention is that Bibi “leaked“ that she worked on the title track for this comeback which she said was Checkmate. I really don’t know why she said that, if it maybe was a last minute decision to go with sneakers instead of the original tt, I really don’t know. But that really made the prank rumors spread like wildfire.
@@akuhappy3246 ikr?!! i always feel that itzy was growing with icy cames out after dalla dalla and followed by wannabe .. those three songs showed the promising growth, but then mafia in the morning came out and they started declining more and more after every comeback
Yeah even Korean fans had hated it, considering the lyrics were weird and it sounded cringe to them, and ironically sneakers did really good in Korea and was ranked high in the charts. Even though most international fans hated it.
i honestly loved sneakers but the marketing was actually horrible. also on the point of styling, i’ve recently been looking at their stages and WHY CAN THE STYLISTS NOT STYLE LIA PROPERLY 9 TIMES OUT OF 10. very random. but i can’t wait for itzys next comeback and i hope the girls aren’t feeling nervous bc of all the hate they’ve been getting.
@@catchingteez literally. they just don’t give her flattering outfits that compliment her body. yeji and ryujin always have good outfits, yuna and chae usually do, but lia has had consistently terrible outfits. it’s so frustrating. cheshire has been a bit better but in the past…
As a huge midzy I just want to thank you for making this video. ITZY gets a lot of unnecessary hate and I'm glad to see someone talking about Sneakers within the context of what actually happened as opposed to doomposting about itzy's future as a girl group or proclaiming that they've "fallen off". All the points in this video reflect the complaints that we as a fandom had about Sneakers era and you seem to actually GET what it is that we love about itzy and how that was so severely lacking this cb. Sneakers did well in SK and I see people saying the reason for the switch up was appealing to the SK market but if that was the case I don't think the marketing would be so disjointed and quite frankly so low budget. Part of the reason we as midzys thought the whole thing was a prank was because the individual member teasers were literally just tiktoks of them doing extremely random stuff that to this day I still can't even connect to the sneakers concept honestly. The first song snippet was also on tiktok. This whole era was very much a perfect storm of awful management and marketing, a departure from the build up in maturity we'd had up to this point despite baiting us with it, as well as the growing hate for ITZY within specifically girl group fandom (a lot of toxic people were waiting for a chance to hate on them and sneakers gave them a perfect excuse). Also you mentioning it being an era of "missed opportunities" is kind of a good summary of how JYP has been managing ITZY recently. Cheshire imo was a good return to form musically I really enjoyed that cb but it wasn't marketed or promoted in SK beyond the bare minimum since they released it in the middle of there tour so they literally did not have the time for music shows or variety stuff. And even now, it seems we're gearing up to a new album but instead of letting the girls rest or putting out content that could showcase their talents and get midzys hype division 2 of JYP makes them do cooking live streams.... It's unfortunate and I really hope that by some miracle their management improves because these girls are insanely talented and they deserve so much better.
Thank you for watching! I'm glad that I can help you guys feel a little more heard here. I think it's incredibly unfortunate the amount of dogpiling people have done on Itzy in the past couple years. They're such a talented group, and almost all of their pitfalls are because of mismanagement, so I really wanted to help people recognize that a little more and cut the girls some slack. I also found Cheshire much more fitting and appealing, but I'm interested to see if they continue down that path since it didn't do super well (granted, that's mostly due to lack of promotion, but kpop companies love to point fingers sometimes). Itzy is in this strange limbo right now in terms of their concepts and brands, so we'll have to see what comes next. I really want to root for them, so I hope it does them justice
I had similar thoughts about the styling! I remember being genuinely confused about how we went from vibrant neon dresses to military green two-piece sets in the span of one video😅. There was definitely untapped potential for fun looks.
Sneakers isn't too bad but it came way too late in their career, like you said. I'd love you to make a video for other songs that people didn't seem to like like Enhypen's Future Perfect or Blessed-Cursed, Weeekly's Ven para (RU-vidr felt as made a video for this song tho), Purple Kiss - Memem (idk if it applies here tbh). I think with Itzy, oversaturation plays a part in the way their music and promotions are planned/produced--they come back so often, it'd be impossible for them to not make a miss.
This is going to be a series on my channel, so I'll definitely add those to the list! Quick question about Enhypen though: do you think Future Perfect or Blessed Cursed was received worse? I might be able to fit both in one video, but if not I would probably only do one. Which would you want to see more?
@@catchingteez I think that both songs were disliked for similar reasons. Both songs are short (I'm pretty sure neither have bridges), probably to fit with streaming culture in 4th gen, which just tends to leave a bad taste in most stans' mouths. Another thing is that with Blessed-Cursed Belift firstly sort of ditched the magical, dizzy-at-a-party sound that Enhypen had for their three prior released TTs. Future Perfect only solidified that Enhypen were taking a different direction that mostly ditched their previous sound as a group + their lore. As for the songs' reception, Blessed-Cursed was called "too noisy" and some people felt the fusion of rock and trap wasn't well-executed. K-RU-vidrs didn't seem to like it much either. For Future Perfect, I think casual stans and others were starting the narrative that Enhypen is going the "typical 4th gen bg" route because of Future Perfect's boisterous + rap heavy feel (note: Enhypen isn't known for their rapping, so a lot of stans felt that it was weird to give Enhypen that kind of a song). The song is also inspired by drill music, which I don't think is a particularly popular genre in K-pop in general. This song was also not appreciated by k-RU-vidrs for the aforementioned reasons. In the end, I feel that Blessed-cursed was hated more from the casual listeners (for the sound + not being recognizably in Enhypen's lane imo) while Future perfect got more hate from Enhypen stans (bc of the change of concept again + drill song). Both eras had B-Sides that were much more well-received than the TTs. This time around, Belift seem to be going back to Enhypen's vampire-y aesthetic and the teasers have been getting a much better reaction than their previous two releases so that may say a fair bit lol. This is all in my opinion (as someone who's really into their discography but not into the fandom that much) so some may view it differently ofc. But wow this was a long take I am so sorry 😅. Can't wait for your next vid
I'd totally like to see a video on MemeM because it's one of my favourite songs by Purple Kiss, and i was so baffled to see people call it a flop. it had a pretty unique structure imo so that could be the problem but overall, i think it deserved more appreciation.
@@catchingteez Imo people were more disgruntled with Blessed-Cursed than genuinely hated it. After all, it was just a title track for a repackage, and visual direction and styling were nonetheless great (and Enhypen were among the first groups to start the y2k trend going). I’m sure more people wouldn’t even register Blessed-Cursed as some great downfall if it wasn’t for what came next. Future Perfect, on the other hand, was a step in a direction no one asked for. The general sound was basic, the styling was basic, the message was somewhat okay, but that’s it. It went as far from everything that Enhypen were as it was possible. But if we dig deeper, I think it all started way earlier, with Tamed-Dashed. It had all the tell-tale signs: the late release for a summer song, the huge difference between concept photos and the way title track ended up, weird effects in the MV, strange styling of prison shirts, skirtpants and sportswear, and the choreo that barely worked because of props being involved. But people were coming off the Drunk-Dazed (that was perfect in every way), so all the criticism Tamed-Dashed deserved, Blessed-Cursed received in her stead.
i have to admit that when i saw the different posters because everyone was talking about it on twitter, i thought they were going for a double title track like ateez😭 because how can the concept be so different
Itzy is a group that is becoming more mature age wise and the comebacks marketing really seemed to emphasize that, and then they came back with a very youthful/playful song. It gave fans whiplash expectation wise. As to what fans expected from the marketing and as to what they expected from a group as deep into their career as itzy. I don’t think it’s a terrible song but it felt like a step backward instead of a step forward.
I can’t say it’s a bad song cause it did so well domestically and tastes are different, but most can agree the marketing was not it. After the polarizing response they got from Mafia in the Morning maybe they felt that they had to brighten it up. They should’ve just had the royalty concept for the tour “Checkmate” and not the album “Checkmate” though that would’ve caused way less of a uproar from international fans. I have to say though the performances were really fun. I think it was a song like Mafia where it just hit a bit different in a live setting, could just be me though.
one thing people seem to forget about itzy is that even if int stans liked mafia and loco, knetz and the gp didn’t really liked it and charted horrible, this plus the rise of this new 4th gen ggs made jyp go back to itzy’s original group concept with sneakers
I think this is where JYP doubled down on what knetzens wanted over international fans and that was a harsh blow for a lot of international midzy/casual fans. It was pretty painful to see this group suddenly being called a flop, when all that happened was is JYP noticing knetz like them more and purchase more than international fans. ITZY is actually now selling better than ever.
Not sure if JYPE is exactly focusing on just Korea though because they released Cheshire after Sneakers and it charted HORRIBLY, dropping out extremely quickly from all kcharts. I personally just think that they don’t know what they’re doing 😭 Luckily Itzy have a loyal fanbase who will keep them successful, including me who went and bought two Cheshire albums - love my girls, but I want JYPE to do things right because the fandom can’t just stay the same size forever, Itzy have too much potential to settle for what we have already.
I think JYP went full on for Korea with Sneakers, and then forgot that international audiences generally don't vibe with that concept when they released Boys Like You. And then maybe that's why they pivoted with Cheshire. JYP in general struggles to understand how to appeal to different audiences while sticking with a cohesive brand, and it's sad to see it hurting their amazingly talented groups
@@HANOVIA (Edit: omg stan Han lol) No this is confirmed by knetizens and this also proven in sales numbers that most people who purchase from itzy and still hype itzy are knetizens. Atm they're on a roll of liking very whacky/unserious/gimmicky songs, which also explains why songs like Sticker trended etc. The majority of international fans have given up on ITZY after Not Shy and yet they're still one of the best earning female artists of today. The money clearly still comes from somewhere and that is Korea themselves. JYPE knows their strat VERY well. They are trying out things for the west here and there, but that doesn't mean they're lost.
@@soomi here I thought not shy was loved bcs most if not all of my peer, non korean, love that release, and this might be a bit surprising, but loco is not popular here. So I think when it comes to their later release, after wannabe, they're just being divisive, doesn't particularly mean they lose fans for good, sort of like come and go, push and pull, or love it or hate it, maybe that's why their progress look stagnant, jype try to cater too many specific audiences, but agree on sneakers though, that's a weird entry.
This... Also not to mention I remember that during the "wannabe" era many fans wanted their concept to change. That's why "not shy" "MITM" "loco" looked different from the previous three songs but the results were not satisfactory, so JYP chose to go to the local market again and it turned out to be quite satisfying but unsatisfactory for international fans... JYP is still having a hard time finding a solution for international and local fans
Sneakers came at just about the worst time for itzy, after loco released there was a barrage of high quality, well produced 4th gen rookies that have been WILDLY successful
It was a fun video, but I didn't really get it when you said 'In The Morning' was positively received? It was claimed to be an 'empty' song, and tge concept change was criticised heavily?.. But live stages Itzy shined it sold the song to the audience eventually. That's what I remember about that era.
I definitely remember the backlash, but I feel like people got over that fairly quickly, and the song was labeled as iconic pretty quickly. I think people look back on it positively, but maybe that's just my perception skewing things
So for anyone who doesn’t know the music videos for Sneakers is supposed to represent woman empowerment throughout the centuries. That’s why we have a very Royal old queen aesthetic at the beginning. In the middle it’s during the 1960s (I believe) when the race to the moon was the big deal then the last one is supposed to represent the future. Hope this helps with any confusion about what the message Itzy was trying to show. :)
I think that you hit the nail on the head when you said it was a complete contrast to the girl crush concept to which they had moved on. I actually don’t hate Sneakers, it’s cute, I love the little multilingual pun in the chorus (Hana, tul, ready get SET go), and it’s cheerful. My kids like it a lot. But my kids are ages 4 and 2. When I first heard it I actually thought it was like, a collab with Skechers or something. The combo of being a regression and also sounding like a commercial was like…really rough after MITM and Loco. I think it made listeners unclear on who exactly Itzy *wanted* its listeners to be, and I think a lot of music fans like to hear music and have that certainty, “this music is for me.” All that being said, to be real, I love “Boys Like You.” Was it simple? Yes. CAN they do more? Yes. But it was more grown-up than Sneakers (not by a ton, but still, they’re sassy and they have attitudes, which i think is important), they did really well with their English pronunciation, they seem to having fun with the choreo, and it has that great F#5 high note from Chaeryoung. I will defend “Boys Like You” lol. It got played a lot in my house
Itzy are on a weird place, the korean and international markets want different things. Korea loves the fun, bright, teencrush Itzy and it showed with Sneakers, their best charting song since Icy. Meanwhile, Loco and Cheshire while being more liked by international fans, charted horribly in Korea, they don't want the girlcrush concept. Honestly they should pick which market they want to please at this point, it's all really messy (Also Cheshire is far more boring and unoriginal than Sneakers in my opinion)
Someone else in the comments said that they didn't have time to promote Cheshire because they were one tour, so that could also be a reason it didn't chart well. But JYP definitely needs to either pick a market or be okay settling somewhere in the middle. This constant flip flopping is hurting their brand like none other
Before watching it leaving this comment here to come back and see if my thoughts aligned with yours. The two main reasons acc to me are 1. The confusing album roll out - the random switch up from the elegant/royal concept to the teen boppy style threw everyone off and led to a lot of negativity even before the song was released. 2. The chorus. Too high too pitchy and they're clearly struggling to sing it. It simply doesn't sound good. Now let's watch the video. Edit: Back after watching the video and it was an amazing essay as always. I definitely didn't care about the styling either. The instrumental was something I'd never thought about so that section was especially interesting for me. I agree with almost all of your points. "An era of missed opportunities" is the perfect way to put it. I do think that their team is struggling with how to evolve ITZY's concept. It seems like they just don't know where to take them concept wise. Let's not even start with Boys Like You whatever that was. It is honestly sad, cause these girls have SO MUCH potential. I hope that they figure it out by the next comeback.
Tbh for me it felt like a promotion song for sneaker shoes due to the chorus. If the chorus was better I would propably have liked the song more. Agree that whoever worked on sneakers for Itzy made some really bad decisions. Chesire was a huge step in a better direction.
It was a very Jojo Siwa sounding song. They have always rode the fine line of mature yet playful. Imo it just wasn't the best purely "playful" track. Twice has done plenty. StayC's "Poppy" is another good example of one. Come to think of it, maybe if it were in Japanese it would have been a bit more solid. Eh, just one man's opinion.
I don't think putting Sneakers in Japanese would have changed much since it was actually very successful domestically, but now that you say that, I think Boys Like You could have benefitted from it. Switching the languages of Voltage and Boys Like You probably would have done them a lot of good
I agree that this would have fit better into their teen crush era, not saying that they can’t go back to cute, because Stray kids are a good example of going from maniac to case 143 which is in my opinion a cute concept, it just needed to be a y the right time.
I am proud member of the 'dont worry, its just a joke' club. They had a teaser with a member playing with french fries and ketchup outside (low budget, low effort) ffs.
“Sneakers” should have other been released earlier on in their career or as a collab song with a sneaker brand honestly cause it came off as an advertisement song
It was interesting listening to your analysis of this song . And I like the idea of a series about songs that flopped , as well as songs that went viral.
I think the main reason Sneakers is hated is the horrible Marketing. I was there and I was super excited for a ROYAL QUEEN CONCEPT. The name "Checkmate" had so much potential. But then we got an ADIDAS ad. I think most people, me included, got blended by so much frustration that they didn't give the song a real chance. I didn't like it, I didn't want to like it, I was pissed. But a few weeks to months later I had the chorus stuck in my head. I'll be honest, Yuna's & Yeji's first chorus is the only good part of the song to me and the rest is "listenable". Similar to Boys Like You. We got hyped by the hit that Twice's The Feels was and then got a Disney Channel song for Itzy. And to add more to that, Itzy having a concept crisis didn't help. Luckily Cheshire happend but even that song is one of their weakest to me.
When I saw the concept teaser for sneakers especially the Black and White one where they had dramatic makeup and elegant expressions, I was full on expecting a royal and elegant girl crush concept that I was Soo excited about. Because it would be slightly new for itzy and was kinda needed at the time where elegant songs are either hidden behind the girl crush concepts or just not done right. The song is a solid 7/10, the instrumentals is fun and bouncy, with a good bridge. But I feel like there has been worse songs from bigger group's that didn't get as much push back as itzy. I wished they pulled a 2nd gen and didn't put out a concept teaser or teasers at all.
Definitely wasn't helped by the fact that most of the comebacks after Sneakers (June~September) essentially went viral. After Like, Shut Down (and Pink Venom), Poppy, etc. Tons of comebacks were getting a ton of praise and Sneakers was almost universally hated.
I like Sneakers, it's a nice summer song with a fun music video and I really loved watching their live stages during that era. Sure, it's not the best Itzy song and i don't consider it a good song, it's just fun and that's why I like listening to it
I just don't get why so many people got anoyed at the "change of concept" there's a shit ton of royal concept mv's out there already, if you wanted that you could literally just search for it instead of shitting on a group that was just following a concept of chance through the wears (because that was what it was, if you actually look into it) Plus, the actual design, concept and styling was super cute, it was serving ACTUAL 2000 aesthetics like no other modern group has done. Seriuosly, if you look at it for what it actually is, a fun, quirky 2000's concept, it is so cute! I wish more people could actually see what the production wanted to archieve instead of being so bitter about being "lied about the teaser"
Long story that nobody wants to read but I’m gonna comment anyways‼️‼️: I first became a kpop fan in March 2022, and when Sneakers was getting the hype and the hate, was when I really realized what I had gotten myself into. Switching from Melanie Martinez dropping 1 album every 2 years to kpop being this big chaotic “XXXX just released their first teaser!!” “XXXX just had a comeback!!” And I was so confused like “wtf is a comeback??”. At the time when Sneakers dropped, i only stanned two groups: Skz and Itzy. So skz had their comeback like a week before I joined the kpop fandom, so I missed that, but Itzy was just about to have another comeback. I was somewhat confused because people were using all types of Kpop terms, but I had my eyes focused on Itzy. I didn’t know much about concepts at the time, so I was confused why ppl were talking about “elegant” and “Royal” to “girl crush” and “Trash ICY remake”. Regardless, i was excited for my first ever kpop comeback andddd!….. oof. Flaming hot garbage thrown my way and I ate it up because I didn’t know what real music sounded like at the time. I defended the song like my life depended on it despite not knowing wtf any of these kpop terms meant and I was just a lost child 😟 Anyways, now I know as much as a kpop stan who started stanning in 2016, and oh boy oh boy, was Sneakers flaming hot garbage. Thank you for coming to my shit show 🫶
You must’ve had one hell of a journey as a baby stan😭😭 but I feel you back in my baby blink era I would react the same way but now I know better docodkdodososodk
@@moonyflora It was chaos! I never mentioned when I joined the kpop community, so I had people attacking me like “how tf don’t you know what a bias is??” I was scared to tell them I was new 😭
Wow that is... quite a way to start your kpop journey 😂 Glad you stuck with the genre as a whole though. A lot of people would have given up amidst the chaos
I really dont understand the hate towards sneakers. Though it's still not my favorite song It fit perfectly in their discography and concept. Icy and Dalla Dalla resemble sneakers a lot. People just jumped onto the bandwagon mob mentality hate train. Average Kpop stan mindset. Now Itzy came back with a vocally demanding , mature girl crush concept that nobody gives a frick about
Tbh, the song wasn't bad at all. It was just a bit childish and had a different concept. Itzy never make bad songs, hopefully their next comeback will be awesome.
Till this day, I still dislike the song. I pretty much act like it does not exist. I only listened to that once and that was enough for me. Like you stated Mafia in the morning along with Not Shy really solidified their place within my attention span. Those were the songs that really told me, “Okay, this is a group at this point who you are eagerly intrigued with excited for.” All I know is that the song was one of those times where collectively as a whole majority of the people came together and agreed-upon the same stance for the most part
I don't think "Sneakers" is a bad song. I think it just came at a weird time in their discography. I think it was mentioned in the video, but "Sneakers" definitely sounds like "Dalla Dalla" and "Icy". And in my personal opinion sneakers would be better if had a darker concept along with ''In the morning'' or a royal concept like was supposed to be on the teasers.
Tbh when itzy started to be called pick me concept they should've really went for it like you truly take in the pick me kinda like what soyeon did with queencard like you know it literally has everything that the haters hate them for as well as what some ppl wanted from the grp so jype should've just went with you want pick me fine will show you like idk it would seem cool seeing a pick me self love kinda shit cause now trying to please everyone jype has literally gotten itzy to a weird situation were the whole itzy concept is weird that's the problem jype doesn't know what to do with itzy right now
<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="251">4:11</a> 100% agree. MITM is the only album i bought from itzy even tho i had been turning in since the beginning. Mafia is just sooooooo goood. The SONG, the CONCEPT, the STAGE PRESENCE
All I'm saying was JYP went all wrong with the way with the whole prank concept thing. They shoulve released sneakers and pretended it was the actual comeback (but its a prerelease/single) when people were expecting the royalty thing AND THEN released an actual comeback with the royalty concept like a week later. It works because 1. they still get to trick people like they wanted to 2. Sneakers still charts and gets its views 3. Both parties who like sneakers concept and the royalty concept are happy 🙄
I only ever heard the chorus tbh, because after that there wasn’t much reason to listen to the whole song as I knew I couldn’t stand the chorus, so I wouldn’t listen to it. However, when I heard it I had to think about a sketchers advertisement with kids running around. Idk that was such a turn off 😅
i was a baby kpop stan when sneakers dropped, and itzy were the group that got me into k-pop, so i was super excited. the royal teasers and everything that was dropping looked so cool and i preordered the album directly. then they started posting teaser videos on instagram (i don’t have tiktok) where they were doing super ridiculous things. like, i remember seeing a video of lia where she was literally “painting with fries”. the royal concept was gone, and now came this super teen crush concept, and it didn’t make any sense at all. especially when the digital cover (with the chess board in black and white w some red) had already dropped, alongside other stuff. when the album finally dropped it actually had that cover at first (atleast on my streaming service), but a week or so later the teen crush took over. besides that i think the fact that the b-sides on the album are all very mid (what even is free falling i’m sorry but no), except for maybe rac3r, so it felt like the quality that itzy usually is able to provide, and that we know jyp has the money for, just dropped completely. i don’t hate sneakers, i think it’s a silly fun song, but that followed up by (at first blah blah blah which was a saviour imo) boys like you was just setting itzy up for trouble intentionally. although i have to say that their albums sell very well i think, bc jyp is able to provide quality for these, so people are very into buying them even if they’re not big fans of the music
To me "Sneakers" always sounded like a rejected commerical jingle that someone decided to make into a full blown song (try replacing the words "Sneakers" with "Skechers")
I think it would have made much more sense to have Racer as the title, I hope Itzy can refine their sound/ the girls can have more creative control and choose their music direction (I personally really like Sneakers for absolutely no reason and I completely agree with all the hate it gets but I still like it)
Sneakers was a HORRIBLE song. The lyrics, style, and the way they sang. Wtfudge. I couldn't even get through and to the second verse, let alone the chorus
I didn't like sneakers when it first came out, probably bc of how different it is from Itzy's other songs. But now I'm a fan. I still don't like the MV or the concept as much as their other songs, but I think the song itself is catchy.
I'm not a midzy but i really enjoy some of their lowkey hyperpop tracks (like the one sophie produced!!) When sneakers came out i remember feeling gutted for the girls who seemed sad to think that their fans were convinced it was a joke 😭
Thank you thank you thank you for talking about this. I want people who aren't midzys to know that it isn't the girls' fault but rather the poor management. I honestly love love cheshire but it doesn't scream 'Itzy' to me. Sneakers isn't the WORST song, but it isn't my favourite either.
Tbh Sneakers era always felt like JYP felt too much time was passing and they needed to have a cb so they settled for random ideas that they hoped would work but didn't.
i feel like sneakers is a song that i wouldve enjoyed if the marketing hadnt been all over the place. Like i love early itzy, i like that sound, but they made me expect something totally different for that cb. I was so exited for the new royal elegant concept, when they dropped that sneakers pic i really thought it was something like a fanmeeting or a joke, they uploaded that tiktok and they lost me jfsdkfjf Plus the whole call me weirdo who said i cant wear my converse with my dress im not like the other girls thing is soo annoying to me i couldnt stand it. It felt like everything in the song was made for a different time period, like it was so 2010's not in a good way hashdsj
I remember how people thought Sneakers was a joke that Itzy posted on TikTok cause the album name was Checkmate and it was going to be a surprise of their royal stylish mature concept
I mean, why there is difference between Sneakers and, e.g., Loco, it's obvious, both songs have different composers: Loco: AthenA (Lee Ji Hye), Chang (Kim Chang Kyum), F R I D A Y (Kan Jung Hoon), Woobin (Lim Woo Bin); Sneakers: Didrik Thott, Jessica Pierpoint, Sebastian Thott. Both songs have some of the same writers though. Apart from usual songwriting by committee, you cannot expect to keep the same style while you're hiring totally new composers for each song. I usually compare things like that with K/DA, K-Pop like virtual group by Riot: all their songs have the same composer, and represent mostly the same style (they sound like aespa before there was aespa). Riot also works with many composers, and they compose music by committee, but they know how to do it to keep stylistic cohesiveness. So while K-Pop doesn't work like regular pop artists like Taylor Swift, who is listed as co-composer on all of her songs, you still can do things cohesively if you want. Some newer groups like NewJeans or Fifty Fifty, they do a pretty good job keeping their unique styles (at least for now).
i liked it, it instantly clicked for me of course not everyone was gonna like it and even tho it sounds like it was supposed to come out after their icy era i think i came at a time when people wanted them to come back to their more fun music and while sneakers wasn’t perfect it was a step in the direction that people wanted them to go in this is why i don’t understand the hate for it like i can understand people not liking it very much but i wound suppose that they would at least appreciate the move. as for the concept teasers… jyp has done it before like twice with dtna teasers lol idk people hated mafia in the morning but also hated sneakers like what do you want from them??? i liked both their more mature and more fun sides and i’m not even that big of an itzy stan to defend them like that like i only know their title tracks and a few standout bsides… out of all of their releases i only really disliked boys like you. sneakers was fun i love her i bop to it so hard. stream sneakers by ha sungwoon too 🤭🤭
I think it's mainly the abruptness of the shift that caught people off guard. But yes, stream Sneakers by Ha Sungwoon too. That song is such a mood booster for me
What made Itzy's music great in the beginning was their instrumentals. From Dalla dalla to Wannabe, they sounded full of weird and interesting sounds and melodies throughoutz the entirety of the song including the verses, and I personally find them a joy to listen to on their own. With Not shy and Mafia in the morning, you kinda only had one main sample/melody throughout the entire song, making them feel drastically different. Loco was better in that regard, but with Sneakers the verses especially just feel so empty and super uninteresting. They just lack the energy that Itzy was loved for, I can't put my finger on why exactly but it just feels like they're dragging along. I get they want to mature Itzy's concept, but surely that can be done without losing all the energy right?
Omg you exactly put whatever I was thinking into words.. Thats it.. Their instrumentals were diverse but fun and somehow worked.. Its gone downhill since sneakers.. But I liked cake actually
<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="208">3:28</a> i loved the stutter in outrage lol 😂 love your videos and this series, looking forward to more in the future!!
First i didn't like it, then I had a phase were I loved it, now i can tolerate it and watch the stages but it really sounds mediocre. Also I've been following them since debut and I'm sad about how things are going for them, also they haven't came back in a while and I miss them. I just hope the next comeback will make them shine again
Sneakers was a disappointment due to the clickbait promotion that created anticipation for something that was not offered or intended to be offered. ..Chesire fits the promotional material for Sneakers.... Let's be honest most of hated or got tied of put my "sneakers on"... Imagine if Zero was a newjeans comeback.... Anyway ITZY have consistent great comebacks it's good to fail at sometime!!!
why do I feel like itzy was struggling during this era because i feel that jyp was splitting their talent between itzy and nmixx (that debuted a few month earlier to release sneakers). no hate to nmixx but having two gen 4 groups was splitting the funding and talent between them.
So, I first learned that there were people who disliked Sneakers not long after the song got released in a Planet Minjae video. And there were comments to said video that asked why Sneakers was disliked. At first I thought the hate wouldn’t be that big, and then I see more and more people expressing their negative feelings towards it. I am baffled by the amount I’ve seen say something that makes it appear that they dislike that song, and I’ve chosen to be on the like side; the song is fun and upbeat and I don’t have almost anything to dislike about the track itself.
Hello! I am a new sub! ^^ I watched the whole video and agree with everything here honestly. I also have a question! Can someone tell me who the girl in the intro is? ( <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="3">0:03</a> ) not the one with the burning background- I know that is Siyeon of DC- the one with the jeweled.. crown? head accessory? Yeah- her ^^
Sneakers is a great song, but it's never going to be a song that is a cultural rest like Dalla Dalla, ICY and Wannabe. It came out when Newjeans started showing something new. Each comeback a K-pop group should always reinvent themselves and try to have a cultural reset if they want to cement themselves as leaders of K-pop.
The funny thing about all of this was Sneakers was a really good song. Its just the build up pissed a lot of people off and a lot of people wouldn't give Sneakers a chance because they decided they hated it before the release since the concept didn't meet their expectations. Given that a huge majority had already built a passionate hatred for it, none of them were willing to give the song a fair shot due to basic simple human psychology where most people do not want to be wrong. This hatred then followed Boys Like You. Another good song, neither are bad in any way, but again people want to be right all the time. They committed so hard already to the idea that ITZY can no longer make a good song and that JYP ruined them. So they decided instantly they would not give it any chances and would make a flaw about it. By no means are these their best songs but they really aren't bad. Then people cry about wanting them to release music like Wannabe (Sneakers was just that and they wanted to bury ITZY's name for it)
In my opinion, Sneakers was okay. The instruments and MV were all over the place though. The royal set didn't even match the lyrics or the background music..? In the MV I couldn't even get the message of the song because of the random sets.
I like the song but that's probably because I don't really care about Itzy (or K-Pop in general) enough to dive deep into their concepts and such. I just care about the music and it sounded good enough for me. But I guess I can kind of relate to why K-pop fans didn't like the song. I imagine it would be like Drake singing an Ed Sheeran style song or Taylor Swift suddenly transitioning to hardcore hip-hop. Tbh, I could care less about these K-Pop groups image and styles when the majority of them don't even produce their own music. All I care about is #1 does it sound good, #2 is the MV enjoyable. I guess the only group I'm really excited to hear a comeback from is STAYC these days since all their songs come from the CEO duo
I quite liked Sneakers but I also don't really look at teasers. The marketing and styling didn't quite work but I will still listen to the song so those aspects are not as important to me
All of the points you made make a lot of sense! For me personally, I've never been into itzy's music, however never had strong opinions on it. Just not my thing. Then sneakers came out... it was the first release by them that i had very strong negative feelings for lol it irritated me because my sister would play it all day long on the TV to learn the choreo. It felt like a song made for a very young audience, like something out of a child singer's discography. Also I thought the lyrics are silly. Sneakers in a dress, how revolutionary
For me, the main issI ue has always been the chorus through. "PUUUUUUUUT MY SNEEEEEEAKERS OOOOOOOOOOOON! Tie 'em up, ready get set, go!" just isn't good line at all. It doesn't even give Disney Channel, it gives Disney Junior. I couldn't have unironically listened to it as 8-year old, and I was that kid always keeping to the FSK-recommendations.
itzy's first concept was riding on the end of the 3rd gen 'im powerful im different' message that was popular around 2018-2019 ( bts' love myself concept was very popular) combined with girl crush ( what every gg was doing thanks to blackpink post 2018) then they continued that youthful concept very well i can say until sneakers. i think the company saw a new wave of 4th gen emerging ( e.g aespa next level stayc's asap, weekly's after school) and decided to give itzy a quirky cute ( yet a song with strong symbolism) concept like sneakers but they failed in planning and the chorus could be WAYY better because something about 'put my sneakers on' is very off putting but the rest of the song was EXCELLENT including the post chorus. the marketing team would of benefitted if they chose to have the members individual posters with different stills from the MV to show that it was a versatile and what the MV intended to shwo the progression of women empowerment throughout the era.
Ummm that was 10 months ago, I swear some people are going to tell their grandkids about the things 4th gen K-pop did to upset them, and how horrible it was that they didn't like every single song by every single group.
This is a weird take, but in my opinion, the marketing sort of makes sense. Like, the royal concept was for the entire album. Thats why the teasers just said 'checkmate'. However, the more, idk, goofy, concept was for the SONG sneakers, thats why it says 'sneakers'.
Sneakers Cheshire and cake are so bad. Unstoppable is way better. Also the hate they got is how bad it is compared to OTHER 4gen group. IVE love dive was released same month and for Me its one of the best kpop songs. And new jeans… Kpop is comparable market
