"ILLIT's Not Cute Anymore came out a couple of months ago. It's an incredibly impressive pop song. It has this kind of, like, light, lithe, rocksteady vibe to it. I also hear it as a little bit of a pointed rebuke to how a lot of girl groups are framed in K-pop. Innocent. Sweet. And maybe it's a bit of a broadside in the ongoing K-pop war between NewJeans and their parent label, Hybe."
"I don't want to stoke conspiracy theories, but it is notable that a group that debuted under the same conglomerate not long after NewJeans' debut, and which in its earliest moments were critiqued for having some stylistic overlap, that they're coming out with a song that seems to indicate a new sonic direction feels pointed to me, especially now in 2026, in the wake of the ongoing legal battles between Hybe and NewJeans."
ILLIT's 'Not Cute Anymore' presents a light, lithe, rocksteady-inflected pop sound that rejects innocent, sweet girl-group framings. The song operates as a pointed rebuke to K-pop's persistent 'cute' aesthetic and signals a leaner, more mature sonic direction. The release coincides with legal and corporate tensions involving NewJeans and Hybe, creating interpretive context for the directional shift. ILLIT established a distinct artistic identity with the 2024 single 'Magnetic' and several subsequent songs. Future momentum depends on artistic focus remaining separate from industry disputes.
Read at www.nytimes.com
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