The group ILLIT will make a comeback on April 30 with a new album 'MAMIHLAPINATAPAI' (MAMILHAPINATAPAI). The title track is 'It's Me'.
ILLIT (Yoon-ah, Min-ju, Moka, Won-hee, Iroha) successfully concluded the first tour, ILLIT LIVE 'PRESS START♥' in SEOUL (hereafter 'PRESS START'), at the Ticketlink Live Arena in Songpa-gu, Seoul (formerly the handball gymnasium) on the 14th and 15th. They announced the comeback news toward the end of the final-day performance.
The new album title, "MAMIHLAPINATAPAI," is a word derived from the language of the South American Yaghan. Listed in the Guinness Book as "the longest word and one difficult to translate," the word means "a subtle, urgent look exchanged between two people about something that both need each other to do but neither really wants to do themselves, hoping the other will volunteer to do it."
Fans' curiosity is growing about what music and concept ILLIT will present with the new release. In particular, with the tour continuing after the Seoul performance to Aichi on June 13-14, Osaka on June 20-21, Fukuoka on June 29-30, Hyogo on July 18-19, Tokyo on July 23 and July 25-26, and Hong Kong on Aug. 22, expectations are high for their distinctive stages.
At the Seoul show that opened the tour, ILLIT showcased a solid musical world over about 120 minutes, performing tracks from mini albums 1 through 3 as well as all the songs from their latest single album. The structure, which unfolded like progressing through game levels, and the kitschy pixel art production drew praise for more sharply imprinting what has been called the "ILLIT core," the group's unique sensibility and aesthetics. It suggested an anticipated "level up" for ILLIT.
Members' special stages actually became a hot topic. The mission song "Desperate" from the audition program R U Next? that led to ILLIT's formation was performed by Yoon-ah, Min-ju and Iroha, and "Scrum" was staged as a unit performance by Moka and Won-hee, once again reminding audiences of their wide musical spectrum. The members said, "We felt overwhelmed remembering the time we ran toward our dream."
Also, ILLIT first unveiled the performance of "NOT ME," a track from their single album that showcased a hip charm, and left a strong impression with an encore stage that repeated "oops!" endlessly. As the concert moved into its later stages and the atmosphere peaked, ILLIT descended into the audience for the "oops!" stage to get closest to fans and passionately sang the song for about 10 minutes, pouring out explosive energy.
ILLIT said, "Thanks to GLLIT (Gllit, the fandom name) who were with us, we were able to press our start button well. Our second debut anniversary is coming up soon, and 'PRESS START' became an occasion that made us resolve to work hard again." They added, "We were happy to perform a stage where Gllit and ILLIT became one. We will try to be artists you can be proud of," drawing a positive response from fans.
[Photo] Belift Lab Inc. (HYBE) provided.
[OSEN]