To the 13th-century Sufi mystic and poet Rumi, love was not merely a feeling but an all-consuming reality. To a romantic sceptic of the 21st century, it might as well be an embroidered cushion of questionable taste. But for K-pop group ILLIT, love is the plot, the punchline and the reason they keep going.
“Ever since our debut, we’ve constantly connected the story of one album to the next. We’ve mostly sung about romance and love over the years,” Iroha, the youngest member, tells NME over a video call from Seoul. Seated next to her, with immaculate posture, are groupmates Wonhee, Yunah and Minju. That debut, the glitchy electropop anthem ‘Magnetic’, was an omnipresent earworm in spring 2024 and made history as the first debut song by a K-pop act to land on the coveted Billboard Hot 100, beginning their story with the magic of an undeniable crush.
From there, the girls continued their sonic romance with the self-assured devotion of ‘Cherish (My Love)’, the first date butterflies of ‘Billyeoon Goyangi (Do The Dance)’, and earlier this year, the techno-charged declaration of who your favourite should be after an initial meet-cute with ‘It’s Me’, just to name a few.
At a cursory glance, this consistent narrative might come off a little one-note, but look a little closer, and you’ll notice that ILLIT’s love songs were never really about the other person. “It’s not so much the crush or the romance,” Minju explains. “I think what we wanted to focus on is our emotions, you know? The feelings that we were going through [while in love].” For the four of them, these “honest emotions” – powered by the strongest force in the universe – are woven into “our songs and our performances, how our emotions are shifting as we go along”.
On their fifth EP ‘Break Even’, released earlier this week, those emotions take an interesting turn. Borrowing its title from the economics term for the point where cost and return cancel out, our romantic protagonist finally decides enough is enough and refuses to fall into the sunk-cost fallacy of a one-sided romance. Even the members themselves didn’t see that plot twist coming. “I was expecting the girl, or the character in the album, to stay in love. But all of a sudden we were talking about a break, a break even. So I was a little startled at first!” recounts Iroha amusedly, as Yunah glances over with a grin.
Across its four-track run, they move from a friend’s blunt reality check on ‘Super In Love’ to taking off their rose-tinted glasses on the energetic speed-garage number ‘More’. Then, they deliver their final verdict to the one that’s been leading them on with the whistle-blowing lead single ‘You’re Under Arrest’, all while an unexpected new amour bubbles up behind them in the playful closer ‘Pop’. But character development never comes easy, and ‘Break Even’ challenged them to play new roles. “So far we’ve mostly done cute, adorable and cool expressions,” says Wonhee. “This time is the first time we’re doing one where we get annoyed and angry.” That, Minju adds, “made it feel fresh and like a different challenge”.
Just three days before we speak, they put those faces to the test at Incheon’s Inspire Arena, unveiling ‘You’re Under Arrest’ for the first time to a crowd that, by Minju’s vivid account, did not hold back. “I still remember the screams and the cheers that the fans were sending us,” she recalls. “I was so nervous… I just really wanted to properly pull off the expressions and performance we’d prepared.”
Throughout our conversation, it’s clear that this unwavering earnestness to show their sincerity to their fans (affectionately called GLLITs) continues to drive them forward. Wonhee – who once mentioned that ILLIT’s defining characteristic is honesty – still firmly stands by it today. “In order to create music that can be relatable for other people, we have to be honest,” she asserts.
“I know how hard the members tried over the past three years – all the effort, tears and sweat that they’ve put in” – Wonhee
It’s a value that they’ve held onto through harder times. ILLIT’s debut year dropped the five of them – at the time all aged between 16 and 20 – into the crossfire of their label’s very public corporate dispute, and much of their rookie era was spent fielding comparisons they never asked for. Their response, true to the magical girls they’ve so often played over their career, was to keep transforming – and to keep showing up.
“You can never get anything that easily, and you could say that our journey here wasn’t always roses and rainbows,” says Yunah softly. “But it was all thanks to our amazing fans, GLLIT… that we were able to make it here.” Wonhee, nodding along, is quick to shine a light on her members’ grit over their time together: “I know how hard the members tried over the past three years – all the effort and tears and the sweat that they’ve put in. So I just want to say to them, great job, you know, and let’s keep up the good work.”
The devotion towards their fans is clearly mutual. One concert clip that made the rounds online came captioned with what has since become something of a fandom mantra: there’s just something about ILLIT that makes them ‘so happy to be a girl’. “We’re really grateful,” Yunah answers when asked how it feels to represent a celebration of girlhood. “The fact that so many are connecting and relating to our stories that we’re weaving into our music [makes us want to] keep making stories many people can relate to. We just hope that our music can keep healing them and stir up emotions in their hearts.”
Still, the most tender love story in ILLIT’s journey so far might be the one between the members themselves. Missing from the call is groupmate Moka, who has been on hiatus to focus on her health since June – an absence, Iroha insists, that’s more visible than felt. “Moka was still with us in spirit, because she always came to watch our shows… She’s always rooting for us and supporting us,” she says. “It may look like it’s only the four of us from the outside – but in our hearts she’s right next to us.”
Through the highs and lows of the two-and-a-half years since they debuted, ILLIT have grown up a lot – and growing pains also meant learning to love the parts of their closely watched career that once terrified them. “Immediately after debuting, we were nervous a lot,” Minju reflects. “Now we know how to enjoy those moments on stage.” Meanwhile, Iroha’s advice to her younger self is refreshingly candid: “That nervousness may never go away 100 per cent, because I’m still a little nervous to this day. But you have to learn to enjoy that nervousness.”
As with every good love story, where ILLIT go after ‘Break Even’ is anyone’s guess – and that’s exactly how Minju likes it. “You never know. And I think that’s the best part about us, that everything is unexpected, unpredictable,” she says. “[We’ve] grown so much compared to three years ago… so I can’t say for sure, but one thing is for certain: we’re going to [continue] performing brilliantly on stage.”
ILLIT’s ‘Break Even’ EP is out now via BELIFT LAB.
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