I took a week to write this, but once I saw what tied this album together it really clicked. First some relatively generic praise, and it means a lot to me in this release because I think Yeji had a lot riding on her. I’ve been mesmerized by Yeji’s vocal this release. Two things I’ve noticed:
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She sounds really professional, like I found myself comparing her to Taeyeon and Miyeon again and again, which is like a big compliment.
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She sounds very Yeji. I think of Yeji as someone who has a very big personality, kind of “fill the room” with her energy, and more than any vocal I’ve listened to it’s just very easy for me to picture Yeji singing to this.
Onto the main point. What clicked with me this release is there’s a really cohesive lyrical experience going on. And there’s a connection to “Imaginary Friend.” Maybe just fan lore but worth noticing Itzy’s lyrics are just getting more ambitious in exploring oneself.
Imaginary Friend
Who am I? The Revolution
I was born inside your head
Different shapes of your illusion
Oh, I can be the dream you always had
Air
You keep takin’ all of my air, air, air
All my air, air, air
When I’m locked in your gaze
You take my breath away
Invasion
The old me disappears now to the very end
There’s nothing to fear anymore, I face it
Ah-ah-ah, now I boldly bring it out
Ah-ah-ah, something inside me
It’s an invasion, it’s an invasion (Time is over)
I break the pressure inside of me completely
It’s an invasion, it’s an invasion (Time is over)
The passion inside me will bu-bu-bu-burn
Can’t Slow Me
On fire, I’ll turn the lights on
Too hot, I can’t stop
In sync, I let myself go with the groove
Can’t slow me on this heatеd floor, no
258
Stop, there’s no time to hesitate
I’m your wave, spreading into you
Our endless time
On and on and on and on and on and
So what I noticed is
- Yeji’s songs are all about how feelings cross the barrier of one’s own body. They invoke these elemental feelings with air/fire. (Throw in earthy/grassy stuff from the pre-release art.)
- If you just listen to Air you should almost be paying attention to this question – is the energy going outward or inward? Is it rising up powerfully or exerting itself out desperately?
- But you can compare this to the exploration in “Imaginary Friend,” which is about resilience in loneliness but the song and MV do tilt slightly to the imaginary friend in fact being a monster you’d be better off not listening to. However… the imaginary friend is and stays in your head.
- Kind of raises the question if that’s what’s leaving Yeji’s body in Air. As she explores herself, warms up, engages others, falls in love with someone.
I can argue Yeji’s “Air” is very much about elements and mind-body without stretching. The “Imaginary Friend” connection is a bit on the fan-lore side, but it does suggest they have a broader lyrical concept going on where:
- Itzy/Yeji’s songs are getting a bit deeper lyrically and more willing to explore one’s own psychology that goes beyond your simple girl crush feelings
- They’re getting more dialectical, where you juxtapose two contrary concepts like “resilience” and “loneliness”, or “real” and “imaginary” and let the art explore itself.
- You can start treating this as a broader concept — I wouldn’t say “Imaginary Friend” is part of the same story-canon as “Air”, but I think it is part of the same tendency to explore oneself
And it’s really compelling to see this in a solo release. We saw this in Lia’s “Blossom”, and we see it in their performance energy and how willing they are to get emotional mid-performance. They’re turning into a group who puts their person on the stage. I mean, there will always be the parasocial question, but I think there’s better and worse storytelling and this is better storytelling coming from Itzy these days.
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