K-pop girl group ITZY has just made their fourth comeback with the title song “Not Shy.” The music video debuted Aug. 17, and the girls sported a Western look for the music video. The members Ryujin, Yeji, Chaeryeong, Yuna and Lia also swapped their previous rebel teenager exterior looks from their last comeback for the emotional side of themselves in “Not Shy.” This title track was the definition of teenage girl group K-pop, and despite the song being good, it definitely had its faults when looked at on a bigger lens.

Since their debut in February of 2019, ITZY has always presented themselves as the typical teenage girl group of K-pop. Despite the lack of originality of their main concept, if you break the meaning of ITZY down, they manage to set themselves apart from the crowd. ITZY mostly performs with their aura centered around being different, which is a reference to their debut song being “Dalla Dalla”—a Korean word which translates to “be different.” The name ITZY itself means “have it,” but with more context to the group, they are saying “whatever you want, we got it.”

Now, let’s dive into their most recent release.

“Not Shy” is accompanied by choreography and a music video. As previously mentioned, the girls sport a Western fashion in this music video. However, the concept of this style doesn’t match with the concept of the song itself. Also, when I say Western fashion, I mean leather snake skin pants and cowgirl boots. Throughout the video, multiple outfit changes are made to fit the normal urban styles that they wear which consist of bright colors, crop tops, and vinyl clothing pieces. Most of these outfits have unique pieces that shouldn’t be paired together, but of course, ITZY pairs them. I hesitate to say that they are ugly, but I don’t think you would catch a more fashion savvy person rocking these fits voluntarily. The girls are also seen in a car chase with a van in the music video, which is ironic considering the girls had not gotten their driver’s license until they had to film the music video. After they manage to catch up with the van and hold the driver at gunpoint to get the keys, they are seen going into a cooler basement full of—you guessed it—desserts.

The choreography goes very well with the upbeat electronic sound of the song as well as the fast-paced beats. A distinct part of the song is when rapper and lead dancer Ryujin slows down the tempo and sings the chorus in a deeper voice. I think ITZY takes on the high pitched sound in their music too often, but so the lower pitch of Ryujin’s part showed some insight to the potential for the group to have a more mature sounding comeback in the future. The beginning of the song starts with an instrumental that makes the song seem like this was going to be a more mature comeback until main vocalist Lia sings and brings the viewers back to reality which is ITZY’s stereotypical high pitched girl group sound. This song was a step up from their last comeback, but it was less my style considering how the structure of the song was that of a basic pop song. Pop songs can be good, but this one may have been a little too much.

The song itself consists of the group talking about their love life. ITZY having a love song is juvenile if you consider that they’re K-pop idols who have been training for years and are ages ranging from 16-20. They’ve most likely never had a real love to the point where they could write or sing about a love story. Despite the song being a juvenile love story, the lyrics are pretty childish as well, so it matches. They tell this love interest to hurry up and date them. They’re not afraid to tell this love interest how they feel, because they’re “not shy.” 

“Not Shy” was not the comeback I expected from ITZY, but I assume it will grow on me as all of their music does. ITZY consistently shows their fans and other viewers how much success can come to a new girl group with the dedication that they have to show their fans that they are indeed ITZY.