Born to be, born anew: Words on ITZY’s Motto

Ever since I came across ITZY in 2023, it has been continually rewarding to witness their growth from afar. They’ve always moved from strength to strength regardless of all that seems to be held against them, but since renewing their contracts in late 2025, ITZY has only proceeded to hit an entirely new stride through their music, and “Motto” presents itself as their biggest payoff so far.

I initially wanted to write this review underneath the album’s discussion post in r/kpop, but my speechlessness ended up translating to one too many thoughts than I expected. At this point, character limits are likely very exasperated by my presence.

Like many who tuned in on Monday morning, I was completely blown away by a side of ITZY that was so visually and musically refreshing to witness — not least because it marks the most welcome return to form for the group at this stage of their career. It’s even more seminal when you consider that ITZY are one of the few early 4th Gen girl groups still standing, especially as 5th Gen groups are beginning to shape their unique presence within K-Pop as we breathe.

While I still prefer “Tunnel Vision” as a full project (and consider it their best body of work to date), B-sides like “Glitch” and “you And I” still match up to the quality of that release, specifically as a continuation of ITZY’s ventures into the glitchier 2-step that WJSN and GWSN have perfected before them.

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That said, “Motto” is joining a very seasoned lineage of girl group anthems in K-Pop — one that began with KARA’s Step, and has since unravelled beautifully to influence songs like

• SISTAR’s I Swear
• GFRIEND’s Navillera and MAGO
• WJSN’s La La Love
• IZ*ONE’s Fiesta and Panorama
• TWICE’s Feel Special and Talk That Talk
• IVE’s After Like
• Red Velvet’s Cosmic
• and SNSD’s Forever 1

All of these songs are so brightly upfront about celebrating their respective groups’ mottos (pun intended) after reaching a level of undeniable respect and success in their storied careers. It’s a perfect balance of conviction and earnesty that so few groups can achieve, specifically because this specific class of victory laps in K-Pop is one so inherent to the personal triumphs of the groups behind them. Most of all, it is very important to note that a vast majority of these anthemically-wrapped thesis statements have also been released as these groups achieved veteran status or overcame significant hardships within their respective generations.

The only difference that separates ITZY from the specific lineage of K-Pop groups who have earned their respective victory lap anthems is that “Motto” is the brightest this group has ever been compared to the bratty, brassy club bangers that shot them to the summit of a generation they would kick into gear as rookies. The latter alone has created its own ripple effect across the industry between 2020 and 2022, where many girl groups scrambled to capture the exact same spirit of steadfast cacophony that ITZY had practically mastered from the jump. “Motto” thus marks the starkest possible contrast from a musical forte we’ve become used to, and simultaneously one of the best victory laps in a K-Pop landscape that is increasingly fragmented than the monoculture that most groups before ITZY thrived in.

And yet, ITZY should be just as celebrated for continuing this lineage as differently as they’ve promised from the very beginning. For a song that traditionally arrives when a K-Pop girl group “completes K-Pop” (to use a footballing term), “Motto” is a breath of fresh air for an ITZY in their eighth year — and true to the spirit of the very song that started this entire wave of K-Pop victory laps, it is being delivered by an ITZY who has endured continual strife from fans and the public for a string of polarizing releases that didn’t quite live up to one of K-Pop’s most phenomenal rookie eras.

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Such is the case for many early 4th Gen debuts who so tirelessly proved themselves through sheer passion and hunger as rookies (i-dle, ATEEZ, and TXT, for example), but experienced periods of inconsistency compared to what made them so initially promising. In a way, this nearly-unadulterated vigor encompassing these early debut performances has given those same groups adequate room to falter later on.

So far, we’ve seen ATEEZ and TXT return to form within their 7th years, harnessing creative strengths that can only be achieved by groups with as much experience with being equally unable to stick the landing. ITZY have also joined this lineage of 7th year highs with “Tunnel Vision”, but “Motto” is as representative of ITZY’s much-needed second wind; one that has allowed them to reinvent and break a ceiling of endless potential that they’ve been heavily marketed and postured to provide, and one which so few of their peers have actually managed to reach (and often beyond their own control).

ITZY’s core sound has always remained further away from what solidified the likes of KARA, SNSD, IZ*ONE and TWICE as unanimously beloved girl groups who have met, maintained, and exceeded industry standards altogether. On the other hand, ITZY’s widespread appeal was one so pointedly brash in its portrayal of self-love as a form of youthful rebellion, that it was the proactive disruption to an upper echelon (and industry-wide hegemon) of large-sized girl groups who were the most acclimated to performing saccharine chart-toppers in candy-colored dioramas.

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ITZY also begins their 8th year at a significant distance from the good graces of a domestic public that witnessed their undisputed reign. They may be revered by some as top-tier performers of their generation, but remain musically divisive to many fans despite retaining their mantra throughout. Though much like any girl group of their kind, the goalposts in defining ITZY’s success are often moved in bad faith, overshadowing the strengths they’ve continually developed in B-sides and a strong touring presence up until this point in their careers. So it is beyond cathartic for a girl group so visibly and musically far-removed from a class of publicly-revered girl groups before them to cement a crowning moment of longevity, resilience, and enduring self-belief in the exact same fashion as girl groups we’re used to hearing many “Motto”s from. And ITZY too have experienced the same level of domestic dominance, but one of immediate adoration that has made them victim to unprecedented expectations.

Rather than fully symbolizing that feeling of finality evoked in many a K-Pop piece-de-resistance, “Motto” only briefly reels in the last seven years before facing the world with its head held high, and full of promise for now and the road ahead. The hope it contains feels more real than ever, for ITZY have redefined what it means for to relish a present win most unique to who they are. “Motto” is neither a curtain nor sunset reserved for the most tenured of K-Pop girl groups nearing their company-issued denouement, but a pleasantly unexpected entry brimming with jubilation towards the prospect of fulfilling longevity as wholeheartedly as possible. It is cut from a cloth that typically rejects obnoxiously exuberant displays of confidence, and it is being unleashed by none other than a group that has repeatedly declared that the very glory they possess was in them all along.

All things considered, post-renewal ITZY have embarked on a truly generational run, and I hope more people begin to take notice from here.

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