What does the title of MAMAMOO’s new single, ‘ILLELLA,’ mean?

Fans of MAMAMOO are ecstatic with the girl group’s comeback after each member ventured into their own solo projects for over a year. Their new mini-album, MIC ON, is made up of three songs, with “ILLELLA” being selected as the title track to lead this new era.

In “ILLELLA,” which was co-written and co-composed by Moonbyul, MAMAMOO is unapologetically sexy and self-assured, singing about spending the whole night “bundled up” with their lover. The song mixes reggae rhythms, with K-Pop’s usual bubbly production, and the type of stunning vocals only the ladies of MAMAMOO can produce. It’s yet another powerful track to get down to on the dance floor, by one of the most impressive groups of the last decade.

The title was stylized as “1LLELLA” for the promotional material and is repeated constantly throughout the verses and chorus of the track, but what does it mean?

Meaning of “Illella” in Korean

“Illella” is one possible romanization of the Korean word “일낼라” as featured in the music video for the song on MAMAMOO’s Youtube channel. Literally, “일낼라” is the conjugation of the verb “일내다” which, according to Naver’s Korean dictionary, means “to provoke a problem,” or “give rise to some trouble.” In the official English subtitles for the video, as well as the most famous lyrics website online, Genius, the expression is translated to “something’s about to break.”

In the context of the song, “일낼라” signifies the moment just before two people finally get together, when there is rising tension, and the person singing is debating whether they should “make something happen.” The two are so infatuated with each other that there’s a feeling in the air that “something’s about to break” and finally lead to sex.

If you enjoyed the song, check out how we would rank it among MAMAMOO’s other incredible title tracks.

We Got This Covered’s review of MIC ON will also be available soon.