In the last few years, the fourth generation of K-Pop has truly been setting high standards. Every single day, it feels as though a new group debuts, making it honestly hard to keep track of who’s who. Nonetheless, we can’t deny that ILLIT has been the talk of the hour.
Seemingly out of nowhere, this girl group has made its way into everyone’s social media timelines. They just released their first extended play and recorded sales of over 380,000 copies worldwide within its first week of release. If that’s not iconic, I truly don’t know what is. But like almost everything in K-Pop, we also know that with great power comes even greater criticism, and the five girls haven’t had a minute without netizens critiquing their seemingly inorganic debut.
That being said, this skyrocketing success arrived in a matter of weeks — or so it seems. So when exactly did ILLIT debut?
What is ILLIT’s debut date?
ILLIT debuted on March 25, 2024. That means, at the time of writing, ILLIT debuted only 10 days ago. In those 10 days, the girl group has already made history as the first girl group to enter Spotify’s Global Charts on the day of release, and they were even selected as the new faces of Acne Studios’ latest SS24 global campaign. Now, you may be wondering where this sudden fame came from, so allow me to explain.
The girl group’s success did not come out of nowhere, as many believe. In fact, the group had already garnered a steady fanbase due to their participation in the JTBC 2023 survival competition show R U Next?. Once the group announced their debut single and EP, pre-orders were immediately open, with a high number of sales stemming from the pre-order period alone.
On top of that, the group’s origin is obviously a significant factor in their success. Formed by Belift Lab, a sub-label of HYBE, the group is often compared to NewJeans, who also found almost immediate success — deservedly so, if I do say so myself. HYBE might not have been too lucky with its past girl-group attempts, but they’ve finally found their path and the recipe for success.
Despite being scrutinized for their success even pre-debut — and for being a HYBE group, which always is a topic of controversy in and of itself — the five members of ILLIT are clearly talented, and most of all, they are trendy and creative. Something tells me that, much like NewJeans, these girls will continue to surprise us time and time again with some great bops that will undeniably stray from the overdone sound in K-Pop.
