On April 7, 2020, (G)I-DLE released the physical version of their third mini-album I trust after initially being postponed due to COVID-19. This mini-album follows their previous releases I am and I made, with Cube Entertainment stating that I trust shows their growth in self-producing their music with I trust meaning “I trust myself.” Indeed, this album truly showed how comfortable leader Soyeon had become with having a role in the production of their music, with her writing and co-producing all of the tracks. Two tracks received music videos, with “Lion” being pre-released on October 25, 2019 and “Oh my god” being released April 6, 2020 alongside the digital release of the album.

The Music Videos

The music video for “Lion” starts out with Minnie sitting on a stone square in front of a painting, arrows and a few spears shot into the surrounding area. We then see Soyeon in a room that’s been caged off before switching to Soojin in a red room sitting at a golden desk showcasing the royalty that is commonly associated with lions. She has golden claws on her fingers, with claw marks on her back and a larger claw mark across a black painting. The choreography shots start out in a white room, where we see the members wearing plain, slightly boring cream, gray, and black dresses while their backup dancers are in all black. Further into the video, however, the boring dresses are switched out for beautiful, ornate dresses, showcasing the transition from what some might consider weak to powerful and strong, just like a lion.

“Oh my god” opens up with Minnie once more, though this time instead of looking untouchable, we see her being dragged away. This music video does a great job at playing with a lot of light and dark imagery, especially when we see the girls in pure, white rooms before cutting to darker, mysterious scenes. It’s an interesting flow for the video and matches up with the promotional material for I trust, where the “True” version showed the dark and mysterious side of them while the “Lie” showed the pure and light side. With the lyrics centering around the theme of self-trust, there is an emphasis on showing the members escaping from situations and ultimately growing from them throughout the video.

The Comeback Performances

On November 11, 2019, (G)I-DLE performed a special stage for “Lion.” The members wore outfits that don’t seem to cohesively go together but were seen in the music video. The only thing the outfits truly have in common is that they all were paired with boots, though some girls were in ankle boots while others wore knee high boots. While the outfits may not fit a consistent theme, they all look stunning, particularly Shuhua and Miyeon, but it could also be in this lack of consistency that we see the true lions in each of the girls, showing the outfits that make them feel powerful.

“Oh my god” promotions began on April 9, 2020, performing the “black” version on M!COUNTDOWN. Upon the release of the track, the girls alternated between the “black” and “white” versions for their music show stages, with the “black” version being the devil performance while the “white” version was the angelic performance. This performance also included an intro that added to the mysteriousness of the “black” version, including a shot of Soojin with demonic-like black eyes.

Following the promotions for “Oh my god,” (G)I-DLE went on to do promotions for track “Luv U,” with the girl group wanting to repay the love they received from their fans, Neverland.

The Legacy

While “Lion” didn’t receive any music show wins, “Oh my god” racked up four, winning on M!COUNTDOWN, Music Bank, Show! Music Core, and Inkigayo between April 16 and April 19, 2020. “Oh my god” is the fourth (G)I-DLE music video to reach over 100 million views on YouTube. The Japanese version of “Oh my god” was released on their second Japanese EP Oh my god on August 26, 2020 along with Japanese versions of their tracks “Uh-Oh,” “Senorita,” and “DUMDi DUMDi” as well as original Japanese track “Tung-Tung,” which was composed by Minnie. 

Commercially, I trust, “Lion,” and “Oh my god” performed incredibly well. I trust peaked at No. 1 on the Gaon Weekly Albums Chart, No. 3 on the Gaon Monthly Albums Chart, and No. 4 on the Billboard US World Albums Chart. “Lion” peaked at No. 19 on the Gaon Weekly Digital Songs Chart and No. 5 on the Billboard World Digital Song Sales Chart while “Oh my god” peaked at No. 15 on the Gaon Weekly Digital Songs Chart and No. 3 on the Billboard World Digital Song Sales Chart. The other three tracks on I trust also charted on the Gaon Download Chart, with “Luv U” peaking at No. 53, “Maybe” at No. 73, and “Oh my god (English Ver.)” at No. 186.

I trust was ranked No. 2 on the 2020 Year-End Genius Korea Chart “Top EPs” list while “Oh my god” was ranked No. 4 on the “Top Songs” list. “Lion” also made it on year-end lists, ranking No. 9 on Billboard’s “The 25 Best K-pop Songs of 2019: Critics' Picks” and No. 11 and No. 29 on BuzzFeed’s “30 Songs That Helped Define K-Pop in 2019” and “The 30 Best K-Pop Music Videos of The Year” respectively just to name a few. It will be interesting to see what awards this comeback will win at the year-end awards this month.