ILLIT’s NOT CUTE ANYMORE: Cute is Dead.

Photo: BELIFT LAB

Known best for girlish, cute concepts alongside catchy, synth-pop earworms, ILLIT’s latest single NOT CUTE ANYMORE deviates from their dainty portfolio. A laid-back, dreamy pop track, “NOT CUTE ANYMORE” evokes a lazy, rolled-out-of-bed lo-fi realness from the girls, hairbrushes stuck in hair while adorning kitschy office outfits. While not necessarily the cute, bouncy vivacity that ILLIT has done best in prior releases, “NOT CUTE ANYMORE” still oozes girlhood—a wisp of a song designed to evoke more of a lazy-day atmosphere than a tangible pop song. 

And, despite their aspirations, ILLIT is still pretty cute, just in a girl-next-door, 5-minute make-up charming way. “Cute is Dead” declares a headstone in the track’s music video as the girls seek to show that, despite their effusive charms, their personhood extends beyond adorable accessorizing. Girl crush visuals, cats with laser eyes, and bedheads—the music video pushes cute into charmingly quirky, alongside lyrics such as “I’m not an alien, I’m just kind of easygoing.” 

Accompanying B-side “NOT ME” pushes the rebrand further: “that’s not my name,” the girls lilt, spinning through their numerous nicknames, before concluding “just don’t put me in a box.” A more chic approach to the girls’ synth and EDM-influenced pop, “NOT ME” is a more forceful, chanted approach to NOT CUTE ANYMORE’s ethos.

In NOT CUTE ANYMORE, ILLIT seeks to break free from boxes and labels, but in a way that still showcases their youth, dreams, and, in certain (now more restrained) instances, natural aegyo. It’s a sweet but only four-minute foray into the group’s burgeoning realm of possibilities, dipping its toes into a post-cute world for the five members, as they graduate from shining rookies into their second year as artists.

Edited by Sandy Ou