Song Review:: ILLIT: I'LL LIKE YOU- Cherish (My Love)

• Release date: 2024 October 21

• Album tracklist: I'll Like You, Cherish (My Love), IYKYK (If You Know You Know), Pimple, Tick-Tack

• Album runtime: 12 minutes

 I'm pretty vocal on my stance on minors in K-Pop. The fact that they're not allowed to stay for the end of year award shows seems to be pretty good evidence that they really shouldn't be working in groups like this anyway; at least, not yet. But until enough people can say "stop exploiting the children," nothing is going to change. In the case of ILLIT, yes, their maknae turned sixteen this year, much like Dino of Seventeen when they debuted. But, also like Seventeen, the group as a whole gets to squeak by in my books on a technicality: she didn't turn sixteen after they debuted (which means she turns seventeen in their first year, which is tolerable though not ideal), and at least half of the group was already fully eighteen or older at debut. I'm also not going to bother rehashing any of the drama this last year that's been surrounding the group. It's there. It happened. It's not big enough to actually matter. This will be the only comment I make on it.

I think this is the first song I've heard from them, other than Wonwoo singing the cursed AI cover. Huh. Interesting.

And there is not a song on the album longer than 3 minutes. They don't even average out to two-and-a-half minutes.

There's a floaty airiness to the song that reminds me of something from Oh My Girl. It's not necessarily the sound I prefer, but at least the drums provide a pretty good grounding to the song. It's actually a very sweet sound when the drums go away, not delicate, but still sweet. Whatever that instrument is hovering over the drums, is very pretty and I'm a big fan of it, but the song as a whole doesn't feel like it has a lot of depth to it. There's not a lot of variation that catches my attention, more than it simply lulls it into a different position, nor does it grab me and hold me hostage. This is a pleasant experience though. 

Like with the instrumentals, I get a strong sense of Oh My Girl and FIFTY FIFTY from the group with regards to their vocals. However, I also have to suffer with, instead of hearing the actual member, hearing a cursed AI cover of the opening of this song, even though I will not listen to the covers on purpose. I apologize to which ever member says the opening lines. I don't her. I hear cursed AI cover Wonwoo. The chorus is really catchy with that brushy stutter on the word cherish, and it's going to be an earworm. I'm calling it now. I wish we got to hear more of their lower notes, but the hint that we get of them makes me hopeful to hear more in the future. This is only their, what, first comeback since debut? Their second? I'm not overly stressed about not hearing anything incredibly nuanced and layered right now, but the non-difficulty of the notes, the lack of substantial belts, and the simplistic layering even within the chorus that manages to have harmonies doesn't exactly inspire me to fall in love with the song or them. It's very pretty, and it's well made, but it's a bit like cotton candy. There are hints that they are more capable than what they are given to work with, and I'm moderately disappointed by the fact that there are fourteen names given writing credit, including Hitman Bang and Nayeon from BerryGood, and yet they made something so insubstantial. The members deserve something consequential. I don't need the group to be trying to be another MAMAMOO or Dreamcatcher, but give them something where they don't have to keep their voices controlled to the breathiest minimum the entire song. It's hard enough to sing that way, let alone do choreography like that without sounding completely out of breath the entire time.

So I just learned, by sniffing around through the comments on the music video, that apparently wisdom teeth are called love teeth (sarangnee) in Korean. So that made the entire music video make sense. I thought they were just super into taking care of their teeth, but no. They all have hurting wisdom teeth. Which, with them being called love teeth, but not wanting to give up the love teeth even though they hurt, is actually a pretty good metaphor. I'm actually really impressed with how well done this music video is, for the record. Like I just said, there's a lovely metaphor that, when you know what wisdom teeth are called, makes a lot more sense. But there's also some absurdity there, which I deeply appreciate. The close-ups, especially on their eyes, was a pleasant surprise to see, even if I wasn't fond of the contacts. And everything is tooth-themed, which is awesome.