ITZY - With Survival Shows to debut and success!

The first foundation stone for the girl group ITZY was laid in 2013, which debuted in 2019 and is now an integral part of the K-pop scene.

At the end of 2013, Lee Chaeryeong, then 13, applied to the survival show “K-Pop Star Season 3” with her older sister Chaeyeon - who later debuted in IZ*ONE. Since their first appearance, the sisters impressed with their talent for dancing and progressed through the show until they were eliminated shortly before the live shows. After that (2014), both went to JYP as trainees, making Chaeryeong the first member of ITZY to train under JYP Entertainment.

Just a year later, Chaeryeong was seen in “Sixteen”, a survival show from JYP Entertainment in which 16 trainees from the agency fought for a place in the new girl group. While she made it to the finale, her sister, who also took part, was eliminated early in the show. Ultimately, Chaeryeong was not one of the nine winners of the show who debuted as “Twice” a few months after the finale.

That same year, three more future members of ITZY joined JYP Entertainment. Ryujin and Yuna were discovered by the agency while attending a concert; Ryujin at a GOT7 concert and Yuna at a year-end concert where various artists performed. In an interview, they talked about how they were both approached by a little lady who worked at JYP and wondered if she was even the same one. If so, she had a really good eye for talent!

Yeji went to an audition, performed “Like Ooh-Ahh” by Twice and was accepted. Two years later, in 2017, Lia also attended a casting and joined JYP Entertainment, having been accepted into SM Entertainment years earlier but not becoming a trainee due to her parents' opposition. This meant that all the members of ITZY were gathered in 2017, but it took another two years during which a lot happened before they made their debut together.

In August 2017, Yuna and Ryujin appeared in BTS's “ Love Yourself Highlight Reel ” and attracted attention with their good looks. Two months later, JYP Entertainment produced a new survival show, later known as “ Stray Kids ”, which follows the members of the boy group of the same name on their way to their debut. At the beginning of the show, however, a team of female trainees was introduced alongside the team of male trainees and Park Jin Young, the founder of JYP, only decided at the end of the first episode which of the two teams would get the chance to debut in the show. The girls' team consisted of seven trainees, including Ryujin, Yuna, Chaeryeong and Yeji. Lia was not there.

After the male team was chosen and the show continued without the female trainees, Ryujin took part in another survival show : YG Entertainment's "Mix Nine". Out of 98 female trainees from various agencies, Ryujin ended up taking first place and was supposed to debut in the nine-member project group, but the debut of both teams - a team of nine male trainees was also put together during the show - was canceled because the winners' agencies and YG Entertainment could not agree on a contract. Ryujin was undoubtedly disappointed that her efforts were not rewarded in the end and returned to her training.

While Ryujin was in Mix Nine, Yeji made an appearance on the music variety show "SBS The Fan", in which the so-called "Fan Masters" introduce rookies to the audience, who then advance through votes and thus have multiple chances to prove their talent. Yeji was introduced by 2PM's Junho as JYP's secret weapon and impressed with her performance , but unfortunately did not make it past the first round.

After Mix Nine and The Fan, it was quiet for a good year for the trainees, who were apparently preparing for their debut, because in January 2019, JYP Entertainment introduced Chaeryeong, Yeji, Yuna, Lia and Ryujin as members of the new girl group ITZY , which was set to debut in February.

ITZY is derived from the Korean word “있지 (= itji)” which means “to have”. The name is meant to mean that the members of the group have everything we want. We think the name suits them very well because the members have shown us several times before their debut that they have a lot of talent to offer.

IT`Z DIFFERENT, IT`Z ICY, IT`Z ME

On February 12, 2019, the time had finally come; ITZY made their debut with the single album “It`z Different”, which, in addition to the title song “ Dalla Dalla ”, also contains another song called “ Want It? ”. “Dalla Dalla” reached second place on both the Korean Gaon and K-Pop Hot 100 as well as on Billboard’s American World Digital Song Sales charts. In addition, the song brought the girl group their first win in a music show just eight days after their debut, and the music video broke the record for the most viewed K-Pop debut video in 24 hours on YouTube. No debut music video had ever reached 100 million views so quickly before.

There is no physical CD for “It`z Different,” but instead fans were able to purchase a photo book that came with a set of cards and a photo strip.

The second album “ It`z Icy ” was released on July 29th; this time there was also a physical album. The CD contains 5 tracks including a remix of “Dalla Dalla” and “Want It?”. With the title song “ Icy ”, ITZY won 12 music shows! After the second album was also successful, the girl group held a showcase tour in Asia and America from November to January 2020. At the end of 2019, ITZY also won a number of rookie awards, including the "Best New Female Artist Award" at the Melon Music Awards and the Mnet Asian Music Awards.

On March 9, 2020, the third album “ It`z Me ” was released with seven brand new songs. It was ITZY’s first album to reach number one on the Gaon Album Charts and reached the group’s highest position to date on Billboard’s World Album Charts: number 5!

It`z Different, It`z Icy and It`z Me form the so-called "It'z Series", which is now complete after the three albums. The following publications are no longer assigned to a series by title, but stand alone.

The fourth album “Not Shy” with the title song of the same name, which topped the Gaon Album Charts, was followed by ITZY's first English release. The digital single album “Not Shy (English Version)” contains 4 songs; the English versions of the four previously released title songs “Dalla Dalla”, “Icy”, “Wannabe” and “Not Shy”. There is even an animated music video for the new version of “Not Shy”!

Two months later, on March 20, 2021, ITZY released the single “ Trust Me: Midzy ” dedicated to their fans, who are called “Midzy.” “Midzy” comes from the Korean word “믿어 (= mido),” which means “trust.” The name is meant to represent the fact that ITZY and MIDZY trust each other.

On April 30, ITZY’s fifth Korean album “ Guess Who ” was released, with which they entered the Billboard 200 for the first time, peaking at number 48. The title song “ Mafia In The Morning ” was also released in English two weeks later.

On June 25, "VIVO", a production company that creates content for the Internet, announced that ITZY, together with "Second Aunt Kim Da Vi", the alter ego of comedian Kim Shin Young, will release a digital single as part of the project " How to Have a Good 2021". "Break Ice" was then uploaded to YouTube with a music video on July 21st.

In early September, ITZY made her solo debut in Japan with the digital album "What`z Itzy", which consists of the Japanese versions of the five previously released Korean title songs.

After that, the girl group didn't take a break, but worked on a new Korean album, which will be released on September 25th! Find out more about “ Crazy In Love ” here !

After Chaeyeon and Chaeryeong last performed together in 2014's K-Pop Star, fans were finally able to see the two sisters on stage together again on December 18, 2020 at the “2020 KBS Song Festival”. (Chaeyeon left JYP Entertainment after Sixteen.) A number of popular idols such as BTS, Twice, SHINee, NCT, Stray Kids and TXT performed at the festival. Chaeyeon and Chaeryeong not only performed there with their respective groups - ITZY and IZ*ONE - but also as a duo! The two sisters danced together to "Rain On Me" by Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande, after Chaeyeon previously covered a snippet of SHINee Taemin's "Criminal" and Chaeryeong covered "Roller Coaster" by Chungha.

Later, a dance practice was even released. Our hearts still race every time we watch the performance! Did you like it as much as we did? Let us know!