ILLIT made a sneaky Japanese debut with a soundtrack song, though their 2024 mega-hit Magnetic was also omnipresent in Japan. Like fellow HYBE artists TWS and BOYNEXTDOOR, their sound feels tailor-made for J-pop so it’s nice to hear them leaning into that on new single Toki Yo Tomare.
After being somewhat hesitant about ILLIT last year, I fully boarded the train with this June’s Do The Dance. The group functions much better in a frothy, upbeat soundscape with higher tempos and sugary hooks. Thankfully, Toki Yo Tomare builds on this approach. While it misses the addictive French house influence of Do The Dance, its bounding percussion and roller rink ready instrumental serve a similar purpose. The song coasts along these good vibes all the way through, offering a buoyant close to this year’s summer season.
While Toki Yo Tomare‘s melodies are very nice, they err closer to “generic” than the group’s best work. You could easily hear this song delivered by many other girl groups, which dulls its presence just a bit. I would have loved to hear the production lean in a more symphonic direction and the performance take on a quirkier air. But when it comes to uptempo girl group pop, we’re not exactly spoiled for choice at the moment. I’ll gladly take this.
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 9 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 8.25 |
