ILLIT’s New Song Met With Heavily Divided Reactions From Listeners

On June 16, KST, ILLIT made their comeback with their third mini album, Bomb, and its title track, “Do the Dance.”

The song is already on its way to social media virality, while the music video has garnered over 15 million views in less than three days.

Though the reactions to the song appear favorable on the surface, a recent article by TenAsia has brought forth some serious complaints that listeners had about the track. The article mainly criticized the incorporation of the “ddu-dda-ddi” vocal sound pattern in “Do the Dance,” stating that this was becoming a repetitive production choice for ILLIT’s songs.

The author, who described “Do the Dance” as an “otherwise solid track,” cited some netizens’ discontent with the vocal pattern as it reminded them of a similar element used in their previous release, “Tick-Tack.”

The article also highlighted that the song has put ILLIT’s artistic growth into question, as “Do the Dance” shared way too many similarities with “Tick-Tack,” including the 4/4 rhythm, heavy bass, video game-like sound effects, and electronic pads.

The article has sparked a heated discussion on Instiz, with netizens clearly divided on their opinion about the song.

• “I don’t listen to their songs because they’re always the same…I heard people saying this song was good, so I gave it a listen as soon as it came out. But it was again the same as last time, so I turned it off.”
• “The song is good, but this time it has a retro vibe, so it’s quite different from their previous songs. I think (the vocal patterns) are just their signature like tripleS does with ‘La la la’ in their songs.”
• “I loved the instrumental part at the beginning of the song. But when the lyrics started, I immediately got turned off.”
• “I liked the previous song and this song as well. I’ve been listening to it constantly.”
• “I feel so too.”
  — “If you say the song wasn’t that good, everyone treats it like a hate comment, which is a bit…”