Did ITZY’s Album Spoiler “Play Favorites?” Korean Fans Divided Over Missing Members

As per the schedule posted on their official social media accounts, JYP Entertainment‘s girl group ITZY revealed an “Album Spoiler” video on July 17 KST…

…consisting of brief highlights of all the songs and choreographies from their upcoming mini-album, KILL MY DOUBT.

ITZY PROMOTION SCHEDULER

ALBUM RELEASE
2023.07.31 MON 6PM (KST) | 5AM (EDT)#ITZY #MIDZY @ITZYofficial#ITZYComeback#ITZY_KILLMYDOUBT#ITZY_CAKE pic.twitter.com/zaVhD53kIn

— ITZY (@ITZYofficial) June 19, 2023

While the video itself received a tremendous amount of support, some Korean fans are questioning the obvious: How come three out of five members are “missing” from the album spoiler?

Throughout the video, Yeji and Ryujin are the only members (in addition to some dancers) to appear.

And fans believe, in reviewing the schedule, there “doesn’t seem to be other content lined up” that might exclusively feature members Chaeryeong, Lia, and Yuna—at least, as prominently as the album spoiler does Yeji and Ryujin.

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Hundreds of ITZY and other K-Pop idol fans have flocked to online communities, like theqoo, to discuss “what happened.” And among them, opinions remain divided. Some believed that the idea of the album spoiler is “literally to ‘spoil’ and not give away the whole thing.”

This was an interesting and creative way to present an album spoiler without giving away full choreographies or formations…

— @midzy_swag/Twitter

Others also agreed that there must be “more coming,” and, without knowing the actual plan, it should not be assumed that JYP Entertainment meant to discriminate within the group.

• “I’m not an ITZY fan, but this threw me off for sure. I watched the whole thing, waiting for the members to change. Haha.”
• “What was the reason…?”
• “This is offensive to the fans of the other three members, though… How come their biases are missing from official content?”
• “Even if JYP Entertainment has additional content featuring the other three members to be released, this was not the greatest execution of whatever the plan was. I think, at the least, it should’ve been made clear on the schedule that the video would have two select members…”
• “Is this an unit album or what? I hope there’s something else planned for the three missing members.”
• “What the…?”
• “How come no one thought, ‘Hmm. Let’s not include the dancers for now and instead, have all five members perform’? Sucks even more because the title track is such a bop.”
• “I hope this wasn’t an attempt to rip off the Studio Choom vids… because if it was, it failed. And it becomes too clear that JYPE has no idea what it’s doing.”
• “Had this happened to ANY OTHER group, I think their fandoms would’ve reacted the same, too. Unless the three members have some content for themselves, that is. Should’ve catered to whole-group fans, since most individual member fans are whole-group fans, especially during comebacks. How clueless…”
• “Hmm… This must have been a bit confusing for the fans, for sure.”
• “Not JYP Entertainment putting in extra effort to make sure this comeback gets negative attention… I can’t even. How come the management isn’t catering to whole-group fans first? Good work pissing off ALL of the fans.”

On the other hand, some fans believe it’s favoritism at its peak, pointing out that “it makes no sense” for the video to “include all those dancers but not the actual members themselves.”

• “It’s too bad because had the video included all five members, it would’ve gotten so much attention for being hot and fresh. The idea behind it was great, but the execution sucked. Now, we’re all talking about the missing members and not about the songs or the choreographies. What’s wrong with JYPE?”
• “Love the concept, though… I wonder what happened.”
• “This reminds me of my bias’s management… Sometimes, companies discriminate for no apparent reason. It’s not about how popular some members are, or how talented. It’s not even about the profit. They just play favorites.”
• “I could’ve sworn this is a teaser for their unit promotion.”
• “Are they debuting a unit or what? This makes no sense. I hope JYPE has something lined up for the other three members… Right?”
• “WTH? I’m sure there’s something else… Like, I sure hope the other three members get a unit content, too. LMAO. What even is this?”
• “The video itself is so well-made… which makes this whole situation even worse.”
• “Um, there are TEN dancers included in this video. I’m f*cking pissed. Where’s the rest of ITZY? Or is ITZY a two-member group now?”
• “Huh… I wonder what went through their heads…”
• “Please… There has to be something else planned for the other three members… Right? Because otherwise, this is problematic as heck.”
• “It’s mind-blowing how GENIUS this album spoiler is for having them dance while teasing the songs… but at the same time, how f*cking IDIOTIC it is for excluding three members from it.”

JYP Entertainment hasn’t responded to the questions being raised online.