Released on October 18, 2023, ‘Ringo’ is Korean girl group ITZY’s first Japan album. A fan favorite for fans of girl crush concepts, ITZY members Yeji, Lia, Ryujin, Chaeryeong, and Yuna reject damsel-in-distress tropes in their fairytale-themed music video. The music video was released on September 26 for the title track “Ringo” and references the classic fairytale Snow White.
“Bring me RINGO”
In the title track “Ringo”, ITZY take agency over their own stories, rather than wait prettily for a prince to save them. This trope is a common trope in fairytales such as Snow White, in which the female characters have little defining traits other than beauty and romance. The name of the song, “Ringo”, references the poisonous apple the princess Snow White is tricked into eating, as “ringo” means “apple” in Japanese. ITZY, rather than being gullible enough to eat the apple, welcomes the apple, thus taking agency over their own fairytales. The themes of “Ringo” continue a message of confidence, autonomy, and self-agency that ITZY has been promoting since their debut.
Bringing Back the Classics
The album ‘Ringo’ includes ten more tracks, three of which are Japanese versions of prior songs; past title tracks “Sneakers” and “Cheshire”, and fan song “Trust Me (MIDZY)”. Also included are four Japanese tracks that were released by ITZY in 2022. These tracks are “Blah Blah Blah” and “Can’t tie me down”, which were released on EP ‘Blah Blah Blah’ alongside instrumental versions of each song, and “Voltage” and “Spice” from the ‘Voltage’ EP, also with instrumental tracks.
New Tracks to Give Us a Sugar Rush
The second track of ‘Ringo’, “Sugar-holic”, was released as a pre-release single on October 10th with its own music video. This song is an acoustic pop ballad track with R&B elements, contrasting the experimental EDM sound of the title track “Ringo”. Following “Sugar-holic” are two more new Japanese songs, “Playlist” and “STYLE”. The album is rounded out with a total of eleven Japanese tracks for MIDZYs around the world to enjoy.
Which song is your favorite off of ‘Ringo’? Let us know on our Instagram and Twitter!
And although they have plenty of self-love and confidence, don’t forget to send some love to our strong ITZY princesses at their Instagram!
