Despite being in the middle of their 1st world tour, Itzy surprised us with a mini-album through Chesire. An album that we really felt should have been part of Checkmate, this new Itzy album has an unusual holiday release, which begs us the question: was it really necessary for the group to release an album in the middle of their world tour and towards the end of 2022?
We were listening to all four tracks of Chesire (Boys Like You was a pre-release single) and determining if it was a necessary release–or more of a stopgap filler.
What Checkmate should have been
When we saw Sneakers as the title track for Checkmate, we were just confused by the multiple concepts that the music video had. That has been rectified with Chesire with the girls in a playful mood with “anything’s right” as their main catchphrase. It may not be an earworm like Sneakers, but we really feel that Chesire should have been part of Checkmate and not be a separate album altogether.
If we were to be blunt, we strongly feel that Chesire should have been the actual title track of Checkmate and not Sneakers—we don’t understand why JYP decided to split both albums and bait their audience with Sneakers.
Considering that Chesire is a short album (you only get four tracks, and one track was released a few weeks prior), the concept of the music video further solidified the fact that Checkmate and Chesire should have been together as a single album like Crazy in Love.
Boys Like You is just…too radio friendly
We understand that Itzy aims to be a global KPop girl group, but we also think that JYP went overboard with their English single Boys Like You. Don’t get us wrong: Boys Like You is a decent track in general, but it sounds and feels too late 2000s, Disney, that vastly different from how we know Itzy as a group.
Beyond Boys Like You, Snowy and Freaky are short (sub-3 minute) songs that make Chesire a worthwhile album even if it should have been part of Checkmate. We like how Snowy samples Beethoven’s For Elise, making it arguably the best song out of the very short album. Freaky, on the other hand, may easily pass for a Twice track, but Itzy was able to make it stand out as their own.
Itzy Chesire Album Verdict
Pros
- Chesire and Snowy are solid tracks
- Use of classical music as samples in Snowy
Cons
- Boys Like You stripped them of their identity
- Could have been integrated with Checkmate
Hype Meter: 5/10
Being an unusual release in between their first world tour, we think this is Itzy’s weakest album to date. While Chesire and Snowy are great, having Boys Like You has diluted their identity—making the song more pleasing to radio airwaves that showcase their identity as a group.
Considering how short Chesire is, Itzy could have dropped Boys Like You, include the other three songs with Checkmate, and made Chesire as the actual title track instead of Sneakers.
