K-pop girl group ILLIT has recently released a new song with excitement, but it has met with widespread criticism from all directions. The song “Not Cute Anymore” was released on November 24 on the official YouTube channel of ILLIT. Netizens listened to the song, focused on the lyrics, and found lyrics did not make sense and were too childish to be on the playlist of Gen Z.
Debate Around Not Cute Anymore
Though it is not like everybody hated the song, many others liked the song but felt something really strange about being the title track. One said it is pretty close to the side B track at max. A Reddit user wrote, It feels like a demo pointing to the song’s length.
This reignited the debate about the length of K-pop songs getting shorter over the past couple of years, supported by the examples of ILLIT and LE SSERAFIM. The recent release of ILLIT was only 2:11 minutes long. However, some fans defended the shrinking length of the songs and termed it a general trend in the K-pop music industry. They also added that music length has nothing to do with the quality of the song and the impact it has on music lovers.
Illi’t new song sounds like a b-side, not a title track
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ILLIT’s “NOT CUTE ANYMORE” faced criticism on multiple grounds, from its shorter length to its status as the title track. K netizens slammed the group for releasing such a song with odd lyrics. Hold on for a minute, let’s look at some more cases where fans criticised K-pop groups for songs and even boycotted the songs.
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KATSEYE Faces Uproar for New Song Gnarly
KASTSEYE released a new song, “Gnarly,” in April 2025. Everything was fine, fans were loving the song, but one day, in a viral video song’s producer showed an isolated audio from the song led K-pop fans to claim the new song contains a moaning sound from an adult film.
MEGATHREAD- KATSEYE’S GNARLY AND EVERYTHING RELATED
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Why the backlash? The backlash basically erupted because the K-pop group KATSEYE has an underage member, and based on this, many fans declared the choice exploitative and irresponsible of the song’s producer. Fans assumed the responsibility in their hand and launched megathreads calling for responsibility, boycotting the audio, calling the label to take action, and editing specific parts given to a minor. Some termed it artistic, while others dissected the audio as oppressive against the interests of minors and the general public.
KATSEYE Faces Backlash for their New Song Release at Beautiful Chaos Tour
Controversy Erupted After NewJeans’ Debut Song Cookie
The NewJeans debut song “cookie” sparked major uproar in the public due to its sexual undertones. Most of the NewJeans members are under the age of 19 years, and here we dare to mention that there is no fault of kpop group members as they obey the label orders. The ADOR focused on the word “cookie,” which is used sexually in other countries, and defended it using the language experts and translators.
“Cookie” by New Jeans isn’t as sexual as people make it out to be
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The song lyrics go like, “made a little cookie, come and take a lookie….come get some.” or the line, “that’s how you like it, bet you want some.” Hearing this, one can hardly have a second idea that the song is about more than cookies. However, ADOR blamed the listeners and critics of the song for making this up for their own interest under the guise of a minor issue. The label threatened legal repercussions against the critics. But “if you want it, you can get it,” take it and don’t break it,” and I wanna see you taste it are hardly innocent lines.
NEW Jeans Members Return to ADOR: A Full Timeline of Events
KBS Declined WINNER – Island for Broadcasting
On August 16, 2017, KBS ruled WINNER’s song Island inappropriate to broadcast as it contains references to sexual relations between men and women or homosexuality or obscene connotations. The lyrics were written by WINNER’s Kang Seung Yoon, Sog Mino, Lee Seung Hoon, and Bekuh BOOM, whereas it is composed by a team of Future Bounce, Bekuh BOOM, and Kang Seung Yoon.
WINNER’s ‘Island’ deemed unfit for broadcast by KBS because of homosexual innuendos?
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“Like shaking a cocktail / I want to be mixed in with you on the sofa.“
The above line in the lyrics led KBS to declare the whole song unfit for broadcasting. This sparked debate and discussion in major fandom groups and on social media. Many fans quoted the ban as conservative thinking of the music label, instead of the widely promoted safety and security bubble. Many compared the KBS rules and bans on various social media platforms as well.
IU Made Headlines for sexualizing the Protagonist Zeze
IU released Zeze in 2015, and it was inspired by the Brazilian novel My Sweet Orange Tree. As part of EP Chart Shire, Zeze was accused of sexualising the novel’s five-year-old protagonist. José Mauro de Vasconcelos’s novel My Sweet Orange Tree is about a little boy who is mistreated and disliked by everyone. Sexualising the character of this little boy erupted in a heated controversy, and people heavily searched for the poem title after IU released her pop song Zeze.
IU and the Zeze controversy pt. 1: Bad translations, worse logic and terrible, terrible accusations
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A bookseller stated, “My Sweet Orange Tree was a much-loved book in South Korea and often studied in schools.” And according to The Korea Times, “The novel’s Korean publisher said in a statement that we regret the way the little child protagonist is portrayed as a sexual object.” To set the context, here are some of the lyrics from the song, “Zeze, come on up the tree quick and kiss the leaves, don’t be naughty and don’t hurt the tree, come up the tree and get the youngest leaf … you are innocent but shrewd, transparent but dirty and there is no way of knowing what’s living inside.”
