Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
After a cornucopia of pre-releases and solo music videos, ITZY are back with their title track “UNTOUCHABLE” off their Born To Be full album. While the group’s music has admittedly never really connected with me as much as it has for others, up until around 2020 I was at least able to get what others liked about it. Following that period, however, I don’t think I’ve really understood their musical direction much, and their pre-releases for this didn’t imbue me with a ton of confidence either. Thankfully, the energetic “UNTOUCHABLE” seems to get them on track a bit, as they creep back into their older group identity as well.
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Like a lot of ITZY releases, “UNTOUCHABLE” maintains an aggressive posture even in quieter moments, relying on production that features impactful bass and interjections of electric guitar that keep the listener engaged. Even during the pre-chorus when things drop out a bit, the electric guitar featuring prominently in the background was piquing my interest, as it kinda felt like a pop-rock track. When the drop finally comes, the bouncy electro beats make things feels almost futuristic and robotic (in a good way), and the refrain in the chorus is at least good, if not great. On limited repeats so far, I’ve found myself warming to it more than the opposite, likely because of the nice rhythm to it all. Most importantly, unlike some of their previous efforts, “UNTOUCHABLE” has moments where ITZY are allowed to sing, which helps make things melodically stronger, and the song is better off because of it.
That said, I do wish the post-chorus (~1:12) was excluded as it drags things out a bit. And while this is my favorite ITZY chorus in a while, it did feel as if it was leaving something on table, like it had a chance to push the envelope with a vocal back-half and just didn’t. Still, I found myself returning to “UNTOUCHABLE” due to the electric guitar and electro beats being pushed to the front, and it’s an enjoyable return for ITZY that might even grow on me further over time because it actually has a melody that gives it a chance to.
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Meanwhile, the music video was surprisingly unambitious considering they hail from JYP Entertainment. I’m understanding of it since they released seemingly 10 of them for this comeback, and every one of them probably adds debt to the members. So you kinda take what you can get, and what we got is basically shots of the members in front of CGI backgrounds and choreography sequences, but that’s not the worst thing in the world when they look great doing it.
