ITZY in Manila: Girls end 2019 on high note
‘Manila Midzys, you guys definitely make a strong impression on us’
K-pop girl group ITZY successfully held its first show in Manila just when they are wrapping up their debut year with a string of achievements. Lia, Ryujin, Yeji, Chaeryeong, and Yuna had their ITZY Premiere Showcase Tour “ITZY? ITZY!” in Manila last Dec. 8 at the New Frontier Theater, the fourth stop in their 11-city tour in Asia and the US.
The year 2019 will be memorable for ITZY as they made a strong impact with their music. They debuted only last February but have already racked up six rookie awards to date, including at the 2019 Melon Music Awards, Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA), and Asia Artist Awards.
In addition, YouTube named ITZY’s “Dalla Dalla” and “Icy” in the top 10 most viewed K-pop music videos worldwide for 2019, placing fourth with 164 million views and seventh with 113 million views, respectively.
“We didn’t expect these awards but we’re so thankful for it. It’s not only because of our fans in Korea but it’s also because of all our fans all over the world who support us. Thank you guys so much,” said Chaeryeong at the event.
Yuna said, “First of all, we’re already happy with the fact that we’re able to promote and work with our Midzys and ITZY together. Not only that but to be able to receive these awards, I think that made this year shine even brighter. We’ll do our best next year as well.”
“At the start of our showcase tour, we already have six rookie awards. Thank you so much,” according to Lia.
ITZY opened the Manila show with “Icy” and “It’z Summer,” two songs from their album “It’s Icy” released last July. They also performed “Cherry” and “Dalla Dalla” and covered TWICE’s “TT” and GOT7’s “Hard Carry.”
“Kamusta kayo,” said Yeji, Lia, Ryujin and Chaeryeong while Yuna told the crowd “Mahal kita” at the showcase hosted by Kring Kim.
It was ITZY’s first show in Manila and they were happy with the fans’ warm reception.
“Although it’s our first time here in Manila, it’s so touching to see a big welcome for us. Your screams were so loud that while we were performing, we had so much fun,” said Chaeryeong while Ryujin said, “It’s an honor to meet you guys. Are you ready to have fun?”
In the “Question? ITZY!” segment, fans asked the girls questions. Asked what would they be if they weren’t Kpop idols or members of ITZY, Lia said, “I would like to try some part-time jobs because I’ve never actually got the chance to try any of them.”
Chaeryeong said maybe she would be an actress and Ryujin said that because of her age, she would be a student in a university, taking up business or accounting. Yeji said “being an idol was really my dream. If not an idol, I would still be doing a job related to music like maybe a dancer” while Yuna said maybe she would be an announcer.
One of Lia’s memories while being a trainee was that during their practice, she and the other trainees would order pizza and eat it at a park secretly, to which Ryujin replied, “I was there, too.”
For the new year, Chaeryeong’s goal is to get her driver’s license since she’s turning 20 while Ryujin said that
“in 2019, we showed our direction. In 2020, we would like to show you guys that we’re growing with in direction.” Yuna said she wants to read more books and communicate more with fans on the Naver V Live app.
In the “1 Second Intro Quiz,” the girls had to guess the name of each song, and dance to it or sing it to earn points. Some of the songs they danced to were TWICE’s “Feel Special,” AOA’s “Come See Me,” TXT’s “Run Away,” BTS’ “Boy With Luv,” Stray Kids’ “Miroh” and BLACKPINK’s “Kill This Love.”
“We thought hard about how to make this showcase for Manila fans really special. We thought of about covering our seniors, the sunbaes that we really respect for this special performance. We showed you guys that cute side with the choice as ‘TT.’ We also showed the girls’ charm with GOT7’s ‘Hard Carry,’” said Yeji.
In the charade game “All In Us! Roulette,” the girls needed to guess the right word through cute body actions.
In return, Philippine Midzys prepared a video for ITZY that highlighted their love and support for the girls. Ryujin said the video was “really touching so thank you.”
“I just want to say that we’re really thankful to have you guys and of course, everyone, every Midzy, everywhere like anywhere you guys, wherever you guys are, each of you guys is important to us. Manila Midzys, you guys definitely make a strong impression to us. Thank you so much for giving us this great energy,” said Lia.
Chaeryeong said it was “really touching tonight because of all your hot, warm cheers and also the video was really touching. So we will come here often.”
“I love you guys and thank you for this video,” said youngest member Yuna, who cried when fans sang “Happy Birthday” to her, adding, “I think today is the first time that being greeted ‘Happy Birthday’ so many times.” She turned 16 on Dec. 9.
The girls thanked the fans for coming to the show and their support.
“I just wanna tell that we know that there are lots of you guys not only in Korea but everywhere cheering for us. We know because when we turn our V app on, we see all the comments saying ‘Say hi to Manila,’ ‘We’re here in Manila’ and from every other country and other places, I just want to let you know that we know that,” said Lia.
Ryujin said, “First of all, I really want to say thank you for all the fans here. You are so passionate. I hope that today could be a special day for you guys, too.”
“It’s a wonderful today. Thank you. We’ll be back, guys. I promise you,” said Chaeryeong while Yeji said, “Thank you guys for giving us this really good memory for Yuna and ITZY. I hope you guys really know that Midzy is very important to us ITZY. When we come back, we’ll be back with better performances” and Yuna said, “Mahal kita.”
ITZY’s Premiere Showcase Tour “ITZY? ITZY!” in Manila was presented by JYP Entertainment and Pulp Live World in partnership with Globe.