ILLIT - NOT CUTE ANYMORE Review
By Lee
December 02, 2025
The magical girls are back with one of the most surprising releases of the year.
In an era of the weaponized reimagination of nostalgia, it’s a race to the bottom to put slight twists on retro styles for the sake of profit. The bar is higher now that consumers are fatigued by the hordes of vintage this and throwback that. ILLIT made a dreamy song with throwback visuals. Check, check, and check. Sure, everyone else tries to check these boxes as well, but the thing here is that the product is actually good.
The song enters with dreamily eerie strings, curious synths, and unbelievably fitting cheesy arcade-machine lasers. In the back, holding down the beat, is the most amazing intergalactic reggae rhythm section!
Within seconds of the start of the song, the ensemble of sounds is entrancing, fresh and interesting. It is a smooth, wavy rhythm that one could hula to on a Hawaiian vacation. The vocals are super silky and spotless, but have the breathiness and the cadence to add flavor to the mix. It’s smooth sailing—and before you know it, you reach the heartdrop moment of the chorus, “I’m not cute anymore.” It’s a vulnerable second of vocals that is the apex of the arrangement. “That’s where the wallets come out, right there” as Ron Fair would say.
I was intrigued by the song’s resemblance to former 1981 Billboard number one, “The Tide Is High” by Blondie. Not only because of the island-beat or the quirky visuals of the M/V, but the understanding of the context surrounding the hit. Blondie was known for their eclectic sound that fused many genres including rock, reggae, and disco. Blurring the lines of these genres and being popular makes it popular music at the end of the day. At that time, American culture was fascinated by UFOs and aliens. Technology was in early stages and consumerism had begun to take hold. The movie scene was growing as the VHS (Video Home System) gained popularity. The 1980s was a weird and zany, yet colorful time to imagine.
ILLIT was able to capture this moment and connect to our modern era. It’s quite the same as much as it is different. We are still as obsessed with aliens, tech and buying things just as they were back then, but the effect is not the same. We have grown numb to the novelty of new things. New, nowadays, is reskinned and rebranded things of old. Given that the 1980s was the blueprint for our modern era—that was the time when it was novel. Now that time has passed and we are in a tired time of consumerism and technology, we have lost the novelty that once was.
The contradiction here is that ILLIT is bringing back the novelty of that era. What was once old, they are making new again. They are rejecting their cutesy keyring and hand mirror, sweet drinks and conventionally aesthetic totems of our time. They find a novel cuteness by embracing all the things that evolved to what we find as normal today. That itself doesn’t make it good. They put their own ILLIT magic on it.
The challenge to the listener is to question convention. What was it about the 80s versus now? Was it better? It’s romantic to look back at the innocence of the era. Technology was in infancy and consumption ramped up as people thought that excess of objects would improve life. There was the best of intentions, but over time it definitely did not end up how they may have dreamed. Luckily we can look back and get a sense of the wonder and excitement of the time.
The whole thing feels effortless and welcome. It’s one thing to sample throwback sounds, but it’s another to pull off something hip from retro ideas. The M/V oozes charm and is easily recommendable to anyone with an affinity to popular culture. It’s vibrant and wacky just as the times it alludes to.
The instrumental is a joy to hear, and the vocals are a lovely match. The ideas that they express are well done and stylish. Sure, the song could be longer, but there was just enough packed into the 2 minutes and 12 seconds that I am happy to simply replay the song over and over. Like a good movie, it’s worth watching twice. Overall, I am feeling a strong B+.