Music / (G)I-DLE

^{Top to bottom, L-R:} Shuhua (top right), Yuqi, Soyeon, Miyeon, Minnie (bottom left).

(G)I-DLE (Korean: (여자)아이들, or yeo-ja ai-deul, meaning 'the girl children') is a five-membered Kpop Girl Group formed by CUBE Entertainment. They debuted on 2nd May 2018, with "Latata," taken from their mini-album, 'I Am.' The group debuted with six members, but member Soojin was announced to have left the group in 2021 following a school bullying controversy.

The group is known for having several members —Soyeon, Minnie, Miyeon, and Yuqi— take an active role in producing and writing their own material, both for the group and for their individual solo releases.

Members

Active

• Soyeon(Jeon So Yeon, born August 26, 1998)'': Leader, main rapper, sub-vocalist, center
• Miyeon(Cho Mi Yeon, born January 31, 1997)'': Main vocalist, visual
• Minnie (Minnie Nicha Yontararak, born October 23, 1997): Main vocalist
• Yuqi(Song Yuqi, born September 23, 1999)'': Lead vocalist, main dancer, lead rapper, face of the group
• Shuhua (Yeh Shuhua, born January 6, 2000)'': Sub-vocalist, visual, maknae (a.k.a the youngest member)

Former:

• Soojin(Seo Soo Jin, born March 9, 1998)'': Main dancer, sub-vocalist, sub-rapper^note Went on hiatus in February 2021 following an alleged bullying scandal, and left the group in August of that same year.

Discography

Extended Plays

• I Am (2018)
• I Made (2019)
• Latata (2019) (Japanese Album)
• I Trust (2020)
• Oh My God (2020) (Japanese Album)
• I Burn (2021)
• I Love (2022)
• I Feel (2023)
• Heat (2023) (English Album)

Studio Albums

• I Never Die (2022)
• 2 (2024)

Digital Singles

• Hann (Alone) (2018)
• Uh-Oh (2019)
• Dumdi Dumdi (2020)
• Last Dance (2021)

OST songs

• Help Me (2019) — Her Private Life OST Part. 1

Other

• Jelly (2017) - Jeon Soyeon
• Idle Song (2018) - Jeon Soyeon
• One (2018) - with BTOB, CLC , Hyun A, Jo Kwon, PENTAGON, & Yoo Seon Ho
• K/DA:
  • "Pop/Stars" (2018) - Soyeon and Miyeon with Madison Beer and Jaira Burns
  • All Out (2020) - Soyeon and Miyeon with various artists
• Wow Thing (2018) - Seulgi X SinB X Chung Ha X Soyeon (Station X 0)
• I Wanna Be (2019) - Key feat. Soyeon
• Cart (2018) - Hangzoo X Miyeon
• Empire (2019) - WENGIE feat. Minnie
• Lion (2019) - single released for the finale of Queendom.
• Windy (2021) - Jeon Soyeon
• A Page (2021) - Song Yuqi
• Drive (2022) - Cho Miyeon
• Yuq1 (2024) - Song Yuqi (EP)

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I am a trope, Super Lady!

• Animal Motifs: Soojin wears a fox mask in pre-debut cameos, and Miyeon provides vocals for kitsune Ahri.
• Boastful Rap: Soyeon is capable of many of these, especially back in her Unpretty Rapstar days. As for the group proper, "Uh-Oh", "$$$", "Lion" are the biggest examples.
• Bonfire Dance: In the "Dumdi Dumdi" MV, the members perform the outro of the song around a bonfire in an outdated desert as the MV has an exotic summer theme and elements.
• Catchphrase: Shuhua's "Yeobbun~" ("Everyone~").
• Censored Title: "Nxde" has a censored title to tie into its themes about nudity being seen as obscene. At the end of the music video, the word "Nude" appears in white, then it changes to red and the u is replaced with an x.
• Clip Show: A MV for "Blow Your Mind" was released ahead of 'I Made', featuring footage the members took of each other while visiting San Francisco.
• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Soojin. She's usually the most no-nonsense one when the other members tend to get... weird (which is also why she's considered the Team Mom).
• Cuckoosnarker: Shuhua's about as eccentric as the rest of them but she can definitely lay out the snark.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Concept images for I Am had each member framed by a distinct colour. Soyeon had pink; Miyeon had black; Minnie had blue; Soojin had red; Yuqi had green; and Shuhua had yellow.
• Darker and Edgier:
  • Their digital singles ("Hann" and "Uh-Oh") have a more cynical mood than their preceding Album Single.
  • "Oh My God" is much darker than what the group has ever released, with a dark, eerie aesthetic, foreboding lyrics, and an overall creepy vibe.
• Double Standard: "Nxde" points out the differing cultural attitudes toward nudity in different contexts. A girl undressing on camera to derogatory online comments is contrasted with a gallery of art-goers looking at an artistic nude. The song also points out, "I'm born nude."
• Early-Bird Cameo: Soojin appeared in Jeon Soyeon's "Jelly" and "Idle Song" videos wearing a fox mask. The mask reappears in the Latata MV, when Soyeon tosses it aside.
• Engrish: Soyeon sometimes shows hints of this in her raps^note for example "Now I draw a luxury nude" in "NXDE", but she delivers them with such style and ferocity that you hardly even notice it.
• Even the Girls Want Her: Soojin. Just, make sure Shuhua is not around or she will end you.
• Fan Community Nickname: Neverland, their official fanclub
• Fangirl: Yuqi's love of Super Junior inspired her to become an idol.
• Female Empowerment Song: Quite a few of their songs tackle this subject, most of which include a Boastful Rap.
• Genki Girl: All of the girls, besides Soojin, have had their moments, but Yuqi and Miyeon take the cake.
• Genre Roulette: They are very well-known for this, from the trop-house "Latata", to the Latin-influenced "Senorita", and then to the 90's hip-hop "Uh-Oh" just for starters.
• Good Bad Girl: Soojin is known as the "sexy" member and oozes confidence like no other when performing. Off-stage, she's much quieter than the others.
• Head-Turning Beauty: In the "Queencard" MV, Minnie walks down the street in a tight-fitting little black dress and heels. The mere sight of her causes people to crash their cars.
  Minnie: Hey you
  What are you looking at?
  Am I quite sexy sexy so you fell for me?
  Yeah, you
  What are you doing? You want my kiss kiss too?
• It's Not Porn, It's Art: "Nxde" is about cultural attitudes around nudity. It argues for the artistic value of nudity and that it should not be seen as obscene, pointing out the Double Standard in attitudes toward "obscene" nudity and "natural" or "artistic" nudity.
  Why you think that 'bout nude
  'Cause your view's so rude
  Think outside the box
  까고 말해 (Speak out)
  아리따운 나의 누드 (My beautiful self) (x2)
  I'm born nude
  변태는 너야 (You've got a dirty mind)
• Jack of All Trades: Sort of. While Soyeon can sing, dance, rap, produce, and write lyrics with relative proficiency, she's nonetheless considered to be very good at all of those aspects of music-making.
• The Leader: Soyeon
• Lyrical Shoehorn: Shuhua's "whoa-oh-uh-oh" and Yuqi's "You-fu-fu" in "Senorita."
• Medium Blending:
  • "Tomboy" has a Stop Motion section and stinger using dolls in an otherwise live-action video.
  • "Nxde" has a 2D animated character appear a few times in a live-action video.
• Motor Mouth: Soyeon. Even before she became the group's leader and main rapper, she rapped bars for days. Prime examples include "$$$", "What's in Your House?", "Don't Text Me", and many of her Unpretty Rapstar raps - she's actually the fastest female idol rapper in South Korea^note the fastest female rapper is Tymee, formerly known as e.Via.
• Multilingual Song: A number of their songs mix Korean and English lyrics in equal measure.
• Only Sane Man: Soojin. Fans say she holds the only braincell in the group.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Soyeon is around 5'2" ^note 157 cm and the overall shortest of the group, not that you'd guess it from her performances and stage presence. She's considered to be one of the best fourth generation rappers, a skilled dancer, and writes/produces most of the group's discography.
• Precision F-Strike: "Tomboy" shockingly features quite a few of these, particularly in its CD-only version.
  • In the CD version, Miyeon goes from singing "미친 연이라 말해^note michin yeonira malhae" (people say it's crazy) to "미친년이라 말해^note michinnyeonira malhae" (people call me a crazy bitch).
  • At the beginning of the chorus, Minnie and Yuqi sing "yeah I'm a fucking tomboy", with the F-bomb obviously bleeped in the original version.
  • In the same vein, Soyeon goes from rapping "I like to eh on drinking whiskey" to "I like to sex on drinking whiskey".
• Pun-Based Title: "$$$" (Dollar) which sounds like Korean 달라 '(Dalla),' meaning "different." The track even samples a Google Translate reading of "dollar".
• Put on a Bus: Soojin was removed from "Last Dance" and put on temporary hiatus after news of her allegedly being a bully during her school years, and her departure from the group was announced six months later.
• The Quiet One: Soojin doesn't tend to raise her voice and often keeps to herself. That's not to say that she's unwilling to join in on the others' antics here and there.
• Retraux: "Uh-Oh" evokes 90's hip hop in the song and the girl's styling.
• Shout-Out :
  • Queencard's lyrics compliment both Kim Kardashian and Ariana Grande
  Yuqi : Look so cool, look so sexy like Kim Kardashian,
  Look so cute, look so pretty like Ariana
  • The music video for "Super Lady" is a homage to the music video for "I Am the Best" from 2NE1
• Singer-Songwriter: Soyeon has writing credits on nearly all the group's discography.
  • Minnie co-produced "Blow Your Mind" and "For You".
  • Yuqi helped in producing and writing "Doll" and "Rollie" on the second album.
• Spoken Word in Music: TWICE in "Uh-Oh," starting with Minnie; "Hey. There's someone trying to get close to me. Ya, I'm talking about you." Then, Soyeon adds; "Yo, you got it? Don't mess with me. Ummm, I'm not finished. Ok, let's go."
• Step Up to the Microphone: Shuhua in "Uh-Oh" and "Lion". It was well worth the wait.
• Tabloid Melodrama: In "Nxde", a movie star is the subject of scandal for appearing in a film called Nude, headlines declaring "Ruined Loreley", "Hollywood Troublemaker", "She's a Liar", and "She's so sexy but stupid!"
• Vocal Dissonance: Yuqi has a sweet, innocent appearance, but has a deep voice. Similarly, Soyeon's speaking voice is girlish and cheerful and she herself is the most petite member of the group, while her singing and rapping voice for many of the group's songs is deep, forceful, and best described as fierce (she is fully capable of singing in a similar style to Minnie, however).
• Vocal Tag Team: Minnie and Miyeon, and Soyeon and Soojin.
  • Later singles changed this up. Miyeon and Yuqi have become the tag-team for Uh-Oh, Lion, and Oh My God.

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