KPOP START UP: ITZY

This week's group is one that debuted this year and is already taking the KPOP world by storm. Itzy (who's fans go by the name Midzy) is comprised of 5 members:

• Yeji (Leader, Main Dancer, Lead Vocalist, Lead Rapper)
• Lia (Main Vocalist, Rapper)
• Ryujin (Main Rapper, Lead Dancer, Vocalist, Center)
• Chaeryeong (Main Dancer, Lead Rapper, Vocalist)
• Yuna (Lead Dancer, Rapper, Vocalist, Visual, Maknae)

The youngest of which, Yuna, is only 15 years old. FIFTEEN. Yeah, I feel old....

Itzy is under the same entertainment group as one of our previous Start Up spotlights, Twice. This allows for the introduction of an interesting concept of Korean culture: the age hierarchy. Korean culture is very dependent on knowing a person's age and ranking, this allows for the right terms and way of speaking to be used out of respect for your elders and those more experienced than you. Since Twice and Itzy are both members of JYP Entertainment, they view themselves as a kind of work family and greet and refer to each other as such.

In Korean culture, your younger sibling is referred to as “dongsaeng”, which is used for actual blood relations as well as those outside your family who are familiar to you. The way you refer to those older than you is more situational: you can refer to your blood relation or someone very close to you as “oppa” (younger girl to "older brother"), “hyung” (younger boy to "older brother"), “unnie” (younger girl to "older sister"), or “noona” (younger boy to "older sister").

Therefore, you often see younger members of a KPOP group referring to older members as "hyung" or "unnie". So Itzy are Twice's dongsaeng, but since Itzy and Twice are two separate non-familiar groups that know and respect each other, Itzy would not call Twice their “unnies” but as "sunbaenim" which literally means "senior" and is used for men or women with more experience in your field or line of work.

Check out this week's segments and highlighted tracks below!