On November 12, additional documents said to be from ILLIT’s debut plan were revealed, attracting considerable attention. In fact, it has been noted that BLACKPINK’s images of Jennie were taken as inspiration for the group.
However, while Jennie’s inclusion was mostly in a positive light, the same couldn’t be said about how ILLIT’s debut plan featured 4 more girl groups.
In particular, ITZY and (G)I-DLE have been derided together for being too “aggressive” with their concepts that emphasize the “we are different” and “follow us” message.
Meanwhile, the aespa concept was described as “too flashy and exaggerated” to copy, and STAYC was said to have a concept that no one would want to imitate.
Beyond that, the newly revealed documents are said to have a similar format with part of ILLIT’s debut plan revealed in a previous Belift Lab video
Below are some comments from netizens who discovered these alleged Belift Lab comments:
- It’s funny that these are written into the plan of a large company
- The company was actually founded by people with elementary school intelligence.
- This agency criticizes other bands and yet doesn’t do well with its own artists
- Didn’t the old video mention BLACKPINK, NewJeans and IVE? Now they’re also dragging aespa, ITZY, (G)I-DLE and STAYC in…
On the other hand, ILLIT’s debut plan has also been accused of copying NewJeans.
Source: FMKorea, Krb