#Not shy

[inyunjin]

say bye-bye (to boring days)

🔞 ITZY - Hwang Yeji/Shin Ryujin - 5223 words 🔞

READ ON AO3

Yeji starts slow, lazy. The fingers on Ryujin’s stomach grow legs and learn intent, walking themselves across the exposed patch of skin with purpose. Her head slowly drifts up, off Ryujin’s chest, before spelunking into the crevice of her neck and shoulder. It’s an easy adjustment, one that makes Ryujin tilt her head back on reflex alone. She lives there for a bit, covering the smaller girl like a blanket, before she goes further with her plan. A swift kiss to her neck and an even faster response from Ryujin – the smallest, slightest of hitches in her breath. Yeji notices because she notices everything about Ryujin. She kisses her again, this time transitioning the kiss into the brush and nuzzle of her nose against the skin of her neck. Yeji feels it in Ryujin’s stomach this time, the small tense and hardening of it before it relaxes. But she doesn’t let it relax for long. Her fingers cross the boundary of Ryujin’s shirt to the cool skin beneath it. Her nails walk along the pavement of her torso, leaving shivers as footsteps in their wake. Her lips grow more daring, her kisses more forceful, her tongue and teeth joining in as reinforcements on the assault on Ryujin’s neck. “Yeddeong…” “Yes, Ryuddaeng?” The last part of her name comes out as a hot breath, causing Ryujin to shudder beneath the feeling. “What’re you doing?”

CONTINUED ON AO3

[itzymixy]

I was bored so thought I'd post something a bit different and show you some of my favourite pictures of Ryujin from each Era so far because she pretty or whatever 👉🏻👈🏻

[sudden-stops-kill]

lola

[confusedananass]

(instagram)

[shy-of-fluff]

Biggest “this should have been the final design” contender for me from the latest beta leaks

[kpop-girlsworld]

Shin Ryujin

[itzymidzy]

"Not Shy" | 15th INK Incheon K-Pop concert

[thattabithalynnegurlslife]

Oh well Yes...as much as I can! This Gurl needs to get some more Gfriends or GURLfriends in Phoenix. Even if You're just visiting Phoenix and want to hang with Me let Me know....

[socially-awkward-hippie]

I'm not antisocial I'm pro leave me the fuck alone!

[dianauchihahyuga]

Color studies to celebrate itzy's comeback

Featuring Not shy Ryujin 💕

If you like these paintings pls consider answering this form 🙏🙏🙏🙏

[inyunjin]

feel this tremble (at this moment)

🔞 ITZY - G!P Hwang Yeji/Shin Ryujin - 7239 words 🔞

READ ON AO3

A sigh tumbles out of Ryujin’s lips as she collapses onto the floor beside Yuna and Chaeryeong. She’s gripping a bottle of water that she promptly empties into her mouth the moment she’s settled next to her friends. With a sigh, she eases her back into the cool tile beneath her. She inhales. She exhales. She repeats. After hours of rehearsal and shooting, they might just finally be done with filming the dance practice video for Mr. Vampire. While waiting to be given the okay to go home, Ryujin does what she can to monopolize this small moment of respite. Head flat against the floor, she tilts it so she can look over to the leader of their group – the only one of them not a sprawled out clammy mess of a person. A few yards away from them, Yeji is in talks with a few of the JYP representatives present at the shoot. Despite it all, she seems no worse for wear. Her hands and mouth move with the energy of a girl possessed, seemingly oblivious to the fact that it is the end of the day and not the beginning. She bounces with every word and gesture, so much so that even the producers are having a hard time keeping up with her. Ryujin gets caught staring and Yeji responds by smiling at her the way only she can – with scrunched up eyes and dimples dotting her cheeks. It’s a brief, missable moment that goes away the instant one of the men besides Yeji addresses her, but it makes Ryujin realize one thing. She misses her.

CONTINUED ON AO3

[drezons]

[loonarii]

wtf is going on with ITZY? (an essay)

Itzy has had an… interesting year. They’ve released five singles and two mini albums this year, including two japanese singles - and yet they have somehow made very little (good) impact on the industry at large. ‘Sneakers’ and the ‘Checkmate’ album  was arguably their most talked about comeback this year, but it was almost unanimously hated to the point of exhaustion. Itzy’s second Korean comeback, ‘Cheshire’ was met with marginally less hatred than its predecessor, but along with their two Japanese singles - ‘Voltage’ and ‘Blah Blah Blah’, they slipped under the waves within days of their release.

But how the hell did we get here? Three years ago it was itzy’s world - they were JYP Entertainment’s newest girl group after Twice, and marked the shift between 3rd generation kpop to 4th generation. Arguably, Itzy set the tone for what 4th gen girl groups would be, and their comebacks were events. Their debut, ‘Dalla Dalla’ was a smash hit, and was the perfect balance between controversial and addictive in its sound that it got people talking about them, and brought in an immediate fanbase. ‘Icy’ continued their legacy, but it was ‘Wannabe’ that broke the ceiling. ‘Wannabe’ ruled 2019, and it was Itzy at their best. The hip dance, the chorus, the love yourself theme, the aesthetics, RYUJIN, this was everything Itzy was amazing at, and it handed them the coveted ‘4th gen leaders’ title on a silver platter.

Some people argue Itzy fell off around the ‘Not Shy’ era, but I would have to disagree - while it did fail to top the legacy of ‘Wannabe’, it was still a very successful comeback. However, ‘Not Shy’ was the first Itzy single to stray from their self-love concept, and while some were excited for Itzy to explore new territory, others were frustrated that Itzy was ‘abandoning’ what made them stand out in the industry. With Itzy’s next comeback, ‘Mafia In the morning’, the frustration boiled over into anger. Gone were the rainbow concept of releases past, and here were Itzy, clad in black leather, performing to a song that could only be described as… girl crush. I loved this comeback, and its album is one of my favourites from them, but many midzys were pissed. Had Itzy completely forgotten themselves? It remained a successful comeback, but the unrest in the fandom was growing. JYP Entertainment decided to take a step back, regroup and come back again when everyone is good and ready.

And so, five months later,  we were given ‘Loco’ and Itzy’s 1st full length album, ‘Crazy In Love’. ‘Loco’ was a return to Itzy’s roots - the music video was colourful and chaotic and insane, the chorus dance heavily featured the groups iconic crown choreography, and the production was maximalistic and full of personality. But still, many fans remained frustrated. For some, the song just wasn’t sticking like ‘Dalla Dalla’ or ‘Wannabe’, and with SM’s latest girl group, aespa, dominating 2021 with their highly talked about comeback ‘Next Level’, it appeared Itzy’s crown was slipping.

But let's talk about another group that entered the scene shortly after - JYP’s next girl group, NMIXX. NMXX’s ‘O.O’ was one of the most controversial releases of the year - maybe of all time. It was criticised for its structure being a ‘worse knockoff’ of the aforementioned ‘Next Level’ by aespa, and for sounding like two songs rolled into won. But the talent in this group was undeniable. All seven members were insanely good dancers - something Itzy were noted for too - and INSANELY good singers - something Itzy has often been criticised for not being - and their whole concept was arguably an offshoot of Itzy’s at debut. But JYP debuting NMIXX couldn’t really affect Itzy right? Wrong. ‘Sneakers’ was Itzy’s next comeback, and, as I said before, was unanimously despised - but something else was wrong. The quality of the music video was significantly worse than Loco, and the teaser rollout was a mess. It appeared that JYP had almost forgotten Itzy in the haze of NMIXX’s debut - despite Itzy’s debut significantly outselling them. And with ‘Cheshire’, the quality downgrade was even more obvious. The choreographies had become more lazy and weren’t nearly as complicated as Itzy were once known for, and even the song’s quality had taken a hit. Why wasn’t JYP capitalising on the success of girl groups in 2022? Why was Itzy stumbling when most previous groups were soaring in their 4th active year? And why was Itzy, ITZY, fourth gen leaders Itzy, Twice’s juniors Itzy, taking a backseat to everyone else in the industry?

I don’t have the answers to these questions, other than pointing the finger at JYP’s consistent incompetence when it comes to managing groups. But what can Itzy do now? If I were their manager, I would say take a break. Itzy has been everywhere and nowhere this year, and with the insane domination and oversaturation of new girl groups like Le Sserafim, New Jeans and IVE, Itzy needs a time when fans are truly starved for something that only they can offer, with their experience and talents. And when that comeback happens, it will have to be a smash hit, up there with their greatest, or Itzy may succumb to irrelevancy. It should have a unique and catchy choreography that’s both difficult and addictive, it should embrace the modern kpop sound that Twice have been exploring, and it should show the industry at large that Itzy are a force to be reckoned with, not a group condemned to be ‘washed up’ on their fourth year in the industry. Can JYP do it? That remains to be seen.

[thefriendlyghost-exe]

*mutters under breath* not shy, not me

*deep inhale*

ITZAYYYYYYY

[kpop-girlsworld]

Lee Chaeryeong