''Cheshire'' is the sixth

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

by South Korean girl group

Itzy Itzy (stylized in all caps; ) is a South Korean girl group formed by JYP Entertainment and consisting of members Yeji, Lia, Ryujin, Chaeryeong, and Yuna. They debuted on February 12, 2019, with the release of their single album ''It'z Different'' ...

. It was released by

JYP Entertainment JYP Entertainment Corporation () is a South Korean multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate founded in 1997 by J. Y. Park. It is one of the largest entertainment companies in South Korea, and operates as a record label, tale ...

and

Republic Records Republic Records is a New York City–based American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). It was founded by Avery Lipman and Monte Lipman as an independent label in 1995, and was acquired by UMG in 2000. Republic was initially an ...

on November 30, 2022, and contains four tracks, including the pre-release English-language single " Boys Like You", and the lead single of the same name. ''Cheshire'' was a commercial success, where it debuted at number one on South Korea's

Circle Album Chart The Circle Album Chart, previously known as the Gaon Album Chart, is a record chart ranking the 100 most popular albums, extended plays and single albums in South Korea based on their pure sales. It is a part of the Circle Chart, previously know ...

with 779,525 copies sold in the first week of release, becoming Itzy's fifth number-one album on the chart. In January 2023, the EP was certified

Million One million (1,000,000), or one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999,999 and preceding 1,000,001. The word is derived from the early Italian ''millione'' (''milione'' in modern Italian), from ''mille'', "thousand", plus the au ...

by the

Korea Music Content Association The Circle Chart (), previously known as the Gaon Music Chart or the Gaon Chart (), tabulates the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in South Korea. It is produced by the Korea Music Content Association and sponsored by South Korea's ...

(KMCA) for surpassing 1,000,000 copies sold, the group's second million-seller album.

Background and release

On October 21, 2022, Itzy released the pre-release English-language single " Boys Like You" prior to the release of their upcoming album. On November 7, JYP Entertainment announced Itzy would be releasing their sixth extended play titled ''Cheshire'' on November 30, with the promotional schedule released on the same day. On November 9, the first concept film was released. On November 16, the second concept film was released. On November 24, the track listing was released with "

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

" announced as the lead single. The following day, the track spoiler video was released. The music video teasers for lead single "Cheshire" was released on November 28 and 29. The EP was released alongside the music video for "Cheshire" on November 30.

Composition

The opening track "

," serves as the album's lead single. It was inspired by the "mischievous"

Cheshire Cat The Cheshire Cat ( or ) is a fictional cat popularised by Lewis Carroll in ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' and known for its distinctive mischievous grin. While now most often used in ''Alice''-related contexts, the association of a "Ch ...

from the 1951 Disney movie ''

Alice in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creatur ...

.'' It was described as the opposite of the previous lead single "

Sneakers Sneakers (also called trainers, athletic shoes, tennis shoes, gym shoes, kicks, sport shoes, flats, running shoes, or runners) are shoes primarily designed for sports or other forms of physical exercise, but which are now also widely used fo ...

". If the latter was more “energetic” and full of "peppy vibe and shouty delivery," then this one flirts with more darker, "subdued" instrumentals, "bold lyrics,"

groovy ''Groovy'' (or, less commonly, ''groovie'' or ''groovey'') is a slang colloquialism popular during the 1950s, '60s and '70s. It is roughly synonymous with words such as "excellent", "fashionable", or "amazing", depending on context. History The ...

, and "sensuous" composition. It's characterized by a "

funky Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mid ...

bassline Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, Dub music, dub and electronic music, electronic, traditional music, traditional, or classical music for the low-pitched Part ( ...

and gritty

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

beats. Lyrically, it’s moved away from the "straightforward takes on love" in comparison to their past music; on "Cheshire," the group become "active players in the game of love, pushing and pulling the subject of their affections to fulfill their every whim and fancy. They almost veer into a femme-fatale approach to romance, though they are motivated by mischief (hence the Cheshire Cat inspiration) rather than more nefarious intentions." Followed by the second track, "Snowy," that samples

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

's classical piece "

Für Elise Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor (WoO59, Bia515) for solo piano, commonly known as "Für Elise" (, ), is one of Ludwig van Beethoven's most popular compositions. It was not published during his lifetime, only being discovered (by Ludwig Nohl) 40 year ...

". It combines with a keyboard instrumental that "emulates the sound of twinkling bells, all while instilling a dark, unsettling atmosphere." The third track, "Freaky," is a R&B- pop song that takes a more "laid-back" and

minimalist In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...

approach with lyrics about "shake off a persistent ex-lover." The closing track " Boys Like You," is the group's first English-language song, released prior to the album. It is a pop song that incorporates

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

elements, "catchy" rhythmic rap, and

ad-libs In music and other performing arts, the phrase (; from Latin for 'at one's pleasure' or 'as you desire'), often shortened to "ad lib" (as an adjective or adverb) or "ad-lib" (as a verb or noun), refers to various forms of improvisation. The r ...

. The lyrics showcase the group realizing their worth and refusing to "take back a two-timing boyfriend."

Critical reception

Gladys Yeo of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' praised ''Cheshire'' as "a mature update to Itzy's sound", giving the album a three-star review. In particular, she found the title track's "darker, more subdued instrumentation" appealing and saw its lyrics as a departure from the group's previous music, with a bolder approach to romance. However, Yeo criticized the pre-release single "Boys Like You" as unfitting on the album with "painfully juvenile" lyrics.

Accolades

Track listing

Credits and personnel

Studio * JYPE Studio –

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

, mixing ,

digital editing Digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operate in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital media can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on a digital ...

* The Hub Studio A – recording * Chapel Swing Studios – mixing * Sterling Sound – mastering * 821 Sound Mastering – mastering * Studio Nomad – digital editing Personnel *

– vocals * Song Hee-jin (Solcire) – background vocals * E.so (Galactika) – background vocals * Jvde (Galactika) – background vocals, vocal directing * Sophia Pae – background vocals, vocal directing * Frankie Day (The Hub) – background vocals, vocal directing * Hwang Su-min (153/Joombas) – lyrics * Jeong Ha-ri (153/Joombas) – lyrics * Jang Jeong-won ( Jam Factory) – lyrics *

Moon Seol-ri Jam Factory () is a South Korean music publisher which sources song tunes and lyrics for K-pop, J-pop and Mandopop artists from songwriters predominantly based in the US. Writers of the tunes are often songwriters for American companies, such as ...

– lyrics * Didrik Thott – lyrics, composition * Hayley Aitken – lyrics, composition * Sara Davis – lyrics * Ellie Suh (153/Joombas) – lyrics * Lee Joo-hee (Mumw) – lyrics * Timothy Tan –

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

, synth, bass, piano/keys, drum, producer * Justin Reinstein – composition, arrangement, synth, producer * Ciara Muscat – composition * Josefin Glenmark – composition * Jar (153/Joombas) – composition * Jjean – composition * Stian Nyhammer Olsen – composition, arrangement, computer programming, keyboard, producer * Joshua Leung – composition, arrangement, computer programming, keyboard, producer * Julia Bognar Finnseter – composition * Paulos Solbø – composition * Jacob "Ontrackz" Andersson – composition, arrangement, computer programming, keyboard, producer * Molly Rosenstrom – composition * Sebastian Thott – composition, arrangement, computer programming, keyboard, producer * Goo Hye-jin – recording , digital editing * Im Chan-mi – recording , digital editing * Eom Sae-hee – recording , digital editing * Lee Sang-yeop – recording, digital editing * Brian U – recording, vocal directing * Lee Tae-seop – mixing * Im Hong-jin – mixing * Tony Maserati – mixing * David K. Younghyun – mixing * Chris Gehringer – mastering * Kwon Nam-woo – mastering * Choi – digital editing * Mr Cho (Solcire) – digital editing * Noday – vocal directing * Friday (Galactika) – vocal directing

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Release history

References

{{Itzy Itzy EPs 2022 EPs Korean-language EPs JYP Entertainment EPs Republic Records EPs