When ILLIT released “It’s Me,” one thing became obvious very quickly:
people had opinions.
The song was weird.
The chorus was repetitive.
The lyrics included the now-famous “tortilla” line.
And “Who’s your bias? I’m your bias” sounded either ridiculously confident or ridiculously annoying, depending on who was listening.
Even some people who liked ILLIT weren’t sure what to make of it.
But then something strange happened.
People kept listening.
They watched the choreography.
They watched it again.
Dance covers appeared around the world.
Reaction videos accumulated hundreds of thousands of views.
And months later, “It’s Me” was still sitting high on Spotify charts in markets including Japan and Korea.
So how did one of ILLIT’s most divisive songs become one of their most persistent?
The First Reaction Wasn’t Simply “This Is Great”
“It’s Me” arrived on April 30, 2026 as the lead single from ILLIT’s fourth mini album MAMIHLAPINATAPAI.
It was immediately different from the dreamy ILLIT many listeners remembered from “Magnetic.”
This was faster.
Stranger.
More aggressive.
More electronic.
And deliberately ridiculous.
On Reddit, the original r/kpop release thread attracted more than 1,500 upvotes.
Even positive reactions struggled to describe the song normally.
One listener essentially called it annoying — but in the best possible way.
Others compared its deliberately comedic energy to Orange Caramel.
Some loved it immediately.
Others definitely did not.
That division never completely disappeared.
Even months later, ILLIT fans were still debating whether the group should continue in the high-energy techno direction of “It’s Me” or return to its earlier dreamy sound.
Even Reaction Creators Looked Confused
That first-listen confusion is perfectly captured in Kess and Han’s reaction video.
Their reaction begins positively.
Then the song starts doing increasingly strange things.
The “tortilla” lyric arrives.
The “Who’s your bias? I’m your bias” hook keeps repeating.
And their reaction moves between:
What is happening?
and
Why is this so catchy?
At one point they describe the song as “weirdly addictive.”
That’s probably one of the best descriptions of “It’s Me.”
Because the song doesn’t necessarily try to make you comfortable.
It tries to make you remember it.
Then the Choreography Changed the Conversation
This may be one of the most important reasons “It’s Me” survived its divisive first impression.
ILLIT released a performance version.
Suddenly, people weren’t only hearing the strange song.
They were seeing what it was designed to do.
On Reddit, the performance-video discussion received more than 400 upvotes.
One viewer admitted that they weren’t a fan of the song initially, but the performance was beginning to change their mind.
Why?
The choreography.
It was fast, energetic and full of personality.
Another commenter disliked the song but still admitted that the choreography was fun.
That distinction is important.
A K-pop song doesn’t exist only on Spotify.
It lives on stage.
It lives in choreography.
It lives in Shorts and TikTok clips.
It lives in fan cams.
And sometimes the visual performance explains a song better than the audio does.
“It’s Me” appears to be one of those songs.
The Weirdness Became the Hook
Think about the parts people remember.
“Who’s your bias?”
“I’m your bias.”
The tortilla.
The exaggerated expressions.
The hand movements.
The relentless electronic beat.
None of these elements are particularly subtle.
That’s the point.
“It’s Me” is built from moments that can be clipped, repeated, imitated and joked about.
Even Kess and Han predicted that the song would be divisive while repeatedly admitting that the chorus was addictive.
By the end of their reaction, the confusion hadn’t disappeared.
It had turned into enjoyment.
They liked the quirky sound precisely because it was unserious.
That transformation — from “What is this?” to “Wait, play that again” — may explain the song better than any chart number.
International Dance Crews Started Performing It
Then something else happened.
The choreography left Korea.
A K-pop dance crew in Vienna uploaded a public performance of “It’s Me.”
It passed 300,000 views.
Other dance covers appeared from different countries and cities.
A public cover uploaded by another team passed 200,000 views.
Reaction channels continued covering the song.
In other words, “It’s Me” wasn’t only being streamed.
People were learning it.
That’s a different kind of success.
A song that inspires people thousands of kilometers away to learn the choreography, gather a team, film it publicly and upload the result has moved beyond passive listening.
It has become something people participate in.
The Spotify Numbers Make the Story More Interesting
The streaming data also complicates the idea that listeners simply rejected the song.
According to Spotify chart tracking data, “It’s Me” eventually reached No. 2 on Spotify’s daily charts in both Japan and South Korea.
It also charted in Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and other markets.
By late August, months after release, it was still appearing around the Top 10 in Japan and around the Top 15 in South Korea on Spotify’s daily chart.
That doesn’t mean everybody loved the song.
Clearly they didn’t.
But it does mean that loud negative reactions online were not the entire story.
People kept pressing play.
Reddit Started Asking the Same Question
And that created an interesting contradiction.
If the song was supposedly so bad…
why were people still listening to it?
That question began appearing in fan discussions.
Some fans argued that online negativity surrounding ILLIT made the song appear less successful than actual listening behavior suggested.
Others pushed back.
Not everyone who dislikes “It’s Me” is participating in some larger anti-ILLIT campaign.
Sometimes people simply dislike a song.
That’s an important distinction.
But both things can be true.
A song can receive genuine criticism.
And social media can amplify that criticism until it looks more universal than it actually is.
Streaming behavior gives us another piece of the picture.
Maybe “It’s Me” Was Designed to Be Annoying
This is where the song becomes particularly interesting.
What if being slightly annoying isn’t a flaw?
What if it’s part of the mechanism?
Think of songs that get stuck in your head even when you don’t want them there.
They often contain repetition.
Unusual sounds.
Simple phrases.
Something slightly irritating.
Something you can imitate.
“It’s Me” has almost all of them.
And the chorus practically challenges the listener:
Who’s your bias?
I’m your bias.
It’s arrogant enough to be funny.
Simple enough to remember.
And repetitive enough to become difficult to remove from your head.
One Reddit commenter described the song as being like a virus stuck in their brain.
That’s not traditional praise.
For a pop song, however, it might be extremely effective praise.
The Performance Gave the Song a Second Life
There is another reason I think the performance matters so much.
Early ILLIT was strongly associated with the floating, dreamy visual world of “Magnetic.”
“It’s Me” asks the members to perform differently.
The facial expressions are exaggerated.
The choreography is more physical.
The energy is less dreamy and more chaotic.
Some Reddit users compared elements of the performance to PSY.
Others again mentioned Orange Caramel.
Those are interesting comparisons because both references point toward something K-pop occasionally forgets:
pop music is allowed to be ridiculous.
Not every comeback has to look expensive, mysterious or impossibly cool.
Sometimes being memorable is enough.
Online Opinion Is Not the Same Thing as Audience Behavior
That may be the biggest lesson from “It’s Me.”
If you only read the loudest reactions immediately after release, you can easily believe you understand how a song is performing.
But audiences don’t behave as neatly as comment sections.
Someone can complain about a song…
and play it again.
Someone can dislike the first listen…
and love the choreography.
Someone can call a chorus annoying…
and discover two hours later that they’re singing it.
Someone in Vienna can hear a Korean song…
and decide to learn the entire dance.
That’s why “It’s Me” is more interesting than simply labeling it a hit or a flop.
Its story is about the gap between what people say and what people actually keep consuming.
Maybe ILLIT Won by Making People React
“It’s Me” was never universally loved.
It still isn’t.
And that’s precisely why its staying power is interesting.
ILLIT made a song strange enough to criticize.
Funny enough to meme.
Physical enough to dance to.
Simple enough to remember.
And addictive enough that even people confused by it sometimes came back.
Maybe that’s the secret.
“It’s Me” didn’t need everyone to agree that it was good.
It only needed people to keep asking:
Why can’t I get this song out of my head?
And months later, plenty of them still couldn’t.