There is no single best group in K-pop, but there can be no objection to calling girl group IVE the best at making everyone feel like queens and princesses in their hearts.

IVE, a six-member girl group that has been pushing the idea of narcissism and self-validation as their slogan from day one, is back again with an album that will help everyone focus their energy on themselves with songs that ride high on the New Year spirit.


“IVE has always been filled with self-love energy, and we’ve turned that even wider to sing about empathy — the different stories of different people that arise from diverse perspectives,” group member Jang Won-young told reporters during a press conference held Monday in western Seoul prior to the release of the group’s third EP, “IVE Empathy.”

“IVE Empathy,” released on Monday at 6 p.m., comes 10 months after its second EP, “IVE Switch,” released in April 2024, and five months after finishing the “Show What I Have” world tour last September.

One of the double lead tracks, “Rebel Heart,” was released on Jan. 13. Monday’s album release unveiled the remaining lead track “Attitude,” along with four B-side tracks: “Flu,” “You Wanna Cry” — a remake of Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” (1987) —, “Thank You” and “TKO.”

The new lead track “Attitude” sampled “Tom’s Diner” (1987) by Suzanne Vega and carries the message that the only thing that we can control in an uncontrollable situation is our attitude — meaning that the key to a stress-free, happy life all actually lies within us.

Jang, a fitting member whose catchphrase “Lucky Vicky” became a national sensation after she proved her ability to find a silver lining in any bad situation coming her way, took part in writing the lyrics of “Attitude.” Jang took part in writing the lyrics of B-side tracks in group’s past albums, but this was her first time trying her hand at writing the words of a lead track.

“I wanted to tell the story that even in times where we can’t change anything, we still have the power to enjoy what we’re going through,” Jang said. “I particularly mustered ‘Lucky Vicky’ energy to write the lyrics, so I hope people listen to it and love the song.”

The members also took the lessons they learned during the last world tour to make the new album. The girl group held 37 performances in 28 cities worldwide during the "Show What I Have" tour that kicked off in October 2023 and finished with two encore concerts at the Tokyo Dome in September, during which the group performed in front of 420,000 fans around the globe.

“I think we learned how to deal with a bigger stage and how to remain casual under different circumstances, which we tried to show through ‘Attitude,’” member Gaeul said. “Our teamwork definitely became better through the tour and performances at places like the Lollapalooza. I hope that maturity shows through our performances.”

This sense of indestructible optimism has been the key to IVE’s success — that is, aside from the obvious vocal and dance skills of the members backed by the high quality of the music.

Known as “chotongryeong” in Korean, which translates to “president of elementary students,” IVE is particularly popular among Korea's younger generation thanks to its “we are all princesses who deserve all the love in the world” theme — one it has been pushing since its debut in December 2021.

And the members don’t take this lightly.

“We can feel that our music and words influence a lot of younger, growing people,” Jang said, when asked whether IVE members feel a sense of responsibility due to their popularity among the youngsters. “That makes us look back on ourselves and our actions, and even more determined to give only positive vibes to everyone.”

Just three years into its debut, IVE quickly became one of the most sought-after groups in K-pop thanks to its catchy songs like “After Like” (2022), “Love Dive” (2022) and “I Am” (2023), giving the group the moniker “perfect and complete.” The group has won some of the biggest awards at domestic music award ceremonies including the 2024 MAMA Awards, 2024 Melon Music Awards and the 39th Golden Disc Awards.

“We’ve been given very feedback we are grateful for since our debut, even though we still have a long way to go,” leader An Yu-jin said. “We said that we want to grow to fit such titles and I believe that we’re still on our way. So we’d like to perform more, take a bigger stage, to meet with more fans and be better onstage.”

When asked to name a specific example of a goal, An answered, “Nagoya.”

“We’ve toured in Japan but we’ve never performed in Nagoya, where our own member Rei is from. We’d like to perform there and it would also be great if we could go on a tour that’s bigger than the previous one.”

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]