CHECKMATE

The record

CHECKMATE is ITZY’s fifth mini album, released on 15 July 2022 with seven tracks. The title track is ‘SNEAKERS’. The album introduction puts it about ten months after the first full-length album CRAZY IN LOVE.

The introduction on Bugs says ‘SNEAKERS’ likens a resolve to follow your own mind, whatever anyone else is looking at, to a pair of trainers. By the same text the writing team GALACTIKA, who worked on ‘달라달라’ (Dalla Dalla), ‘WANNABE’ and ‘LOCO’, joined for a fourth time, and the Swedish composer Sebastian Thott, who had worked on the CRAZY IN LOVE track ‘Mirror’, came in with them. The introduction also lists KENZIE and LDN Noise among the credits.

Reviews

AllMusic’s Neil Z. Yeung reviewed the record. Noting that the group had been “steadily climbing the charts since the late 2010s”, he wrote that they “made a big splash” with this fifth mini album.

His closing line: “Checkmate may only be seven tracks long, but it’s packed with enough energy and charm for a full LP.” He recorded the record as “their fourth Korean number one and the first to break into the U.S. Top Ten”, and as “their best-selling effort in their home country to date”.

Among the tracks

The song Yeung names first is the title track. He wrote that “the bubble-pop lead single ‘Sneakers’ blended breezy cuteness with a rousing, stadium-sized singalong chorus”, and added that the group put an English version of it on the record as well.

He then divided the rest: “Elsewhere, the edgy, trap-influenced ‘Racer,’ ‘Free Fall,’ and ‘365’ add some danger to the mix.” Of the last song he wrote that “the closest they come to a ballad is on ‘Domino,’ but the track is so swelling and feel-good that it never seems sleepy”.

The album introduction counts the seven tracks as the title track, its English version and five others, with writers from inside and outside Korea across all of them.

Numbers

The Korea Herald reported on 25 July 2022 that the record entered the Billboard 200 at number eight, giving ITZY their first top 10 on the main United States albums chart. The same story quoted Billboard’s own chart preview, published on the Sunday US time: “ITZY’s Checkmate debuts at No. 8 on the Billboard 200, giving the South Korean quintet its first top 10 effort.”

The CHESHIRE album introduction, four months later, adds the sales. The record passed 720,665 pre-orders, sold 472,394 copies in its first week by the Hanteo Chart, and crossed a million cumulative shipments on the Circle Chart on 31 August to become a million-seller. By the same text it reached number 10 on the Artist 100.