The powerful, girl crush K-Pop group ITZY returned to Los Angeles for their 2ND WORLD TOUR <BORN TO BE> on Tuesday, June 11 at the Kia Forum. After commencing their global tour in Seoul back in February, ITZY traveled all around the world and stopped in Australia, Europe, Japan, and more to finally arrive in the United States.
Since their debut in 2019, ITZY has been a force to be reckoned with in the K-Pop industry due to their eye-catching performances and trendsetting, earworm music. The girl group consists of Yeji, Ryujin, Chaeryeong, Yuna, and Lia. Main vocalist Lia is currently on a mental break hiatus (announced back in September 2023) and did not partake in the recent BORN TO BE album promotions and will consequently sit out of this tour in order to fully recover.
Touching upon their female warrior concept, the opening VCR featured the members as they approached a dystopian, “Gotham City”-like place. Accompanied by a live band and backup dancers, ITZY emerged on stage in red and black leather outfits for the opening stage of “Born To Be.” At the song’s climax, the lights went out to illuminate the girls’ silhouettes against the red LED screen during the last dance section. Rounding out the opening segment were “RACER” and “KIDDING ME” with the latter song having a special dance break added to it.
The members greeted MIDZYs, the official name of their fans, and expressed their delight in having their own concert in Los Angeles for the third time. As a majority of the night’s music is performed by their live band, ITZY introduced each of the band members. They then teased the next song as one of their favorites, raising everyone’s anticipation.
Their favorite song is revealed to be “Mr. Vampire” and the crowd clearly echoed that sentiment as they chanted along loudly to the English lyrics. The following stage was the viral song “SWIPE” known for its addictive yet simple “hand swiping” dance move. Each of the members showcased their performance skills in individual dance breaks to lead into the iconic, shoulder-shaking “WANNABE.”
To transition to the solo stages, a VCR showed ITZY in a whimsical, gravity-defying world where the girls were like giant superheroes towering over skyscrapers and monuments.
The first solo stage of the night was by Chaeryeong who performed her self-written song “Mine” and cleverly used moving mirrors and a similarly dressed backup dancer to serve as her reflection. Ryujin then appeared on the elevated stage for the rock and roll song “Run Away,” using her mic stand like an air guitar. Instead of choreography, Ryujin showed her acting skills as she angrily pushed the items off the table on stage to reflect the frustration in the song’s lyrics. Yuna entered the stage in a giant diamond-shaped chair, looking glamorous in her corset top for the fabulous, upbeat song “Yet, but.” She radiated pop queen vibes as she worked the entire stage and ended the song with a dramatic confetti throw.
For the last song, Yeji showed her tough, powerful side in “Crown On My Head.” She began at the extended stage and told MIDZYs to make some noise, hyping up the crowd throughout the song. After crushing her performance, Yeji strutted off stage to mark the end of the solo stages.
Resuming the story from the initial VCRs, the girls, dressed in black leather like the action movie heroine Cat Woman, approached a city in apparent trouble. As the girls arrive, an eclipse occurs and a comet crashes into the city, leaving behind a red glowing stone. The four of them come together, crush the red stone, and declare “I’m untouchable.”
Changed into baggy denim jeans and flashy, printed tops, ITZY reentered the stage and swaggered down to the main stage to perform their recent title track “UNTOUCHABLE” followed by the energetic “Gas Me Up” that they completed on the extended stage.
Next was “Dynamite” which can only be classified as a signature “ITZY” song with its unique, eclectic beat. This stage really embodied the charm of live concerts as the performance was tailored to ensure the members danced outwards to every fan section. Despite the intense choreography, Yeji and Chaeryeong flawlessly hit the various high notes to further solidify ITZY’s reputation as strong dancers and vocalists.
In their ment, the girls shared that their goal was to show stages that fans can only see in a live concert so they deliberated a lot on the setlist and ultimately included a lot of fun B-side tracks like “Gas Me Up” and “Dynamite.” They took turns to talk about their solo stages and the band even replayed a snippet of their song to jog the crowd’s memory. Chaeryeong channeled her inner diva and danced at the edge of the stage with the fan blowing wind through her hair. She shared that she wrote the song trying to convey her heart and feelings to MIDZYs. Since “Run Away” did not have an official choreography, Ryujin hilariously just jogged in place and then egged on the crowd to keep barking at her. She then explained that she wrote this song because she really likes band music and wanted to try this genre. The crowd chanted “Shin Yuna! Shin Yuna!” for Yuna’s turn as she explained that her goal was to convey happy, bright energy. Finally, Yeji sang the highlight part of her song again and revealed she was thinking about ITZY and MIDZY while she wrote the song.
Continuing with the show, they performed “Psychic Lover” and spread out throughout the main and extended stages to interact with fans. For “Don’t Give A What,” dancers came out with illuminated canes as props to create a more futuristic-styled aesthetic. “LOCO” started with the band playing an introduction made specifically for the concert and each musician was spotlighted before the members started singing. After ITZY exited the stage, the band kept playing and the dancers took center stage to perform unique choreography to the song.
ITZY returned to the stage in metallic, silver outfits to perform more of their catchy hit songs which included “NOT SHY,” “CAKE,” and “SNEAKERS.” Throughout “SNEAKERS,” the girls branched off by themselves and then in pairs and danced outward to the crowd to ensure everyone got a great view of them before coming together as a group for the final verse. They ended the main show with a bang by performing the charismatic, powerful songs “Kill Shot” and “Escalator.”
The girls exited the stage but to get the crowd excited for the encore, MIDZYs were invited to take part in various challenges. Fans throughout the crowd were spotlighted to dance and sing along to ITZY’s songs. The final challenge was to fill up the noise meter and upon success, the girls returned to the stage wearing their tour merch shirts for the encore.
For “LOVE is,” the members stood still and focused on their vocals and the song’s sweet lyrics meant for MIDZYs. They then sat on white stairs for the angelic, sentimental “Be In Love” with the lyrics projected on the LED screen in the background.
The members were about to do their closing ments but a surprise video made by MIDZYs around the United States played on the screen. In the video, MIDZYs credited their love for ITZY for connecting fans throughout the 50 states. Noticeably, Lia received roaring cheers every time she appeared in the video, demonstrating how much MIDZYs missed her. After the video ended, fans raised banners all across the venue with the slogan “Thanks for being our happiness.”
Yuna proudly and excitedly proclaimed that they would be back and likened the joy of being with MIDZYs to dancing on a fluffy pillow. Chaeryeong commented that she didn’t realize just how big the U.S. was and how far apart the cities were until watching the surprise video. She expressed her gratitude to all the MIDZYs across America for waiting for ITZY and reassured everyone by saying “We’ll be back with Lia ok?” Ryujin was greeted yet again by barks from the crowd and she happily bobbed her head along to the sound. Although Korea is far from Los Angeles, she shared how happy she was to have such fond memories here. The crowd barked more, prompting her to express how the “woo woo” barks became her signature. Although she didn’t know the reason, she loved it. Yeji commented on how the venue grows larger each time they return and promised they will make sure to bring Lia back next time
For the final encore songs, they performed the all-English track “Boys Like You” and their debut song “DALLA DALLA” while interacting with fans in every section. Pink confetti blasted into the air and fluttered all around the girls as they danced their way off stage and reluctantly waved goodbye to MIDZYs.
The BORN TO BE Los Angeles show truly highlights ITZY’s significant growth—they went from performing in a 6,000-seat theater to a 17,000-seat arena in less than two years. MIDZYs were beyond ecstatic to be reunited with ITZY and are eagerly awaiting for their future music releases and the return of a happy, healthy Lia. ITZY will be performing in the United States until the end of June before returning to Asia to finish the tour. Catch them at their remaining stops or start saving up for when they return as a full group with Lia!