The situation
ITZY's "In the morning" (also known as "Mafia") was originally a very different sounding track before JYP Entertainment founder J. Y. Park edited it. The songwriting duo LYRE, who first produced the song, revealed the original version in a recent social media update. The changes made to the song include rewriting the lyrics in Korean, altering the pre-chorus, and replacing the chorus instrumental.
What the internet did with it
- Netizens on Theqoo were unbothered by the changes, with one commenter stating — "I prefer the final version but it's cool to see how it was made" and another noting the original demo's different vibe.
- The original demo's pre-chorus featured the lyrics "You know I'm the queen, you know I'm the bomb" over a different beat, which is notably different from the final version's "Baby you're confused, confused, you're so confused / You're gonna be mine at the end, you are".
- Lyrical changes, such as "I'm the one and only" becoming Yeji's "Time for the operation", were made to fit the Korean language and *눈치 (nuhn-chi, a sense of social awareness or intuition) of the song.
The open question
The extent to which J. Y. Park's edits contributed to the song's success remains unclear, leaving fans to wonder what would have happened if the original version had been released instead. The final version's iconic line "I'm the mafia" is a key element, but it's uncertain how the song would have been received without the changes made to the instrumental and lyrics.
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