‘No sleep, eat’: ITZY remembers Lia; shares K-pop star realities for 2000th day at Manila 2024 concert

MANILA, Philippines — Behind their flawless glass skin, to-die-for figures, killer vocals, dynamic dance moves and stunning visuals, Yuna, Ryujin, Chaeryeong and Yejin of Korean girl group ITZY have also struggled with many bouts of sadness, hunger, exhaustion, anxiety, self-doubt and insecurities.

The group’s rollercoaster ride from their debut in 2019 to present was marked with a tribute video played at their 2,000th day as a girl group during their Manila concert in Mall of Asia Arena last Saturday, presented by Live Nation Philippines.

After a mellow medley of “Love is” and “Be in Love” for the encore, the members were about to give their individual messages to MIDZY when the lights went off to reveal a surprise video for the group’s 2,000th day.

The video showed highlights of their first 2,000 days – including heartaches from audition rejections, grueling years of training, insecurities and dealing with public criticism, which all eventually led to their stronger teamwork, awards and successes at the top of the charts.

The video also showed clips of their rapper Lia, who is in hiatus due to health reasons.

“I wasn’t confident as Lia of ITZY,” Lia was quoted as saying in her brief clips in the video, which had MIDZYs cheering for her.

After watching the video, the other four members broke down as they gave their individual messages to their fans.

“Congrats, MIDZY, for your 2,000th day today! Members, congrats to our 2,000th!” Yuna said.

According to her, they were always on a rush that they didn’t had the time to really look over their personal endeavors.

“It does not seem to have too much days to have 2,000 days, but we’ve been doing a lot of things during that period,” she said.

“Looking back, I don’t think I had too much time to work on myself during those 2,000 days,” she admitted, “There were days when I could not sleep, I could not rest and I could not even eat, you know.”

Despite challenges, what keeps them going is having their MIDZYs around.

“Nevertheless, the brightest smile I actually had is when I’m actually in front of MIDZY,” she enthused.

“You know, in the blink of an eye, it became our first year, second year, third year, and now it’s our day