I love

I love is the fifth mini album by (G)I-DLE. It was released digitally on October 17, 2022 and physically on October 18, 2022 along with a music video for the title track, "Nxde".

The physical album is available in eight versions: Born, Act, X-file and five member-specific Jewel Case versions.

The album talks about love and contains various kinds of love, and has many different emotions. The tracks in the EP are listed in reverse as it narrates the process of love starting with track 6 of someone experiencing love to track 1 of loving themselves. The EP took the form of vintage Hollywood-inspired concept.

Track list

 * 1) "Nxde" - 2:58
 * 2) "LOVE" - 3:17
 * 3) "Change" - 3:24
 * 4) "Reset" - 3:02
 * 5) "Sculpture" / "조각품" - 3:06
 * 6) "DARK (X-file)" - 2:45

Name
The album's title, I Love has no object to the sentence of the album name. The group explained that they want to respect all types of love and leave it to each listener to substitute with their own form of love – "can be family, friend, hobby, lover, dream, or one of the many kinds of love out there". I Love also has meanings of embodies the audacious aspiration that "'I' deserve to stay to 'myself' instead of being what others want me to be and that I hope to throw away the show which I don't want, and instead present the genuine, true self."

Description
"l love embodies the audacious aspiration that I deserve to stay true to 'myself instead of being what others want me to be and that I hope to throw away the show which I don't want, and instead present the genuine, true self.

Each of the 6 tracks on the album unravels a different story of love through music. Various genres from pop, rock, indie pop, and more are expressed in (G)-DLE's very own style. Soyeon once again took the initiative in leading the general album production process as the executive producer, and the band members contributed to the songwriting of all tracks, affirming their reputation as 'multitalented artists'.

The title track "Nxde" is a song in the alternative pop genre that adopted the melody of 'Habanera' the aria of 'Carmen' the opera in order to illustrate everyone's persona as show. It metaphorically expresses the authentic, true self of one as nude, and the lyrics with sarcasm at the provocative views on the word stand out. With the grand bass line consisting of shuffle rhythm and straightforward lyrics capturing the audience's attention, it's just like a musical you can't take your eyes off of.

Previously, (G)-DLE raised expectations for this album by consecutively revealing images of three concepts: the Act concept portraying the double-sidedness of love; the 'Born' concept with visuals inspired by the widely loved Hollywood figure Marilyn Monroe: and the "X-File' concept that shows what lies underneath artists who are loved by everybody Further, the music video of "Nxde which is a story of movie stars on their journey to finding their true selves uses animation to deliver a message without being overserious, presenting unique aesthetics to fans.

(G)I-DLE stand on bare feet, crashing prejudices and protecting what they love, the things that love them, and themselves, 'even if it might be unattractive, and even if they might never be loved again'. Their footsteps that will finally change the era are now more anticipated than ever."

Background and release
The concept for I Love was first mentioned by Soyeon on an episode of I Live Alone that aired on May 13, 2022. The program showed Soyeon assemble Cube staff meeting for their group (G)I-dle's next album where she introduced the new album presentation material she prepared herself using the Microsoft PowerPoint. She quoted Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, "I’d rather be hated for who I am than loved for who I am not."

''" 'I'd rather be hated for who I am than to be loved for who I am not' is the main message I wish to convey. I want that to be the main message of our next title song." [...] "Like our previous album, this one is to beat the stereotypes, 'Even if you stopped loving me, I would choose to be who I am.' "'' — Soyeon

Soyeon stated in the same program the album was inspired by the late actress Marilyn Monroe. She stated that she wanted to break the image of a "dumb blonde" and show how she was a smart woman. She also elaborated on her positive retrospect on Monroe and said that on the album, she wanted to show Monroe's true self rather than her persona as a sex symbol: the latter status having been earned from the blonde stereotype. To express the concept of this album visually, Soyeon explained the necessity of the (platinum blonde, red-lipped, lingerie-clad) look to convey the theme to Shuhua properly. Shuhua contemplated it for 2–3 days before accepting Jeon's proposal. The other members were touched by the makeover Shuhua went through and vowed to make this album a success. The group had multiple styles planned out in case Shuhua didn't want to dye her hair blonde, "[the blonde style] required to have consent from all five members. So, there was another style planned, but this style always existed. And I [Jeon] was expecting it not to make it." In an interview with SBS Originals Hanbam, the group revealed that I Love's preparation was completed before they began the Just Me I-dle World Tour, which they held between June 17 – October 1, 2022.

On September 14, 2022, Cube premiered the first teaser live on the group's YouTube channel—which they manage. It simply featured an animation of a red beating heart with sound effects and counted down 10 minutes before breaking to reveal the album title I Love. The agency also shared an artwork teaser image of a heart cushion on the cover of the magazine across all the group's social media accounts, and that I Love would be released on October 17, 2022. On September 19, they released an album scheduler which shows the group's promotion schedule beginning September 30 until the release date (Oct 17).

On September 30, the artwork was unveiled for the lead single to be titled "Nxde" ('x' replacing 'u' in 'nude') on the group's official SNS accounts and website. The single cover consists of all five members, presumably topless, wearing red lipstick and dyed blonde hair. That same day, a short sketch film for I Love was released. The monochromatic sketch film begins with the phrase 'How Do I Look?' as (G)I-dle's photoshoot begins and proceeds to shots of the members' bodies as they slip off their clothes. It draws attention by foretelling a new challenge for the group with an unconventional and daring direction projecting the concept of power, confidence, freedom, and body autonomy. A series of group teaser images were unveiled on October 1–3. The next day, the album's track listing with style resembling that of a fashion magazine was issued. On October 10, an audio snippet for each track was released except "Dark (X-File)". Alongside the announcement, "Dark (X-File)" track video was secheduled to be released on October 12, five days before their full EP came out. On October 14, I Love interview were released. On October 15 and 16, music video teasers were released through the group's official social media.

Commercial performance
On October 11, the EP surpassed 700,000 copies in pre-orders, setting a new record as Cube Entertainment's most pre-ordered and potentially bestselling album of all time, as the agency never sold more than 500,000 copies before. This EP is predicted to exceed Cube's total consolidated sales for the first half of 2022.

According to Hanteo Chart on October 21, "I Love" surpassed 610,000 copies sold, on the fifth day of its release. On the day of it release, the album surpassed 227,416 copies sold on Circle Retail Album Chart. on Circle album charts it debuted at number one with 637,090 copies. A 284% increase in the growth rate compared to the group's previous album I NEVER DIE.

Videos

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