If you haven't kept up with (G)I-DLE since "TOMBOY," a lot has happened in the past year. Starting with the name.

On May 2, 2025, (G)I-DLE officially became i-dle — dropping the "(G)" and the parentheses they'd carried since debut seven years ago. Cube Entertainment described it as "reestablishing an identity not defined by gender," though for fans, it was hardly a surprise. The members had always just called themselves "idle" in greetings, and Soyeon had mentioned multiple times over the years that she'd drop the G once they made it. There was even a shot in the "TOMBOY" MV of someone spray-painting an X over the G in the group name. This had been telegraphed for years.

What It Actually Means That Soyeon Wrote Everything From the Start

What's always set i-dle apart is that Soyeon has been writing and composing their music since the very first single. "LATATA," their 2018 debut track, was her work — and she's been centrally involved in production ever since. K-pop girl groups with member-produced music are more common now, but in 2018, debuting with full in-house songwriting was genuinely rare.

Run through their title track discography — "HAN," "Señorita," "화 (HWAA)," "TOMBOY," "Queencard" — and they're all Soyeon compositions. She was officially appointed group general producer in 2022, with involvement spanning music, album concepts, music video direction, and even merchandise. That same year, she became only the second female idol member (after IU) to win the Best Songwriter award at the Melon Music Awards (source: Koreaboo). In 2024, she was elevated to full member of KOMCA (Korea Music Copyright Association) — an unusual distinction for a female idol outside the singer-songwriter category.

But here's the thing: that same dominance had always been a point of criticism. "Isn't this basically just Soyeon's solo project with four other people?" was a question that never really went away.

We Are — The Answer to That Criticism

The 8th mini album "We Are," released May 19, 2025, is a direct response to that question. It's the first i-dle album where all five members participated in songwriting (source: allkpop).

Breaking it down: Soyeon wrote the title track "Good Thing" and "Girlfriend"; Yuqi handled the disco-flavored "Love Tease"; Minnie wrote "Chain." Miyeon had her self-composed work included in a group album for the first time ("Unstoppable"), and Shuhua made her songwriting debut with the ballad "If You Want." Given that Shuhua is from Taiwan and Korean isn't her first language, writing her own lyrics was a notably meaningful step.

The results? 1,063,526 copies sold in the first week — the highest first-week sales figure for any girl group in 2025 (source: k-ennews). That's also their fourth consecutive million-seller. According to Hanteo Chart (South Korea's real-time album sales tracker), only three girl groups in Hanteo history have achieved over one million first-week sales across four different albums: aespa, IVE, and i-dle (source: Soompi).

International charts took notice too. "We Are" peaked at #6 on the United World Chart, #35 on Billboard Top Album Sales, and hit #1 on China's QQ Music daily and weekly charts. Both Billboard and Billboard Korea included it in their "25 Best K-Pop Albums of 2025" lists.

▶ i-dle 'Good Thing' Official MV — Watch on YouTube

i-dle's Album Sales, by the Numbers

The "four consecutive million-sellers" stat lands differently when you see it laid out. Here's the run:

No member departures, no label drama — a 7-year-old group sustaining and growing this trajectory. That's genuinely uncommon in K-pop's notoriously short shelf-life landscape.

2026: World Tour, Collabs, and Soyeon's Solo Identity

They haven't slowed down this year either.

On January 27, i-dle dropped the digital single "Mono," a collaboration with UK rapper and producer Skaiwater. It shot to #1 on Melon HOT 100 (South Korea's biggest music streaming chart), #1 on YouTube Music Video Global Trending, and #1 on China's QQ Music simultaneously (source: STARNEWS Korea). The English-language collaboration also reads as a deliberate push toward Western markets.

The centerpiece of 2026, though, is their fourth world tour, "Syncopation." The name is a music theory term — syncopation is the technique of accenting off-beats to create tension and momentum — and this group doesn't name things casually. The tour opened February 21–22 at Seoul's KSPO Dome (capacity ~15,000), then continues to Taipei, Bangkok, Melbourne, Sydney, Singapore, Yokohama, and Hong Kong (source: Soompi). European and North American dates are still to be announced.

The Taipei stop (March 7) deserves a special mention: i-dle will be the first K-pop girl group to perform at Taipei Dome. With Taiwanese member Shuhua in the group, this particular milestone carries extra weight.

On the opening night of the tour (February 21), Soyeon also revealed her solo artist name — 'icebluerabbit' — and performed new solo material for the first time. The group-plus-solo parallel career structure is clearly ramping up.

Why a 7-Year-Old Group Is More Interesting Now Than Ever

Cube Entertainment isn't SM, YG, or HYBE. i-dle's trajectory hasn't been built on a major label machine — it's been built from within. The structure that once relied almost entirely on Soyeon has, with "We Are," begun to shift into something five people are building together. That's not just a credits question. It's a question of longevity.

As of February 2026: 69 award wins, including 5 Daesangs (K-pop's highest honor, awarded to the year's top artist). The world tour is underway, and new music hasn't been announced yet. It might look like a quiet moment in i-dle's story — but it feels more like the exhale before the next push.

They took the brackets off the name. Now they're taking the brackets off the music too.