Belift lab has sparked controversy by posting about illit's 'almond chocolate' winning an award at the japan record awards, with fans accusing the company of lying to erase newjeans' prior achievements. A community note highlighting newjeans' earlier wins was added to the post but later removed, intensifying the debate. Defenders argue the achievement is unique as the first for a k-pop group with a japanese original ost song.
On march 11, 2026, belift lab shared a post celebrating illit's song 'almond chocolate' for surpassing 100 million streams in japan and winning the excellent work award at the 67th japan record awards. According to mydaily, it was the only song by an overseas artist to receive the award and the first time a japanese original song by a k-pop group achieved this honor.
The announcement quickly drew backlash from netizens, particularly newjeans fans known as tokkis, who accused belift lab of misleading the public. They pointed out that newjeans had won the excellence award at the same event in previous years—'ditto' in 2023 and 'supernatural' in 2024. One fan tweeted, 'belift lab, aren't you ashamed of openly misleading the public when the facts are easily accessible to everyone? trying to erase newjeans' achievements will not change reality.' Another wrote, 'newjeans did it first. don't try to erase that.' Critics also referenced ongoing allegations of illit copying newjeans' concept, with one saying, 'hello liars! isn't stealing a blueprint enough?' A community note was added to the post explaining newjeans' prior wins but was eventually removed.
Illit supporters pushed back, claiming the company hadn't lied and emphasizing differences in the achievement. One defender stated, 'for your information!!! "almond chocolate" was an ost aka original song japanese song. illit was the first foreign artist to won with an ost song. please make sure to understood and refrain from being dumb here.' Others demanded apologies, with tweets like 'lmao it's gone 😂😂😂 tokkis apologize to illit' and 'an entire fandom coming together to mass community note a lie, just because they’re jealous of illit’s achievements is insanity… tokkis apologize to illit.'
This incident adds to belift lab's challenges amid an ongoing controversy following heeseung's departure from enhypen. The debate highlights tensions between fandoms in the k-pop industry, with fans on both sides passionately defending their groups' legacies.