During ITZY's "Tunnel Vision" world tour in February, the group performed an updated version of their 2020 B-side "THAT'S A NO NO" – and somewhere between the new choreography and a few fan-filmed clips, a six-year-old deep cut became one of K-pop's most talked-about moments of the year. What happened next is a useful case study in how viral momentum actually works, and why it can't be manufactured.

"THAT'S A NO NO" – the song in question – is a moombahton B-side from ITZY's 2020 IT'z ME mini album; not a title track, or a promoted single. With updated choreography for the tour, the performance caught fire online, and K-pop fans worldwide learned the moves themselves, turning a concert moment into a community-led TikTok challenge.

Because of this, JYP Entertainment (ITZY’s label) quickly took notice and began capitalizing on this momentum, releasing the concert performance on the group’s YouTube channel along with two dance practice videos, and later sending the girls out to perform a special stage of “THAT’S A NO NO” on MCountdown. By early March, both the song and its practice video climbed the Korean music charts, with the song reaching No. 157 on domestic streaming platform Melon and the practice video becoming one of the most popular music-related videos on YouTube.

Of course, no K-pop dance challenge is complete without other idols getting in on the fun themselves. Throughout March across ITZY’s social media platforms, the members have been teaming up with a plethora of idols to dance to “THAT’S A NO NO” together – including WJSN’s Dayoung, ZEROBASEONE’s Gunwook and Zhang Hao, and Stray Kids’ Hyunjin. Despite the K-pop community’s opinions over how dance challenges have impacted the music industry, seeing favourite groups interact in ways that wouldn't happen outside challenges like these is one of the format's genuine upsides.

In the last six years, TikTok has especially been the catalyst for so many artists gaining traction online and seeing that success translate into cultural relevance. The power of TikTok and social media in general is something of a science that relies on spontaneity, community, and timing. While many groups and artists can try to manufacture a viral moment themselves in hopes that it would catch on, virality can never quite be anticipated or planned – either a song takes off, or it doesn’t.

The contrast with manufactured attempts is worth sitting with. It’s common practice for labels to attempt engineering viral moments around comebacks, with mixed results. Audiences are increasingly good at distinguishing between a moment that happened, and a moment that was packaged to look like one. The "THAT'S A NO NO" challenge is working precisely because nobody planned it – the fans built it themselves, and JYP's job was simply to follow their lead.

Both ITZY and JYP Entertainment saw an opportunity and moved quickly – releasing the concert performance, two dance practice videos, and a special MCountdown stage within weeks of the moment catching fire. Virality can't be planned, but it can be honoured – and when labels pay attention and act without hesitation, the results tend to speak for themselves.