ILLIT Teases BREAK EVEN Comeback Hours After Taking 2026 TMA's Biggest Prize

ILLIT closed out their award-show night at the 2026 The Fact Music Awards with the biggest trophy on offer, then used the acceptance speech to drop a comeback announcement that sent GLLIT into overdrive.

The five-member group (Yunah, Minju, Moka, Wonhee, and Iroha) picked up Artist of the Year at the ceremony held on the 19th at Busan Asiad Main Stadium. Accepting the award, the members credited their fandom directly: "We were able to receive the Artist of the Year award because of GLLIT. Thank you for always cheering for us and loving us." Then came the line fans had been waiting for: "We have a October comeback ahead, so please look forward to it."

On stage in Busan

Before the trophies, there was the performance, and ILLIT made a strong case for why they earned the night's top prize. The group opened their set with NOT CUTE ANYMORE, styled in sharp necktie-accented outfits that telegraphed a cooler, more restrained energy than fans have seen before. The choreography leaned into that mood: precise, controlled movements paired with expressions that kept the audience guessing. Then they shifted gears completely into It's Me, ramping up to a high-energy, dynamic finish that had the crowd singing along in full voice. The contrast between the two stages felt deliberate, like a five-minute argument for the group's range.

A year of chart milestones

The award reflects a genuinely strong run on the numbers. NOT CUTE ANYMORE, the lead single from their first single album, found a second life through short-form content and charted at #7 on Billboard's Bubbling Under Hot 100. The collaborative single ICONIC BY MISTAKE with LE SSERAFIM and KATSEYE went further, reaching #38 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #22 on the UK Official Singles Chart Top 100.

It's Me, the title track from their fourth mini album, has shown the kind of staying power that makes the Artist of the Year case hard to argue with. As of the September 19 chart date, the song had logged 19 consecutive weeks on both the Billboard Global 200 and the Billboard Global (Excl. U.S.) charts, roughly five months after its release.

What BREAK EVEN means

The October comeback now has a name and a date: mini album BREAK EVEN arrives October 26. The title borrows from the financial concept of a break-even point, the moment where losses and gains cancel out. Thematically, the album is framed around letting go of a one-sided relationship where you put in more than you ever get back. It's a sharper, more self-assured direction than ILLIT's earlier work, and if the NOT CUTE ANYMORE era was a preview of where the group is heading sonically, BREAK EVEN looks set to push that evolution further.