When Three Groups Meet in One Song

The news that three groups had come together in a single song stayed with me for a few more days, long after the headlines had moved on.

In three lines

• LE SSERAFIM, ILLIT, and KATSEYE came together on the collaborative single 'ICONIC BY MISTAKE'.
• The song reached the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, but what draws the eye is that three groups shared a single song between them.
• It's a story about the choice they made — to stand together while staying a little out of step, rather than lining up perfectly.

First, let's listen for where the three voices overlap.

Three Different Groups, Choosing One Spot

LE SSERAFIM, ILLIT, and KATSEYE. Three groups with different labels, different concepts, different fandoms gathered around them — all meeting in one song. More than the fact that 'ICONIC BY MISTAKE' reached the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, it was the fact that three groups shared a single song that I kept turning over for days.

Stepping into a space another group has already built out is a far more delicate thing than any number on a chart. It's even more so between people who know each other's stages, each other's stories, each other's fans. The clearer the colors you've kept, the harder it becomes to leave room beside you. So the first button on this song, I'd guess, wasn't the music at all — it was the decision to trust one another.

Not Matching Perfectly, but Staying a Little Different

A collaboration takes more care than you'd think. The colors of the voices differ, and each carries its center of gravity in a different place. Weave it wrong and you either flatten everyone's character or end up with a song that pulls in three directions. But this one gains depth exactly where the three groups' textures overlap. It seems they chose to leave things a little out of step rather than snap them into perfect alignment.

I was glad of that choice. Instead of smoothing everything into one color, the song grows wider when three voices hold their own places and look toward the same point. The moment when being out of step turns from a flaw into a texture. What's lovely about a chorus isn't that it erases voices into one — it's that different sounds move toward the same song. Because they didn't erase each other where they overlapped, the three groups stayed together and still remained themselves.

That You Can Sing Together, Even While Different

The title's little joke — becoming iconic by mistake — is probably just modesty. The decision for three different groups to stand in one place is closer to courage than to any accident. This song quietly points out that you don't have to fold something away to stand side by side. That being different can be a reason to come together, not a reason to keep your distance.

Music often says it like this: you can sing together, even while staying different. This was the summer three groups proved that sentence with a single song. Play it again at night and, before any chart number, it's the place where three voices overlapped that comes back first — and the title you'll find yourself quietly singing along to there is 'ICONIC BY MISTAKE'.

Night Walk Notes

• That you can be together without overlapping perfectly
• Listening for the moment when being out of step becomes a texture, not a flaw
• Instead of the chart numbers, sitting a long while with the place where three voices meet