Lovely, lovely Kaz, always stylish, has this infectious, confident, energetic kindness. Also, she is ridiculously good in an argument.

Unfortunately, many Series 7 men were blind. Kaz spent her first days with an uninterested Toby (who we’ll get to, don’t worry), then she went on dates with the A+ Teddy and the too-bad-to-discuss Danny, both of which did not go anywhere except the aces friendship couple of Kaz and Aaron. Then Tyler walked in, charm, extraversion, and beauty headed straight for Kaz, and she was smitten. Though, quite soon, Tyler forgot she existed at Casa Amor, which was the catalyst’s for Kaz to couple up with Matthew. In the aftermath, Kaz calmly, clearly, concisely, extremely intelligently ripped Tyler to shreds. 

But they gravitated towards each other again. Within weeks, Tyler asked Kaz to be exclusive in an homage to Love Actually because Kaz adores rom coms. The couple came in fourth place, but they should have come in at least third. At least. Kaz was astute, fun, wise, empathetic, suave, and an exceptionally first-rate friend, notably to Liberty. Their perfect friendship was the best relationship of Series 7 by a thousand miles.

If you think the treatment of Kaz, including how she and Tyler placed fourth as the first entirely Black couple in a finale, does not have to do with racism, look inward and see how wrong you are. Love Island isn’t good to Black women, particularly dark-skinned Black women. Kaz had to swim upstream in a system designed to eliminate her from the show. She isn’t on this list because of that, she’s here because of her impeccable personality and (somewhat) her drama, but the role racism played in Kaz’s experience cannot go unmentioned. 

During all the fights, snakes, and lesser men vying for superior women, Kaz was battling a much more prodigious war, one she did not sign up for.

In the end, Kaz slayed the lawless, icy, ever-reigning goliath: Love Island.

Let’s talk about the album. It’s a much more mature sound than from your work in the past. Tell us about making Crazy in Love.

RYUJIN: Since this is Itzy, and Itzy has always talked about self-esteem, we still talk about that. But in this album, we talk about falling in love – even going crazy in love. Going “out of control” is a good slogan for this album too.

LIA: Yeah, like you said, we have become a bit more mature [laughs], and we’re trying to deliver a more mature emotion about love compared to before, when our songs were a bit more bold and confident. Now, we’re in an emotion where we’re more confused about what we’re feeling, because it’s like our first time being deeply in love that we’re out of control!

YEJI: Even though I’m the eldest of the group, I’m still really young, so it’s still difficult for me to express myself sometimes. Through this era I’m hoping I can learn more about myself.