"Babe" (; stylized in

all caps In typography, text or font in all caps (short for "all capitals") contains capital letters without any lowercase letters. For example: All-caps text can be seen in legal documents, advertisements, newspaper headlines, and the titles on book co ...

) is a song recorded by South Korean singer-songwriter and rapper

Hyuna Kim Hyun-ah (; born June 6, 1992), known professionally as Hyuna (stylized as HyunA), is a South Korean singer-songwriter, rapper and model. She debuted as a member of the girl group Wonder Girls in February 2007. Upon leaving the ensemble sho ...

, and is the lead single of her sixth extended play, ''Following'' (2017). It was written by Hyuna, Shinsadong Tiger and Beom X Nang, and produced by the latter two. The singer performed the song in several South Korean music programs, including ''Music Bank'' and ''

Inkigayo ''Inkigayo'' (; English title: ''The Music Trend'', previously ''Popular Song'') is a South Korean music program broadcast by SBS. It airs live every Sunday. The show features some of the latest and most popular artists who perform on stage. ...

''. Commercially, "Babe" debuted at number 16 on the

Gaon Digital Chart The Circle Digital Chart, previously known as the Gaon Digital Chart, is the music industry standard record chart ranking the 200 most popular singles in South Korea. It provides rankings on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis, which is based on ...

and rose three positions to number 13 where it peaked the following week. It was nominated for Best Dance Performance – Solo at the

2017 Mnet Asian Music Awards The 2017 Mnet Asian Music Awards ceremony, organized by CJ E&M through its music channel Mnet, took place from November 25 through December 1, 2017 (dubbed as "MAMA Week") in Vietnam, Japan and Hong Kong with the theme, "Coexistence". It was the ...

Composition

"Babe" was written by Hyuna, Shinsadong Tiger and Beom X Nang and was produced by the latter two. At the surface-level, the song appears to be written about a relationship, but it draws parallels to her experiences in the music industry with the hook revolving around needing approval, changing against her will, and being infantilized. The lyrics where she counts her age backwards shows Hyuna getting progressively younger and younger, seemingly referencing the expectation that she needs to continue to act and appear young as she grows older.

Commercial performance

Following the song's release, Hyuna trending on several domestic real-time search engines. It debuted at number 16 on the

, on the chart issue dated August 27 – September 2, 2017, with 65,334 downloads sold and 1,356,010 streams. It also debuted at number 3 on the Gaon Social Chart on the same week. On the issue between September 3 and 9, 2017, the song peaked at number 13. The song placed at number 17 on the chart for the month of September 2017, as a hot track, with 193,586 downloads sold. It also debuted at number 43 on ''Billboard'' Korea's

K-pop Hot 100 The K-pop Hot 100 was a music singles chart in South Korea, launched by ''Billboard'' in conjunction with ''Billboard'' Korea () on August 25, 2011. It is the second Asian ''Billboard'' chart after the Japan Hot 100. The chart used the same multim ...

. In its second week, the song rose to number 17 and peaked at number 13 a week later.

Music video and promotion

A music video teaser was released on August 27, 2017, through Hyuna's official

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel. The music video was officially released two days later and garnered 1 million views in a day. The 1990s-inspired video has the singer dancing in different scenarios, one of them being outer space. The singer started live performances on

MBC Music MBC M (formerly MBC Music) () is a South Korean specialty channel, specialty television channel owned by MBC Plus Media. The cable channel primarily broadcasts programming related to music. It was first announced in July 2011, with the announce ...

's ''

Show Champion ''Show Champion'' () is a South Korean music television program broadcast live by MBC M every Wednesday at Bitmaru Broadcasting Center in Ilsan. Hosts * Shindong (February 14, 2012 – December 25, 2012) * Hahm Eun-jung (January 30, 2013 – ...

'' on August 30 and continued on

Mnet M-Net (an abbreviation of Electronic Media Network) is a South African pay television channel established by Naspers in 1986. The channel broadcasts both local and international programming, including general entertainment, children's series, ...

's ''

M Countdown ''M Countdown'' () is a South Korean music program broadcast by Mnet from the CJ E&M Center Studio in Sangam-dong, Mapo District, Seoul. It features appearances by popular music artists who also perform live on stage. First hosted by Leeteuk ...

'' on August 31, KBS' ''Music Bank'' on September 1, MBC's ''

Show! Music Core ''Show! Music Core'' (), or simply ''Music Core'' is a South Korean music television program broadcast by MBC. It airs live every Saturday at 15:30 (KST). The show features some of the latest and most popular artists who perform live on stage. I ...

'' on September 2 and SBS' ''

'' on September 3.

Charts

References

{{authority control 2017 songs 2017 singles Songs written by Shinsadong Tiger Cube Entertainment singles Songs written by Hyuna Music videos directed by Shin Hee-won