"Basquiat" () is a song by

Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon () is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simple or list of self-intersecting polygons, self-intersecting. A self-intersecting ...

, a South Korean boy group who participated in a reality boy group survival show, ''

Road to Kingdom ''Road to Kingdom'' () is a South Korean reality competition series created by Mnet. It aired on Mnet from April 30, to June 18, 2020, every Thursday at 20:00 ( KST). It was known as the first part of the male counterpart of '' Queendom'', and t ...

''. It was released digitally on June 12, 2020. The song is the fourth song from the

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

''Road to Kingdom Final''. Pentagon finished the show as the series' second runner-up. It is a

dance-pop Dance-pop is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit ra ...

and

electronic rock Electronic rock (also known as electro rock and synth rock) is a music genre that involves a combination of rock music and electronic music, featuring instruments typically found within both genres. It originates from the late 1960s when rock b ...

song that was inspired by

Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat (; December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist who rose to success during the 1980s as part of the neo-expressionism movement. Basquiat first achieved notoriety in the late 1970s as part of the graffiti ...

's paintings, with lyrics that revolve around a message about "regaining freedom."

Music and lyrics

"Basquiat" is a dance song of the electronic rock genre. This song was inspired by

's paintings, and it is a song that contains a message about "regaining freedom" to many who live in oppression and neglect. The specific lyrics "I'm the new Basquiat, look down at me / see the meaningless crown light down / Shine Mother Nature's View / God bless you / fly up in search of the answer." Member and composer Hui responded, Reporter Son Hwa-sin wrote, "Pentagon talked about winning and losing, the shell of competition, and the meaninglessness of the crown. They conveyed this message through this song....The passage 'no meaning' is impressive. From the standpoint of Mother Nature and God, the fierce and bloody fights of humans may be really meaningless. And the really important thing is to fly up in search of your own answer."

Live performances

Pentagon performed "Basquiat" for the first time in the Road to Kingdom final live broadcast on June 18, 2020. The final stage started with an intro video of someone being chased or rebelliously screamed by someone. Hui showcased his sixth treble in the second half of the song gave an exhilarating thrill and said, "I resist the gaze created by the times / My crown, I write and write for myself" and ended with Pentagon members who raised their hands toward the sky, leaving a strong reverberation and afterglow for those who go beyond the spleen. At the end of the stage, the following phrase appeared as a message penetrating this song, "I resist the gaze created by the times. My crown is made and written by myself."

Reception

Several Korean media outlets wrote, "Pentagon built the genre of 'Pentagon' with energetic performance and music in 'Road to Kingdom', and captured the hearts of the viewers perfectly, making it a strong winner."

Promotion

"Basquiat" intro VCR was released on June 19. Pentagon released a group concept image and video of the song "Basquiat" through their official homepage and SNS on June 22. The posts uploaded contain images of the members' backs, short videos moving forward with black flags in the blazing wasteland, with description "#Pentagon 'Basquiat' Coming soon". On June 21, 2020, the group performed the single on KCON:TACT 2020 Summer. After releasing the track "Basquiat" on music streaming sites on June 12, a concept image and videos were released beginning June 23 until June 30, 2020.

Credits and personnel

Credits are adapted from Melon. *

– vocals **

Hui The Hui people are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the northwestern provinces and in the Zhongyuan region. According to the 2 ...

– producing, songwriting **

Wooseok Jung Woo-seok (; born January 31, 1998), also known by the mononym Wooseok, is a South Korean rapper, singer, songwriter, and composer. He debuted as a member of the South Korean boy group Pentagon in October 2016 and also formed a duo with Lai ...

– producing, songwriting, rap arrangement * 네이슨 (NATHAN) – producing, record engineering, piano, synthesizer, string * Yunji – producing, record engineering, piano, synthesizer, string * Soulman –

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song), the part of a song that is repeated several times, usually after each verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in whic ...

* Kim Ho-hyun – guitar * Jeon Hoon – guitar * Jeon Jae-hee – chorus * 전부연 –

Recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, re ...

* Shin Jae-bin – mixed * Kwon Nam-woo – mastering

Charts

References

External links

* * {{authority control 2020 singles 2020 songs Pentagon (South Korean band) songs Cube Entertainment singles Songs in Korean Electronic songs Dance-pop songs South Korean rock songs Songs written by Hui (singer) Songs written by Wooseok