"Borderline" is a song recorded by South Korean singer-songwriter

Sunmi Lee Sun-mi (; born Sun Mi, May 2, 1992), known mononymously as Sunmi, is a South Korean singer, dancer, songwriter and record producer. She debuted in 2007 as a member of South Korean girl group Wonder Girls and left the group in 2010 to purs ...

. It is the closing track on her third

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 ...

'' 1/6'' (2021), which was released on August 6, 2021, through Abyss Company. The song was written by Sunmi and its composer, Frants. "Borderline" is mid-tempo

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

track that confronts the singer's experience with

borderline personality disorder Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a personality disorder characterized by a pervasive, long-term pattern of significant interpersonal relationship instability, an acute fear of Abandonment (emotional), abandonment, and intense emotiona ...

. Sunmi won an award for "Best Lyricist (Overseas)" with the track at the 2021 Asian Pop Music Awards.

Background

The song was debuted on her Warning Tour and was not originally planned to be released. In February 2019, the singer shared the lyrics for "Borderline". During a March 2019 interview with ''Pop Crush'', Sunmi described the track saying "It's about me, but I think it's a song everyone can relate to when they hear it." On August 19, 2020, the special video for "Borderline" was released. On August 28, the singer uploaded an interview on her

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, where she details the reasons behind the lyrics and conceptual choices for the special video.

Composition and reception

"Borderline" was written by

and its composer, Frants. The song is an atmospheric, retro, mid-tempo track about her experience with

Borderline Personality Disorder Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a personality disorder characterized by a pervasive, long-term pattern of significant interpersonal relationship instability, an acute fear of Abandonment (emotional), abandonment, and intense emotiona ...

. Drawing influences from

and

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

the track features a deep arrangement and the singer's "charming" low-pitched voice. In terms of

musical notation Musical notation is any system used to visually represent music. Systems of notation generally represent the elements of a piece of music that are considered important for its performance in the context of a given musical tradition. The proce ...

, the song is composed in the key of

A minor A minor is a minor scale based on A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative major is C major and its parallel major is A major. The A natural minor scale is: Changes needed for the melodic ...

, with a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

of 113 beats per minute, and runs for two minutes and fifty-four seconds. Angela Patricia Suacillo from ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' noted that the song "showcases Sunmi’s ability to paint vivid imagery through her songwriting." Many

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

noted the track for being "raw" and "emotionally honest" about something so personal to Sunmi, giving exposure and awareness to her disorder.

Accolades

Live performances

"Borderline" was featured on the setlist of Sunmi's Warning Tour in 2019. On March 13, 2021 the singer performed the song on '' You Hee-yeol's Sketchbook''. During the ''OUTNOW Unlimited'', held on August 8, 2021, the singer performed a medley of "Narcissism" and "Borderline".

Credits and personnel

Credits are adapted from

Melon A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet, edible, and fleshy fruit. It can also specifically refer to ''Cucumis melo'', commonly known as the "true melon" or simply "melon". The term "melon" can apply to both the p ...

, *

– Vocals, songwriter * Frants – Songwriter, bass, keyboard, computer programming * Ahn Sung Hoon – Guitar * DR in idiotape – Drums * Jo Sang Hyun – Audio mixing, record engineering * Oh Hye Seok – Record engineering * Choi Ja Yeon - Record engineering * Kwon Nam-woo – Audio mastering

Release history

References

{{Sunmi Sunmi songs 2021 songs Songs written by Sunmi Songs about mental health