"Eight" (; ''eit'') (stylized in all lowercase) is a song recorded by South Korean singer-songwriter IU featuring South Korean rapper

Suga Min Yoon-gi (; born March 9, 1993), known professionally by his stage names Suga (; stylized in all caps) and Agust D, is a South Korean rapper, songwriter and record producer. He debuted as a member of the South Korean boy band BTS in June ...

BTS BTS (), also known as the Bangtan Boys, is a South Korean boy band formed in 2010. The band consists of Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook, who co-write or co-produce much of their material. Originally a hip hop group, they ...

. It was released as a digital single on May 6, 2020 by EDAM Entertainment. It is IU's first single following the release of her fifth EP '' Love Poem'' (2019). The song was written by IU, Suga, and El Capitxn and produced by Suga. Musically, "Eight" has been described as a "nostalgic"

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...

song with lyrics that find IU confessing as a twenty-eight year old, using a virtual figure and various analogies. The song received generally positive reviews from

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 ...

, who not only praised its lyrics and production, but also compared the song to the works of musicians such as Avicii,

Zedd Anton Zaslavski (; born 2 September 1989), known professionally as Zedd (), is a German record producer and DJ. His stage name, Zedd, was derived from ''zed'', the Z#Name and pronunciation, English pronunciation, barring American English, for ...

and Alessia Cara. Commercially, the single debuted at number one on the South Korean

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 ...

. It also entered the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' World Digital Song Sales chart at number one. The accompanying

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for "Eight" was directed by Kim Woogie (GDW) and features IU revisiting various phases of her youth through her memories.

Background and release

On April 27, 2020, EDAM Entertainment announced that IU would release a new digital single on May 6, 2020, which would be a collaboration with

from

. The agency also reported that IU was involved in several aspects of the song, such as its composition and concept. It is IU's first single to be released after six months, following her fifth EP '' Love Poem'' in 2019. On April 28, the first teaser photo was revealed via the singer's official

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

along with the song's name, "Eight". The teaser contains a close-up image with one hand and a white dress adorned with colorful accessories. A second teaser photo was released on IU's official SNS accounts on April 30. The photo shows the singer in a faded

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

dress, staring outside the window anxiously with blank eyes. The style of the second teaser image is in contrast to the lighting, costumes and nail tips depicted in the first teaser. On May 2, a 17-second moving teaser of the song was released through IU's SNS account. It shows a round reel tape playing constantly and a snippet of the song's lyrics "So are you happy now" was heard towards the end of the teaser. On May 5, a 40-second music video teaser of the song was released through the YouTube channel, 1theK Originals. Set in a "futuristic" backdrop, it shows IU dressed in white, entering a laboratory and then laying down on an examination table. The song was released for

streaming Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downl ...

and digital download on May 6.

Composition and production

"Eight" was written and composed by IU and its producer Suga who also featured on the track. In an interview, IU said that she decided to work with Suga to deliver music that feels different from the music style that was previously presented to fans. Talking about the production process behind the song in a

V Live V Live (stylized as VLIVE), sometimes referred to as V App, was a South Korean live video streaming service that allowed celebrities based in the country to broadcast live videos such as live chat sessions with fans, performances, reality show ...

broadcast, Suga stated that it was very smooth. He recalled, "There wasn’t a lot of back-and-forth. Shortly after I sent the (song’s) beats to her, she sent it back with the melody." "Eight" follows IU's previous singles " Twenty-three" (2015) and " Palette" (2017) which together comprise her "coming-of-age" series. The song's title derives from the last digit of the Korean age "twenty-eight" of both singers. Musically, "Eight" has been described as

song that fuses acoustic EDM and trendy rock sounds with "delicate and emotional" vocals and "soothing rapping". The song is composed in the key of C♯ major 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 120

beats per minute Beat, beats, or beating may refer to: Common uses * Assault, inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact * Battery (crime), a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact * Battery (tort), a civil wrong in common law of in ...

. It runs for two minutes and forty-seven seconds. It derives from

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

and

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

instrumentation Instrumentation is a collective term for measuring instruments, used for indicating, measuring, and recording physical quantities. It is also a field of study about the art and science about making measurement instruments, involving the related ...

and incorporates Suga's characteristic "airy" synths in its production for which the song invokes "feel-good" and "nostalgic" vibes. According to IU, the lyrics are a confession of a twenty-eight year old "using a virtual figure and various metaphors". It has a theme of "self-reflection." ''

Teen Vogue ''Teen Vogue'' is an American progressive online publication, formerly in print, launched in January 2003, as a sister publication to '' Vogue'', targeted at teenage girls and young women. Like ''Vogue'', it included stories about fashion and ...

''s Sara Delgado described "Eight" as "a narration between two characters in soliloquy form" that "dwells on memories and past encounters" and felt that the various analogies in the song are used "to transmit a sense of longing, all through the lens of youth and loss."

Critical reception

Reviewing for '' IZM'', Hwang Sun-up gave the song a positive review, praising the lyrics and production and likened its musical direction to Avicii's " Wake Me Up" and

and Alessia Cara's " Stay".

Commercial performance

"Eight" debuted at number one on the week 19 issue of South Korea's

for the period dated May 3–9, 2020. The song also took first place on the component Download chart for the same period, and entered the Streaming chart at number two, peaking at number one the following week on the chart issue for the period dated May 10–16. It topped the monthly digital charts for both May and June."Eight" on Gaon Monthly Digital chart: * * In the United States, with only two days of activity counted—the song was released on a Wednesday, just before the end of the weekly tracking period—"Eight" debuted atop the ''

'' World Digital Song Sales chart issue dated May 16, becoming both IU and Suga's (as a solo artist) first number one on the ranking. The song sold 6,965 copies and entered the US Digital Songs chart at number 13, making it one of the highest-charting Korean-language songs in the chart's history. In the United Kingdom, the song entered the OCC's Singles Downloads component chart at number 42. Six months after its release, "Eight" was

certified Certification is part of testing, inspection and certification and the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestatio ...

Platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

by the Korea Music Content Association (KMCA) on November 12, 2020, for surpassing 100 million domestic streams. It ended 2020 as the sixth most-downloaded and streamed song in South Korea, and was the sixth best-performing digital single overall.

Music video

The song's accompanying music video premiered simultaneously with the release of the single. Directed by Kim Woogie (GDW), its synopsis follows IU as the protagonist, "growing out of her youth". The video opens with IU walking into a futuristic sci-fi room. She activates a mysterious machine and lies on a stretcher. She then goes back to various phases of her life through her memories. The video alternates between 3D and 2D animated scenes and live-action clips of her travelling to different worlds. There are scenes where she strolls through a house, and in others she treasures a gecko in different forms of herself. The video ends with her waking up from her trance.

Accolades

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from Melon. * IU – lead vocals, songwriting, arrangement *

– featured vocals, production, songwriting, arrangement, piano, synthesizer * El Capitxn – songwriting, arrangement, piano, synthesizer * Jukjae – guitar *Vendors (Zenur) – guitar * Choi In-sung – bass * Song Myung-gab – recording *Kang Sun-young – engineering *Gu Jong-pil – mixing *Kwon Nam-woo – mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

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Release history

References

{{authority control 2020 songs 2020 singles Songs in Korean IU (singer) songs Gaon Digital Chart number-one singles Billboard Korea K-Pop number-one singles Number-one singles in Malaysia Number-one singles in Singapore Songs written by IU (singer) Songs written by Suga Song recordings produced by Suga Suga songs