"Latata" (stylized as "LATATA") is the debut single recorded by South Korean girl group

(G)I-dle I-dle (; stylized in all lowercase), formerly known as (G)I-dle (), is a South Korean girl group formed by Cube Entertainment in 2018. The group consists of five members: Miyeon, Minnie (singer), Minnie, Soyeon, Yuqi, and Shuhua. Originally a se ...

as the lead single from their debut Korean

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 ...

(EP) ''

I Am I Am or I'm may refer to: Language and literature * "I Am that I Am", a common English translation of the response God used in the Hebrew Bible when Moses asked for His name ** I am (biblical term), a Christian term used in the Bible * "I Am" ( ...

''. It was released on May 2, 2018, by

Cube Entertainment Cube Entertainment Inc. () is a South Korean entertainment company. The company operates as a record label, talent agency, music production company, event management and concert production company, and music publishing house. Cube are known for h ...

and distributed by

Kakao M Kakao M Corp. (; formerly Seoul Records, YBM Seoul Records and LOEN Entertainment) was a South Korean entertainment company established by Min Yeong-bin in 1978. It was one of the largest co-publisher companies in South Korea. The company opera ...

. It was written by member

Soyeon Jeon So-yeon (; born August 26, 1998), known mononymously as Soyeon, is a South Korean rapper and record producer under Cube Entertainment. She first gained attention for competing in the television shows ''Produce 101'' and ''Unpretty Rapstar ...

, who also produced the song alongside

Big Sancho Kim Tae-ho (), professionally known as Big Sancho (), is a South Korean record producer, songwriter and composer. He is part of the producing team Yummy Tone. Songwriting and composing credits Songwriting and composing credits adapted from Mel ...

. A music video for the song was also released on the same day. Promotions for the song resulted in (G)I-dle's first music show win on

SBS MTV SBS M is a South Korean pay television music channel owned by SBS Medianet, a division of SBS Media Holdings. It features South Korean pop artists, international music, news, and a few reality and variety programs. It was launched in 2001 as t ...

's '' The Show'' on May 22, 2018. The song also resulted in a second win 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 ...

''. A Japanese version was released on July 12, 2019 as the lead single from their Japanese debut EP of the same name. An English version was released on May 15, 2020.

Composition

"Latata" described as a

Moombahton Moombahton (, ) is an electronic dance music genre, derived from house music and reggaeton, that was created by American DJ and producer Dave Nada in Washington, D.C., in 2009. Nada coined the name as a portmanteau of "Moombah" (a track by Sur ...

, trap song, featuring

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

rhythm. It was 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 98 beats per minute. Lyrically, it is about a woman in love, who expresses her desire to dance with her lover. In an interview with MBC's ''Radio Star'', Soyeon stated that "Latata's" chorus was a word-play on Song Joon-geun's catchphrase, she furthermore explained, "I was impressed with 'Ratata Arata', which was popularized by Song Jun-geun's character 'Gonzalez' from " Bongsunga School". After that, while listening to

Latin music Latin music (Portuguese language, Portuguese and ) is a term used by the music industry as a catch-all category for various styles of music from Ibero-America, which encompasses Music of Latin America, Latin America, Music of Spain, Spain, Mu ...

, the word 'Ratata Arata' came to mind, and that's how Latata was created".

Promotion

The group started promoting their title track "Latata" on May 3. They first performed the lead single on

's ''

'', followed by performances on KBS' ''

Music Bank ''Music Bank'' () is a South Korean music program which airs every Friday at 17:15 KST on KBS2. the show is also broadcast in more than a hundred countries through KBS World. Episodes are filmed at the KBS New Wing Open Hall in Yeouido-dong, Ye ...

'', 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 ...

'' and SBS's ''

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. ...

''. They received their first-ever music show win since debut on May 22, 2018 on

's '' The Show''. Two days later, on May 24, the group received their second music show win for "Latata" on ''M Countdown''.

Commercial performance

"Latata" did not enter 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 ...

in its first week, but did enter the component Download Chart at number 68. In its second week, the song debuted at number 35 on the Gaon Digital Chart as a "hot" song and peaked at number 16 two weeks later. The song entered at number 4 on the

Gaon Social Chart The Circle Social Chart (), formerly the Gaon Social Chart (), part of Circle Chart, is a weekly chart that ranks the top 50 most-popular South Korean musical artists according to data collected from the digital platforms YouTube, Mubeat, MyCelebs ...

, and climbed to number 3 the following week. In the United States, the song entered at number 11 on 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 Songs The World Digital Song Sales chart (formerly World Digital Songs) is a weekly record chart compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. Established in 2010—its first issue was dated January 23—as ...

chart, and climbed to number 4 the following week, selling 1,000 copies, making it the best-selling K-pop song in the week of May 10. The song has sold 3,000 copies in America as of August 2018. In September 2020, "Latata" music video surpassed 160 million combined views for the official music video uploaded on 1theK's channel and (G)I-dle's official channel. On June 27, 2022 the music video surpassed 200 million views for the official music video uploaded on 1theK's channel.

Accolades

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly chart

Year-end chart

Release history

Notes

References

{{authority control I-dle songs 2018 debut singles Cube Entertainment singles 2018 songs Songs in Korean Songs written by Soyeon Reggae songs Trap music songs Moombahton songs South Korean pop songs