"Niliria" is a song by South Korean rapper

G-Dragon Kwon Ji-yong (; born August 18, 1988), best known as G-Dragon (), is a South Korean rapper, singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur, known as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of K-pop". Born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, G-Drag ...

. It was released on September 5, 2013 by

YG Entertainment YG Entertainment () is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment agency established in 1996 by Yang Hyun-suk. The company operates as a record label, talent agency, music production company, event management and conce ...

alongside "

Crooked Crooked may refer to: * Crooked Creek (disambiguation) * Crooked Island (disambiguation) * Crooked Lake (disambiguation) * Crooked River (disambiguation) * Crooked Harbour, Hong Kong * Crooked Forest, West Pomerania, Poland * Crooked Bridge, a ...

" as the third and fourth singles from his second studio album, '' Coup d'Etat'' (2013). A version of the song featuring American rapper and singer

Missy Elliott Melissa Arnette "Missy" Elliott (born July 1, 1971), also known as Misdemeanor, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. She began her musical career as a member of the Contemporary R&B, R&B girl group 4 All the Sistas Arou ...

was also released as a track on the album. The Missy Elliot version of "Niliria" became one of the six songs from ''Coup d'Etat'' to enter the top ten on South Korea's

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 ...

. On 2 December 2013, the song ranked number 32 on ''Complex'''s The 50 Best Songs of 2013.

Background

Vocals for the song were recorded in 2011 via e-mail and telephone. On 23 January 2013,

revealed via Twitter that she had worked with G-Dragon on the track alongside another titled "Chugalug," which was never released. Both songs were chiefly produced by

Teddy Park Teddy Park (born Park Hong-jun on September 14, 1978) is a Korean Americans, Korean–American Rapping, rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Born in Seoul, South Korea, Park moved to the United States with his family as a young child. Wh ...

. In June 2013, G-Dragon's label

released a statement discussing the making of the song and went in-depth of Elliott's involvement. The label stated that the song "

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away from the convention with a hint of Korean taste," and added that "the tinge of a voice sample from heKorean traditional folk song 'Nilliliya' adeit a one-of-a-kind, classy hip-hop track." G-Dragon at first did not think about including Elliott during the early recording process because of the motive of using a traditional Korean folk song. However, he felt a strong desire to feature "more of a past" female artist, and enlisted Elliott in the midst of it all because he was a fan of her work.

Composition

"Niliria' is inspired by and samples a traditional Korean folk song of the same name, turning its beat into "a piece of booming club music," with "a few electro and 808 flourishes thrown in the mix." The composition also includes "sirens and clattering hand percussion" and the vocals were described as "chopped-up". The song's production was noted for being ethnic and surrealist, which drew comparisons to the work of

Timbaland Timothy Zachery Mosley (born March 10, 1972), known professionally as Timbaland, is an American record producer and rapper. Born and raised in Norfolk, Virginia, he is widely acclaimed for his distinctive production work and "stuttering" rhythm ...

Live performances

The song was performed with Missy Elliott in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

at the KCON 2013 venue, ''M! Countdown: What's Up LA''. G-Dragon stated that performing with Elliott "was such an honor," and that he "learned a lot." ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' praised the performance, saying the rappers "with their combined corps of backup dancers, looked utterly comfortable onstage together." ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

'' hailed the performance a "thrilling cross-continental pop moment."

Charts

References

{{authority control 2013 songs Songs in Korean G-Dragon songs Missy Elliott songs Songs written by Missy Elliott Songs written by G-Dragon South Korean hip-hop songs Song recordings produced by Teddy Park