''What Do I Call You'' is the fourth

Korean-language Korean is the native language for about 81 million people, mostly of Korean descent. It is the national language of both South Korea and North Korea. In the south, the language is known as () and in the north, it is known as (). Since the tur ...

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 ...

and the seventh overall by South Korean singer

Taeyeon Kim Tae-yeon (; born March 9, 1989), known mononymously as Taeyeon, is a South Korean singer. She debuted as a member of girl group Girls' Generation in August 2007, which went on to become one of the best-selling artists in South Korea and one ...

. The EP was released on December 15, 2020, by

SM Entertainment SM Entertainment Co., Ltd. () is a South Korean multinational entertainment agency established in 1995 by Lee Soo-man. It is one of South Korea's largest entertainment companies and has been responsible for fostering and popularizing the car ...

and consists of six tracks, including the

title track A title track is a song that has the same name as the album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-t ...

of the same name and her previous digital single "

Happy Happiness is a complex and multifaceted emotion that encompasses a range of positive feelings, from contentment to intense joy. It is often associated with positive life experiences, such as achieving goals, spending time with loved ones, ...

Background and release

On November 20, 2020,

announced that

was preparing to release a mini album the following month. On November 30, Taeyeon teased her comeback on her social media with the message, "I'll be coming back soon." On December 3, SM Entertainment announced that EP ''What Do I Call You'' would be released on December 15, 2020. Preorders began the same day. This marks Taeyeon's first domestic comeback in seven months since "

", released on May 4, 2020.

Composition

The digital edition of ''What Do I Call You'' contains five songs, while the physical release contains six songs including the single "Happy", which was released as a digital single on May 4, 2020. There are two versions of the physical edition, with each featuring a different cover, CD-ROM design, booklet, poster, postcard, bookmark and photo card. The EP incorporates various genres, primarily R&B and

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

Commercial performance

Upon release, the title track "What Do I Call You" ranked first on major music charts such as

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and Bugs. The other tracks in the album also ranked highly in the charts. The album took over

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

charts in 22 regions. It tied with her previous album ''

Purpose Purpose is the end for which something is done, created or for which it exists. Purpose is an abiding intention to achieve a long-term goal that is both personally meaningful and makes a positive mark on the world. It is part of the topic of intent ...

'' and

Hwasa Ahn Hye-jin (; born July 23, 1995), known professionally by her stage name Hwasa (; sometimes stylized as Hwa Sa), is a South Korean singer, songwriter, and television personality. She rose to prominence as a member of the girl group Mamamoo in ...

's '' María'' for the third most national iTunes number ones for an album by a Korean female soloist, ranking behind her repackage edition of ''

'' and

Wendy Wendy is a given name generally given to girls in English-speaking countries. In Britain during the English Civil War in the mid-1600s, a male Captain Wendy Oxford was identified by the Leveller John Lilburne as a spy reporting on his activit ...

's '' Like Water''. The album also ranked number one in China's largest music site

QQ Music QQ Music () is one of three Chinese freemium music streaming services owned by Tencent Music, a joint venture between Tencent and Spotify, now majority owned by Tencent. , the service is set to reach over 700 million users with an estimated 120 ...

and KuGou Music digital album sales chart. In South Korea, ''What Do I Call You'' debuted at number four on the

Gaon Album Chart The Circle Album Chart, previously known as the Gaon Album Chart, is a record chart ranking the 100 most popular albums, extended plays and single albums in South Koreabased on their Record sales, physical sales. It is a part of the Circle Chart, ...

with 99,065 copies sold. The album became Taeyeon's seventh top ten album in the country, and broke the record for the largest sales for a female soloist in 2020 with 89,263 copies on Hanteo. As of February 2021, it has sold over 124,442 units in South Korea, becoming her fifth album sold over 100,000 copies, following her four previous albums: '' I'' (2015), ''

Why Why may refer to: * Causality, a consequential relationship between two events * Reason (argument), a premise in support of an argument, for what reason or purpose * Grounding (metaphysics), a topic in metaphysics regarding how things exist in v ...

'' (2016), '' My Voice'' (2017) and ''

'' (2019). She's the first solo female artist to have five albums sold over 100,000 units on

Critical reception

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 ...

'' chose ''What Do I Call You'' as one of the "Best K-Pop Moments of 2020", with contributor Hannah Weiss writing: "With its chill soundscape and Taeyeon's airy vocals, ''What Do I Call You'' is the perfect soundtrack to close 2020. The album examines loneliness, desire and regret through a soft filter, sharing a touch of warmth to carry us through this winter". Lim Seon-hee from ''

IZM ''IZM'' () is a South Korean online magazine that publishes pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Stre ...

'' compared the EP's concepts to those of American singer

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her autobiographical songwriting, artistic versatility, and Cultural impact of Taylor Swift, cultural impact, Swift is one of the Best selling artists, w ...

and its musical styles to

Ariana Grande Ariana Grande-Butera ( ; born June 26, 1993) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Regarded as a pop icon and an influential figure in popular music, Grande is known for her four-octave vocal range, which extends into the whistle re ...

: "''What Do I Call You'' is a collaboration of seasoned-ness and sincerity, with a wider range of emotions despite the method of 'removing away' without embellishment and excess. Now, no matter what genre she try, she can easily build a flagpole with her name inscribed. Beyond it all, the album becomes alive just by the deep touch of the voice that blows warm breath in the season of the bitter wind."

Track listing

Personnel

Credits are adapted from

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. * S.M. Entertainment Co., Ltd. –

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...

Lee Soo-man Lee Soo-man (, born 18 June 1952) is a South Korean business executive and record producer who is best known for being the founder of SM Entertainment, a multinational entertainment company based in Seoul. He has also been referred to as the "p ...

– producer * Vocal direction – G-High *

Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...

operation – G-High * Background vocals – Choi Youngkyung, Chelcee Grimes and Gabriela Geneva (NIIVA) * Bass guitar – Taeyun Lee * Digital editing – Lee Min Kyu at SM Big Shot Studio / Kang Seonyoung at MonoTree Studio * Engineer for mix – Lee Min Kyu at SM Big Shot Studio *

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 ...

– No Min Ji at SM Yellow Tail Studio / Kang Seonyoung at MonoTree Studio * Mixing – Jung Eui Suk at SM Blue Cup Studio * Mastering – Kwon Namwoo at 821 Sound Mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Sales

Accolades

Release history

Notes

References

{{Taeyeon 2020 EPs Taeyeon EPs SM Entertainment EPs Korean-language EPs 2020s Korean-language albums Rhythm and blues EPs Pop music EPs