"XOXO" is a song recorded by Canadian-Dutch-Korean singer-songwriter

Jeon Somi Ennik Somi Douma (born March 9, 2001), known professionally by her Korean name Jeon Somi (), is a South Korean and Canadian singer signed under The Black Label. Born in Canada to a South Korean mother and a Dutch-Canadian father, she moved to ...

. It was released by

The Black Label The Black Label Inc. (; stylized in all caps or THEBLΛƆKLΛBEL) is a South Korean record label and an associate company of YG Entertainment. It was founded in 2015 by YG producer Teddy Park and Kush. History On September 22, 2015, YG Enterta ...

and

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture ...

on October 29, 2021, as the title track from the singer's debut studio album of the

same name ''Same Name'' is an American reality television series in which an average person swaps lives with a celebrity of the same first and last name. It premiered on July 24, 2011 on CBS. The series received low ratings, and CBS pulled it after four-ep ...

. It was written by Teddy, Danny Chung, Vince, Jeon Somi, and Kush, and composed by them alongside

Pink Sweats David Bowden (born February 14, 1992), known professionally as Pink Sweats (stylized as Pink Sweat$), is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He released his first Extended play, EP ''Volume 1'' in 2018, led by the single "Honest ...

Background and release

On October 14, The Black Label announced that Jeon Somi was scheduled to make a comeback with her first full-length album ''XOXO'' at the end of the month. In the following week Jeon revealed the release date and shared the tracklist of the album through her social media accounts, which included the lead single entitled "XOXO". The song and its music video were released for digital download and

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 ...

alongside the album on October 29.

Composition

"XOXO" was written by Teddy, Danny Chung, Vince, Jeon Somi, and Kush, and composed by

, Pacific, Teddy, and 24. The song is described as a

dance-pop Dance-pop is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit ra ...

track with a trap beat and a layered chant-like hook. Lyrically, the song is an anthem filled with anger and centers on leaving a cheating partner and no longer letting one's feelings be trivialized. According to Somi, the title of the song is "the goodbye you send to the player who cheated on you" and 'XOXO' are "hugs and kisses that are a bit more evil than sweet”.

Critical reception

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 ...

''s Carmen Chin praised the song as "ridiculously catchy" with "well-placed rap verses and an earworm of a chorus". However, she criticized it as a "foolproof but boring pop anthem" made specifically to appeal to the general audience.

Music video

On October 27, the music video teaser was released. On October 29, the official music video was released. The video takes place after the music video for " Dumb Dumb" and opens with a scene of Jeon Somi discovering she’s been cheated on by her lover. She deals with her heartbreak by embarking on a revenge mission on her ex-boyfriend. She playfully wields a sledgehammer as she skips around a graffiti-covered car in an outdoor parking lot in some scenes, and completely trashes a hallway in others.

Accolades

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Release history

Notes

References

{{Somi 2021 songs 2021 singles Interscope Records singles Songs written by Jeon Somi Songs written by Teddy Park Song recordings produced by Teddy Park The Black Label singles