In this article, we are going to take a more detailed look at the friendship between two K-Pop idols who are very popular among their fans. Female solo artist IU and a member of BTS who is a rapper, Suga: they were born in the same year and also have a very strong passion in the entertainment industry. They are both idol figures who are always supported by fans for their friendship. In the middle of 2020, BTS’s Suga and IU gave happy news to fans by releasing a collaborative project together with the latest song “Eight.” The song, which is full of conspiracy theories, from the music video to the lyrics, has succeeded in reaping success as well as positive responses from their fans. Without waiting long, let’s check out the facts behind IU and BTS’s Suga’s project “Eight,” in this article below!
BTS’s SUGA and IU’s Song “Eight”
K-Pop fans were shocked by the news of the collaboration between IU and a member of Bangtan Boys (BTS), Suga. How not, the two artists are known as one of Korea’s top singers who have succeeded in creating hit songs and dominating the Korean music charts. EDAM Entertainment announced IU’s plans to release a new piece of music on May 6th, 2020. Suga worked on IU’s comeback song “Eight” as a featured producer and artist. The BTS members were previously known as IU fans, but it turned out to be mutually beneficial. According to an EDAM Entertainment official, IU herself proposed a collaboration to Suga because she saw the BTS rapper’s ability to produce songs. Suga then happily agreed to take part in this project. Suga is also known to be very honored to work with his seniors in the music world. IU’s agency also stated that IU and Suga shared their thoughts with each other as musicians to create their own unique synergy in “Eight.” Through this collaboration, IU will bring new music to fans that is different from her previous musical styles. On May 28th, 2020, at midnight local time, IU released the first teaser for her collaboration single with Suga. The single’s teaser photo shows a woman’s hand on a mattress-like bed or sofa in one photo and two hands with a ring on the ring finger in another photo. The release of the “Eight” teaser photos apparently did not escape the attention and comments of netizens. Besides still not believing that IU and Suga are collaborating, they are also looking forward to the single being released. “I already like the song!” wrote some netizens on the Theqoo site. “The title is Eight because they are both 28 years old,” said another netizen. “The photos seem lyrical, but I’m curious about the genre of the song,” said yet another. “I can’t wait. I want to quickly listen to the song,” wrote other netizens. “But I still can’t believe it … Can’t wait to hear the song,” another one commented. “IU (28 years) + Suga (28 years) = 56. The song was released on May 6th, 2020 … This is crazy,” added another. Reportedly, this song has the title “Eight” because they are both 28 years old. In addition, there is a theory that states that this song is determined to be released on May 6th, 2020, because the sum total of their ages is 56, and May is the 5th month. This is not the first time Suga has been involved in the production of a female singer’s song. Previously, the owner of the name Min Yoongi produced the song “Wine” for Suran and “We Don’t Talk Together” for Heize. IU spoiled fans by releasing a new single titled “Eight.” Unmitigated, in this single, the singer who was born in 1993 took a singer of the same age as her to collaborate, namely BTS’s Suga. Previously, IU released a series of photo and video teasers for her long-awaited collaboration single with Suga. And on May 6th, 2020, the music video for the song was finally released. The “Eight” music video carries a futuristic concept that opens with a scene of IU in a foreign place. IU’s melodious voice in this medium tempo song seems to be getting more perfect with the rap from Suga. Interestingly, the rap part of Suga appears along with the animated scene where IU’s plane experiences turbulence. Another animated scene shows the owner of the real name Lee Jieun riding a dragon.
The single was released with a futuristic concept music video by including animation in several parts. Meanwhile, some netizens have commented on the “Eight” music video. Many say that there are many parts in the video that are sad and make them cry. “The song is very good.” “Honestly, I did not expect too high, but the song is very good. I can listen to the song all the time in summer and fall.” “I really like the song. Why is this song so good?” “This song is just a masterpiece, IU’s voice is the best and Suga’s rap is amazing.” “Wow, the song is good, I keep listening to this song, the lyrics are really good, I like the hopeful and positive lyrics like this.” “This song is perfect for these recent conditions. I’m sure it will dominate all music charts.” “I really like this song. Suga’s rap voice is perfect for this song.” “This song is very bright and fun, but the lyrics are very sad!” “Good song! It’s a song I really need for the current weather.” “Is Suga a genius? The song is really good!” “The music video is very sad, but the song is very good,” commented netizens. “This song is very good, this is really my favorite, but the music video is sad,” added another netizen. “There is a part that makes me cry the most. How IU met her during her youth who had the courage and passion to jump into the unknown, flying freely with freedom, happiness, while her current self smiled bitterly at her past, trapped in an airplane with turbulence,” concluded another. Once released, netizens were busy listening and commenting on “Eight.” Many claim to really like this song produced by Suga and don’t even hesitate to call it a masterpiece. No wonder this song managed to dominate many music sites and has scored various achievements. IU’s collaboration with Suga successfully won a certified all-kill on May 8th, 2020. As of May 8th, 2020, at 7:30 am local time, “Eight” has achieved an all-kill certification. The digital single was released on May 6th, 2020, and has swept both domestic real-time charts and international iTunes charts since then. Certified all-kills are awarded for songs that are No. 1 on the daily and real-time charts of Melon, Genie, Bugs, Mnet, Naver, and Soribada. This criterion is also given if the song takes first place on the Flo and iChart real-time charts. On the other hand, this song is also known to have broken records on Korea’s biggest music site, Melon by reaching 234 total roof-hits on Melon at 1 a.m. local time on May 6th, 2020. Just one hour after the song was released at 18:00 local time, “Eight” broke records on the Melon site. This surpasses the previous record held by Big Bang. This boy group under YG Entertainment has recorded a total roof-hit of 233. Roof-hits alone mean that the number of people streaming and downloading has reached the maximum Melon chart on its charts. The song’s achievements have also become a topic of discussion among netizens on the online community site, Pann. “The graphics are crazy now, I think this record can only be broken if BTS collaborates with IU again.” “Wow, crazy. This is all BTS and IU from 1st to 7th position … Who will break that record?” “This is it. Is a level that revives music sites.” “Meanwhile, BTS Boy With Luv did not make the list because Melon was down when it was released, it pissed me off, haha. Melon is too small for both of you.” Many positive comments were given by fans through Pann and praised IU for making a comeback with the release of “Eight.” “Both were born in 1993, are 27 years old and have 199,327 unique listeners.” “I was surprised that the ratio of women is higher than men. There was a show where IU said bitterly that women don’t like her very much. IU, do you see this? You have a lot of female fans now!” The song won 199,327 unique listeners in its first hour of release, an all-time record. Previously, the record for the largest number of unique listeners in the first hour of release on the Melon site was held by BTS’s song “ON” that was released in February 2020. The song collected 123,489 unique listeners. It hasn’t been 1 week after “Eight” was released, but the song managed to break the PAK record or better known as Perfect All-Kill which was recorded on May 11th, 2020, on the South Korean music chart. This song is the 3rd song in 2020 to reach PAK. The first song in 2020 to score a PAK was Zico’s song “Any Song.” The song successfully scored PAK on January 17th, 2020, at 12:30 p.m. local time. Now in total, IU has had 18 songs that have won PAK throughout her career. In 2019, IU managed to enter 2 of her songs in 6 Korean songs that scored PAK. The songs are “Love Poem” which scored PAK on November 4th, 2019, and “Blueming” which scored PAK on November 21st, 2019.
