Ko Ko Bop

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"Ko Ko Bop"
Single by Exo
from the album The War
ReleasedJuly 18, 2017
Recorded2017
Genre
Length3:10
LabelSM
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Styalz Fuego
Exo singles chronology
"For Life"
(2016) 		"Ko Ko Bop"
(2017) 		"Power"
(2017)
Music video
"Ko Ko Bop" (Korean Ver.) on YouTube
"Ko Ko Bop" (Chinese Ver.) on YouTube

"Ko Ko Bop" is a song by South Korean–Chinese boy band Exo, released on July 18, 2017, as the lead single of their fourth studio album The War. It was released in Korean and Chinese versions by their label SM Entertainment. It was the first single not to feature member Lay due to his extended hiatus cited heavily due to China’s Hallyu Ban.

Release and composition[]

Produced by Styalz Fuego, "Ko Ko Bop" is described as an energetic reggae song with rhythmical reggae and bass guitar sounds.[1] "Ko Ko Bop" was co-written by Exo members Chen, Chanyeol and Baekhyun. It was digitally released on July 18, 2017 and physically on July 19 along with the album.[2] According to Chanyeol, the term "Ko Ko Bop" means "Fun Dancing".[3]

Talking to Billboard about producing the song, Styalz Fuego stated that while writing the song the other composers were going with a reggae type of song, but after adding the drop after the chorus the song took a different distraction, and they settled for a reggae-pop song after. The composers stated that they thought the song would be for a girl group because Shaylen Carroll, one of the composers, a female, did the demo but eventually it went to Exo. Fuego stated "The song was actually in a higher key – I think three semitones higher – so it was more fitted for a female group originally."[4]

About writing the lyrics of the song, Carroll stated: "When I was recording some melody ideas I kept on singing nonsense phrases and one was 'Shimmy shimmy Ko Ko Bop', [Note and recommended correction: The lyrics "shimmy shimmy Ko Ko Bop" were not first created for the song "Ko Ko Bop". "Shimmy Shimmy Ko-Ko-Bop" is the title for and a frequent refrain in a 1959 hit song that was recorded and performed by Little Anthony and The Imperials, an American R&B and pop music group. In-turn The Imperial's song is based on "(Shimmy Shimmy) Ko Ko Wop”, first recorded in 1956 by El Capris, an American doo-wop group. (see Little Anthony and the Imperials and https://sites.google.com/site/pittsburghmusichistory/pittsburgh-music-story/doo-wop/the-el-capris)] which we all thought was super quirky and catchy. So we built off that and turned it into something real". Carroll went and described the "Ko Ko Bop" as a song that is about "not worrying about things", "going with the flow" and "not worrying about the haters". Chen and Baekhyun also talked with Billboard about writing the lyrics of the song, Chen stated that the Baekhyun, Chanyeol and himself each wrote the lyrics separately and worked on putting the lyrics together for the song afterwards by selecting the lyrics that would suit the song the best. Baekhyun stated "I wanted my lyrics to have people to become more carefree, release their stress and dance away with the music."[4]

Music video[]

The song title logo used in the music video

A teaser of "Ko Ko Bop" music video was released on July 17, 2017 by SM Entertainment.[5] The Korean and Chinese music videos of "Ko Ko Bop" were released on July 18.[6] The music video was filmed in Seoul, South Korea.The music video shows the boys spending a day having fun as the name of the suggests "Ko Ko Bop" meaning fun dancing.

The Korean music video hit one million views in its first hour of release and 8,833,869 in 24 hours.[7][unreliable source?] Three days after its release, the music video hit one million likes; in August 2020, it reached four million likes.[citation needed] On December 12, 2017, the music video surpassed 100 million views on YouTube, reaching 200 million views on January 25, 2019, and 300 million on February 28, 2021.[8][better source needed]

Promotion[]

On July 8, Exo's official Twitter account had been activated to public, through which SM Entertainment revealed the first teaser video for the album. Twitter Music also created three customized hashtags with Exo's new tropical logo for Exo including #KoKoBop, #TheWarEXO and #EXO. Fans also welcomed them with 11 Million tweets worldwide. Also on July 8, Exo's official Instagram account opened by posting the three versions of Exo's new album logo. On July 10, the album's title was announced to be The War.[9] From July 9 to July 16, the album's track list was revealed one by one through a series of teaser videos each featuring one member.

Exo began promoting "Ko Ko Bop" on South Korean music shows from July 20.[10] On August 5, Exo performed "Ko Ko Bop" in Hong Kong during the SM Town Live World Tour VI concert. Exo also performed at a-Nation on August 26, Music Bank World Tour in Jakarta on September 2 and during Lotte Duty Free Family Festival on September 15.[11][12][13]

Reception[]

Commercial performance[]

"Ko Ko Bop" debuted at number one on five major realtime music charts, including Genie, Olleh, Bugs, Naver and Melon, making Exo the first K-pop group to enter the Melon Realtime Chart at the top after chart changes were implemented on February 27, 2017.[14] The other album tracks debuted in the top nine.[15] It was reported that multiple servers crashed, due to the number of fans streaming at the same time.[16][17]

"Ko Ko Bop" scored the second-highest amount of unique listeners by any artist on Melon during the first hour after the system change that barred any artist from releasing music at midnight. It also became the highest for an idol group (Male or Female) in 2017 with 78,121 unique listeners during the first hour of release.[18]

"Ko Ko Bop" topped Gaon Digital Chart for four non-consecutive weeks, making Exo the first artist to do so in 2017. Exo also became the third idol group to chart at number one for four weeks, as well as the first male idol group to do so.[19] The song also stayed at number one on the Chinese music chart Alibaba for three consecutive weeks,[20] as well as number two on Billboard's US World Digital Songs[21] and China V Chart.[22]

The War reached number one on iTunes in 42 countries in total.[23] According to Korean media outlet, Xportsnews, "Ko Ko Bop" additionally topped 155 iTunes charts worldwide, including K-pop charts and general pop charts, as well as all-genre single charts.[24][25]

For the month of August, "Ko Ko Bop" topped the Gaon Monthly Digital and BGM Charts,[26][27] making Exo the first group in 2017 and the fifth boy group since 2012 to top the chart.

Public reception[]

Exo's fans began a viral Internet video trend called Ko Ko Bop Challenge where people dance the quick hip thrust succession choreography of the song to the lyrics "Down down baby".[28] The hashtag #KoKoBopChallenge was used for popular social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and Weibo.[29]

Charts[]

Sales[]

Download[]

Region Sales (2017)
Korean ver. Chinese ver.
South Korean Download Chart(Gaon) 1,172,609+[39] 13,884[40]

Streaming[]

Chart (2017) Streaming
South Korean Streaming Chart (Gaon)[41] 51,112,942+

Accolades[]

2017 Year-end lists
Critic/Publication List Rank Ref.
Billboard The 20 Best K-Pop Songs of 2017 20 [42]
Dazed 3 [43]
Idolator Top 30 Best K-Pop Songs of 2017 25 [44]
KultScene 25 best K-Pop songs of 2017 22 [45]
Tone Glow The 50 Best K-Pop Songs of 2017 24 [46]
BuzzFeed 34 Addictive K-Pop Songs To Add To Your Playlist, Like, Right Now 4 [47]
YouTube Rewind Most-Watched K-Pop Music Videos Of 2017 9 [48]
Spotify Best K-Pop Songs of 2017 1 [49]
2018 Year-end lists
Critic/Publication List Rank Ref.
Spotify Best of 2018: K-Pop 36 [50]
Awards
Year Organization Award Result
2017 19th Mnet Asian Music Awards Best Dance Performance Male Group Nominated
Mwave Global Fans' Choice Won
Qoo10 Song of the Year Nominated
9th Melon Music Awards Best Male Dance Won
Song of the Year Nominated
7th Gaon Chart Music Awards Song of the Year – July Won
Music program wins
Program Date
Show Champion (MBC) July 26, 2017
August 2, 2017
M Countdown (Mnet) July 27, 2017
August 3, 2017
August 10, 2017
Music Bank (KBS) July 28, 2017
August 4, 2017
Inkigayo (SBS) July 30, 2017
August 6, 2017
Show! Music Core (MBC) August 5, 2017
August 12, 2017

Release history[]

Region Date Format Label
South Korea July 18, 2017
Worldwide SM Entertainment

References[]

  1. ^ SMTOWN (July 18, 2017), EXO_Ko Ko Bop_Music Video, retrieved August 8, 2017
  2. ^ "EXO Return With Tropical-Electro Single 'Ko Ko Bop' & New Album 'The War'". Fuse. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  3. ^ "[V라이브 종합] "1억하트 돌파" 엑소, 기록은 계속된다" (in Korean). Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  4. ^ a b "How EXO's 'The War' Came Together: A Song-By-Song Breakdown With the Band, Its Producers & More". Billboard. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
  5. ^ SMTOWN (July 17, 2017), EXO_Ko Ko Bop_Music Video Teaser, retrieved August 8, 2017
  6. ^ "EXO Serves Up Reggae-EDM Hybrid 'Ko Ko Bop': Watch". Billboard. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  7. ^ 19, J. K. July; 2017 (July 19, 2017). "EXO's "Ko Ko Bop" MV Gains Impressive Number Of Views In 24 Hours". Soompi. Retrieved August 18, 2017.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ "엑소 'Ko Ko Bop' MV 유튜브 조회수 2억뷰 돌파!". EXO. Retrieved January 26, 2019.
  9. ^ Park Soo-jung (July 10, 2017). "엑소, 7월 18일 정규 4집 컴백..카이 티저 공개". The Korea Herald (in Korean). Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  10. ^ "엑소 측 "20일 '엠카'서 '코코밥' 첫 무대 펼친다"" (in Korean). Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  11. ^ "EXO、2度目のa-nationで圧巻ステージ EXO-CBXもサプライズで登場". BIGLOBEニュース (in Japanese). Retrieved September 19, 2017.[permanent dead link]
  12. ^ "EXO＆NCT 127＆Red Velvet「a-nation」に出演！圧倒的なステージに会場は騒然 - MUSIC - 韓流・韓国芸能ニュースはKstyle". Kstyle. Retrieved September 19, 2017.
  13. ^ "Music Bank World Tour announce Jakarta date with EXO, BAP, GFriend". Asia Live 365. May 29, 2017. Retrieved September 19, 2017.
  14. ^ "EXO Sweeps Charts With "Ko Ko Bop" | Soompi". www.soompi.com. Retrieved September 18, 2017.
  15. ^ "[엑's 초점] "역시 기록제조기"…엑소, 음원차트 개편 후 1위 진입 최초 아이돌" (in Korean). Retrieved August 15, 2017.
  16. ^ "멜론 멈추게 한 엑소의 힘... '코코밥' 대박 히트 조짐". 한국스포츠경제 (in Korean). July 18, 2017. Retrieved August 15, 2017.
  17. ^ "2017 Gaon Digital Chart - Week 31". July 30 – August 5, 2017. Retrieved August 10, 2017.
  18. ^ "스퀘어 - 멜론차트 개편 후 진입 이용자수 순위 (엑소 2위)". theqoo.net (in Korean). Retrieved September 24, 2017.
  19. ^ Gaon Weekly Digital Chart
  20. ^ Xiami Music Chart
  21. ^ a b "Billboard's World Digital Songs". August 5, 2017. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  22. ^ "Billboard's China V Chart". August 5, 2017. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  23. ^ Herald, The Korea (August 3, 2017). "[K-Talk] EXO 'The War' stays atop Billboard world albums chart". Retrieved September 6, 2017.
  24. ^ "EXO's Ko Ko Bop Tops 155 iTunes Charts Worldwide". July 27, 2017. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
  25. ^ ""나날이 기록 경신"…엑소, 아이튠즈 155개 차트 1위 기염" (in Korean). July 20, 2017. Retrieved March 25, 2018.
  26. ^ "국내 대표 음악 차트 가온차트!". gaonchart.co.kr. Retrieved September 8, 2017.
  27. ^ "국내 대표 음악 차트 가온차트!". gaonchart.co.kr. Retrieved September 8, 2017.
  28. ^ "Everyone Is Obsessed With The Brand New EXO #KoKoBopChallenge — Koreaboo". Koreaboo. August 6, 2017. Retrieved August 13, 2017.
  29. ^ "The EXO inspired 'Ko Ko Bop Challenge' is the Internet's favourite new thing". SBS PopAsia. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  30. ^ "Ko Ko Bop on China V Chart". August 5, 2017.
  31. ^ "Billboard's Japan Hot 100". August 7, 2017. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  32. ^ "BillboardPH Hot 100". Billboard Philippines. August 28, 2017. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  33. ^ "Billboard Kpop Top 5". Billboard Philippines. September 22, 2017. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  34. ^ "Billboard Kpop Hot 100". . July 12, 2017. Retrieved December 12, 2017.
  35. ^ "2017 Gaon Digital Chart - Week 29" (in Korean). July 16–22, 2017. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  36. ^ "Gaon Digital Chart – August, 2017". Gaon Music Chart (in Korean). Retrieved August 11, 2017.
  37. ^ "Gaon Digital Chart – Year 2017". Gaon Music Chart (in Korean). Retrieved January 12, 2018.
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  40. ^ "Gaon International Download Chart – July, 2017". Gaon Music Chart. Retrieved August 10, 2017.
  41. ^ Cumulative streaming for "Ko Ko Bop":
  42. ^ Tamar, Herman (December 14, 2017). "The 20 Best K-pop Songs of 2017: Billboard Staff List". Billboard. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  43. ^ Glasby, Taylor (December 7, 2017). "The 20 Best K-pop Songs of 2017". Dazed. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  44. ^ Peterson, Jacques (December 2017). "Top 30 Best K-pop Songs of 2017". Idolator. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  45. ^ "25 BEST K-POP SONGS OF 2017". KultScene. December 23, 2017. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
  46. ^ "The 50 Best K-Pop Songs of 2017". Tone Glow. February 28, 2018. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
  47. ^ "34 Addictive K-Pop Songs To Add To Your Playlist, Like, Right Now". BuzzFeed. May 23, 2018. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
  48. ^ "Youtube Shares Its Most-Watched K-Pop Music Videos Of 2017". YouTube. December 13, 2017. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
  49. ^ "Best of 2018: K-Pop". Spotify. Retrieved February 12, 2019.
  50. ^ "Best of 2018: K-Pop". Spotify. Retrieved January 15, 2019.
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