"Eleven" is a song recorded by South Korean girl group
Ive for their debut
single album
''Single Album'' is the fourteenth studio album by the American punk rock band NOFX, released on February 26, 2021. It is the band's first studio album in nearly five years, since 2016’s '' First Ditch Effort'', marking the longest gap betwee ...
of the
same name. It was released as the group's debut single on December 1, 2021, by
Starship Entertainment
Starship Entertainment () is a South Korean entertainment company founded in 2008 and became an independent subsidiary of Kakao Entertainment in 2013.
They had been recognized for their contributions to the Hallyu Wave, being home to several ...
in conjunction with the single album. Written and produced by Peter Rycroft (Lostboy),
Lauren Aquilina
Lauren Amber Aquilina (born 23 June 1995) is a Maltese-English singer and songwriter. Born in Bristol, she gained popularity by independently releasing a trilogy of EPs (''Fools'', ''Sinners'', and ''Liars'') whilst studying at school. Her debu ...
,
Ryan S. Jhun and Alawn with additional songwriting credits by Seo Ji-eum, "Eleven" is a
dance-pop song that lyrically expresses the members' romantic feelings.
Commercially, "Eleven" peaked at number two on both the
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 o ...
and
K-pop Hot 100
The K-pop Hot 100 is a music singles chart in South Korea, launched by ''Billboard'' in conjunction with ''Billboard'' Korea () on August 25, 2011. It is the second Asian ''Billboard'' chart after the Japan Hot 100. The chart used the same multime ...
, and reached the top 20 on the standard charts in Singapore, Malaysia and Japan. Ive promoted the song with live performances on various weekly South Korean
music programs, including ''
Inkigayo'', ''
Music Bank
Music Bank may refer to:
* ''Music Bank'' (TV program), a South Korean music program by KBS
**''Music Bank World Tour
The ''Music Bank'' World Tour is a worldwide live concert tour of South Korean music show '' Music Bank'' by the Korean Broa ...
'' and ''
Show! Music Core''.
Background and release
On November 2, 2021, Starship Entertainment announced Ive's debut, making them the first girl group to debut under the agency in five years since
WJSN
WJSN (; ), also known as Cosmic Girls, is a South Korean girl group formed by Starship Entertainment. The group debuted on February 25, 2016, with the extended play '' Would You Like?'' and with twelve members: Seola, Xuanyi, Bona, Exy, Soo ...
in 2016. On November 11, the group's promotion schedule was released, with their debut date set for December 1. On November 22, it was announced the group will debut with single album ''
Eleven'' and lead single of the same name. Six days later, the music video teaser for "Eleven" was posted to YouTube; both the song along with its official music video was released on December 1, 2021.
Composition
"Eleven" was written by Seo Ji-eum along with Peter Rycroft (Lostboy), Lauren Aquilina, and Ryan S. Jhun, whilst production and arrangement was handled by the latter trio and Alawn, respectively.
Musically, "Eleven" is a
dance-pop song that utilizes oriental instrumentations in the introduction with repeated percussion rhythms and marimba melodies, while its lyrical content expresses "the heart of a girl who is in love".
''
Teen Vogue'' wrote that "the song, which features a light but snappy percussive instrumental, bucks K-pop trends by slowing its pre-chorus down, ramping up anticipation before detonating its catchy chorus."
In terms of musical notation, "Eleven" is composed in the
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
of
A major, with a
tempo
In musical terminology, tempo ( Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (ofte ...
of 120 beats per minute.
Critical reception
"Eleven" was met with generally positive reviews from music critics. Writing for webzine ''
IZM'', Jung Jeong-min complimented the track's production, particularly in the slow pre-chorus, and wrote that "overall, it is a debut single that exceeds expectations".
All three music critics from webzine ''
Idology
''Idology'' () is a South Korean music webzine specializing in idol criticism, founded by music expert Mimyo in 2014, and consists of about 10 writers. Mimyo, whose Korean name translates to "Subtlety", serves as the webzine's editor-in-chief. I ...
'' gave the song a favorable review, where they highlighting its unique composition and the group's performance. "Eleven" was ranked number 15 on ''
Paper
Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distrib ...
''s list of 40 Best K-pop Songs of 2021, with editor Crystal Bell writing that "There's not a song on this list that has made as much of an impact in such a short amount of time as the enchanting debut single from rookie girl group IVE."
''
Insider
''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German publ ...
'' named it one of the best debut songs of all time in K-pop.
Commercial performance
"Eleven" debuted at number 96 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 o ...
in the chart issue dated November 28 – December 4, 2021; on its component charts, the song debuted at number 13 on the download chart and number 130 on the streaming chart.
The song rose to number 4 on the Gaon Download Chart in the chart issue dated December 12–18, 2021.
The song rose to number 3 on the Gaon Digital Chart and Gaon Streaming Chart in the chart issue dated January 16–22, 2022.
On the ''
Billboard''
K-pop Hot 100
The K-pop Hot 100 is a music singles chart in South Korea, launched by ''Billboard'' in conjunction with ''Billboard'' Korea () on August 25, 2011. It is the second Asian ''Billboard'' chart after the Japan Hot 100. The chart used the same multime ...
, it debuted at number 12 in the chart issue dated December 18, before rising to number 2 in the week of January 8, 2022.
In Japan, the song debuted at number 54 and number 50 on ''
Billboard Japan
''Billboard Japan'' is a sister organization of the U.S.-based music magazine '' Billboard''. It is operated by the Japanese Osaka-based company Hanshin Contents Link (a subsidiary of Hanshin Electric Railway
is a Japanese private railway compa ...
''
Hot 100 and Top Streaming Songs, respectively, in the chart issue dated December 8, 2021. The following week, it rose to number 16 on the Japan Hot 100 and number 11 on the Top Streaming Songs chart.
In Singapore, "Eleven" debuted at number 7 and number 1 on
RIAS Top Streaming Chart and Top Regional Chart, respectively, in the chart issue dated December 3–9, 2021.
In the United States, the song debuted at number 12 on ''Billboard''
World Digital Songs
The World Digital Song Sales chart (formerly World Digital Songs) is a weekly record chart compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published by ''Billboard'' magazine. Established in 2010—with the issue dated January 23—as one of 21 genre-specific so ...
in the chart issue dated week of December 11, 2021, before rising to number 9 the following week.
Globally, the song debuted at number 68 on the ''Billboard''
Global 200
The Global 200 is the list of ecoregions identified by the World Wide Fund for Nature ( WWF), the global conservation organization, as priorities for conservation. According to WWF, an ecoregion is defined as a "relatively large unit of land or w ...
and at number 38 on the
Global Excl. U.S. in the week of December 18, 2021.
Promotion
Prior to the single album's release, on December 1, 2021, Ive held a debut showcase to introduce ''Eleven'' along with its title track. The group subsequently appeared on several
music programs for the first time: including
KBS2
The Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) () is the national broadcaster of South Korea. Founded in February 1927, it is one of the leading South Korean television and radio broadcasters.
KBS operates seven radio networks, ten television channels, a ...
's ''
Music Bank
Music Bank may refer to:
* ''Music Bank'' (TV program), a South Korean music program by KBS
**''Music Bank World Tour
The ''Music Bank'' World Tour is a worldwide live concert tour of South Korean music show '' Music Bank'' by the Korean Broa ...
'' on December 3,
MBC's ''
Show! Music Core'' on December 4, and
SBS's ''
Inkigayo'' on December 5.
On the December 8 broadcast of
MBC M
MBC M (formerly MBC Music) () is a South Korean specialty television channel owned by MBC Plus Media. The cable channel primarily broadcasts programming related to music.
The channel opened on February 1, 2012, with a new music program '' Sho ...
's ''
Show Champion'', Ive received their first music program award for "Eleven", doing so a week after debut.
The group followed up with appearances on
SBS MTV's ''
The Show'' on December 14, ''Show Champion'' on December 15, and ''Show! Music Core'' on December 18, where they won first place in all appearances.
In 2022, the group performed on ''Show! Music Core'' on January 8, and ''Inkigayo'' on January 9, where they won first place in both appearances.
Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from
Melon
A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet, edible, and fleshy fruit. The word "melon" can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit. Botanically, a melon is a kind of berry, specifically a " pepo". Th ...
.
*
Ive – vocals
* Seo Ji-eum – lyrics
* Peter Rycroft (Lostboy) – lyrics,
composition
Composition or Compositions may refer to:
Arts and literature
*Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography
*Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...
,
arrangement
In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...
* Lauren Aquilina – lyrics, composition, arrangement
* Ryan S. Jhun – lyrics, composition, arrangement
* Alawn – arrangement
Charts
Weekly charts
Monthly charts
Year-end charts
Accolades
Release history
References
{{Ive
Ive songs
2021 songs
2021 singles
Starship Entertainment singles
Korean-language songs
Songs written by Ryan S. Jhun
Songs written by Peter Rycroft
Songs written by Lauren Aquilina