''Hot'' is the debut

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

(EP) by South Korean singer

Taeyang Dong Young-bae (; born May 18, 1988), better known by his stage names Taeyang (meaning "sun" in Korean) and SOL (when performing in Japan), is a South Korean singer, songwriter and dancer. After appearing in Jinusean's music video "A-yo", Tae ...

, a member of boy group Big Bang under

YG Entertainment YG Entertainment Inc. () is a South Korean multinational entertainment agency established in 1996 by Yang Hyun-suk. The company operates as a record label, talent agency, music production company, event management and concert production comp ...

. It was released through YG Entertainment on May 22, 2008, as Taeyang's debut as a solo artist. Two singles were spawned from the EP—"Only Look at Me" featuring

Teddy Park Teddy Park (born Park Hong-jun on September 14, 1978), is a Korean–American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Born in Seoul, South Korea, Park moved to the United States with his family as a young child. When he was 17 years old, ...

and "Prayer". It was the best-selling album of May 2008 with it being ranked at number 1 on the MIAK monthly album chart. ''Hot'' was well received by music critics, with the record winning two

Korean Music Awards The Korean Music Awards () is an annual South Korean music awards show that honors both mainstream and underground musical artists from a variety of genres. Unlike other major South Korean music awards, which largely rely on record sales to det ...

as well as

Soribada Soribada ( ko, 소리바다) was the first Korean peer-to-peer file-sharing service, launched in 2000 by Sean Yang. The name 'Soribada' means "Ocean of Sound" or "Receiving (downloading) Sound". It was closed in 2002 by court order but continued t ...

naming it one of the best albums of the 2000s decade.

Release

Two singles were released from the album at the same time as the EP's release, "Prayer" and "Only Look At Me", with music videos produced for each song. "Make Love" from this album was remade by Big Bang to be used in their Japanese album '' Number 1''. Bandmate

G-Dragon Kwon Ji-yong (; born August 18, 1988), also known by his stage name G-Dragon (지드래곤), is a South Korean rapper, singer-songwriter, record producer, entrepreneur and fashion designer, known as the " King of K-pop". G-Dragon is the recipi ...

recorded a "Part two" version of "Only Look At Me", and released it as a digital single, "Only Look at Me Part 2". Both versions were performed at the

2008 Mnet KM Music Festival The 2008 Mnet KM Music Festival (MKMF) was the tenth of the annual music awards in Seoul, South Korea that took place on November 15, 2008, at the Seoul Sports Complex. Leading the nominees were boy groups TVXQ and Epik High, and girl group Wond ...

, where each member of Big Bang performed a song with the Korean singer

Lee Hyori Lee Hyo-ri (; born May 10, 1979) is a South Korean singer, record producer, activist, actress and television presenter. Dubbed as the "Nation's Fairy" during her '' Family Outing'' days, she debuted as a member of South Korean girl group Fin.K. ...

Reception

Critical reception

The extended play was well received by fans and critics alike, winning two trophies at the 6th

for the Best R&B / Soul Song for "Only Look at Me" and the Best R&B / Soul Album for ''Hot''. At the

, "Only Look at Me" was nominated for Best Ballad/R&B Performance while "Prayer" was nominated for

Best Music Video The Grammy Award for Best Music Video is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to performers, directors, and producers of quality short form music videos. Hon ...

. Music critic Cha Woo-jin from webzine ''Weiv'' named it as one of his best albums of the 2000s, while in 2010, 39 music critics from

and music webzine 100beat ranked ''Hot'' the 79th best album of the 2000s decade. Popular music critic Kim Hak-seon included ''Hot'' at number 17 in his introduction of 20 great albums from the 2000s in his book ''Capturing the K-POP World''.

Commercial performance

Commercially, ''Hot'' received over 45,000 pre-orders the day before its release. It was the number-one album of May 2008 in South Korea, selling over 32,000 copies. By August 2008, it recorded sales of nearly 44,000 copies.

Track listing

Sample credits *"Prayer contains a sample of " High" by

David Hallyday David Hallyday (born David Michael Benjamin Smet; 14 August 1966) is a French singer, songwriter and amateur sports car racer. Early life Hallyday was born in Boulogne-Billancourt and is the son of the French singers Johnny Hallyday and Sylvie ...

Charts

Monthly charts

References

2008 EPs Taeyang albums YG Entertainment EPs Korean-language EPs Albums produced by G-Dragon Albums produced by Teddy Park {{SouthKorea-music-stub