"Love Scenario" () is a song recorded by South Korean boy group

iKon iKon (), stylized as iKON, is a South Korean boy band formed in 2015 by YG Entertainment, consisting of six members: Jay, Song, Bobby, DK, Ju-ne and Chan. Originally a seven-piece band, leader B.I departed from the group in June 2019. Init ...

. It was released as the lead single of their second studio album, ''

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''. The song won "Song of the Year" at the 2018 Melon Music Awards and

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. It is recognized as iKon's signature song.

Background and composition

"Love Scenario" is described as a mellow, yet relatively upbeat, with a circuitous melody that guides the rhythmic dance track. "I wanted to express what I found regrettable, neither sad nor happy, in the warm farewell which inspired me by the last 10 minutes of the film ''La La Land''," group leader and songwriter B.I stated. He continued, "The main protagonist smiles at his past lover in the end, and I felt, 'That's enough.'"

Chart performance

Upon its release, "Love Scenario" topped China's

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's real-time chart. It also entered the top 10 on QQ Music's weekly chart. In South Korea, the song debuted at 12 on the Gaon Weekly Chart. It topped the chart for six weeks straight, becoming the longest-running number-one song in Gaon history. On February 5, it reached number one on numerous digital platforms such as iChart, Melon, Genie, Bugs, Mnet, Naver, and Soribada, and also number one on the weekly overall chart, Instiz's iChart. They are the second boy band to ever have achieved number one on more than seven music charts since iChart began ranking songs in 2010, with

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having previously accomplishing a similar feat. The group managed to achieve 204 hourly Perfect All Kills, where a song is number one on all charts for a certain amount of time. The song spent 913 hours at number one on the Melon Chart and 40 days at number one on the Melon daily chart. The group was named top artists of the first half of 2018 by

Genie Music Genie Music (), a subsidiary of KT Corporation, is a South Korean company that specializes in the production and distribution of music content. Its music streaming service is the second most used in South Korea with 2.5 million subscribers as ...

, as they topped their daily chart for 35 days. "Love Scenario" became the first song to receive a Gaon platinum certification from the Korea Music Content Industry Association in the streaming category after surpassing 100 million streams.

Critical reception

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'' praised the song, saying it "is guided by a gentle cowbell-style beat and swaying vocals. The song relays a mellow, yet relatively upbeat, reaction to breaking up, with a circuitous melody that guides the rhythmic dance track. It's more emotional than their boisterous most-recent singles, and serves as a subtle directional change and maturing for iKON." "Love Scenario" was also chosen as

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's ''Best of the Week''.

Impact

The song achieved substantial popularity, especially from kindergarteners and elementary schoolers due to its easy-to-follow melodies and lyrics. Some elementary schools banned students from singing "Love Scenario" in classrooms because of its inappropriate content and students showing signs of addiction to catchy tunes. It was featured in several popular Korean TV shows, including '' Running Man'' and ''

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''. The song was also made into an exclusive in-game emote in

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that fans can get by purchasing any

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series smartphone through the partnership between

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and

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Music video

The "Love Scenario" music video was shot with a motion control camera. The background displays nostalgic scenery and props; each scene consists of naturally connected shots, and the Korean media said that this production method adds "fun" to the film. The music video also shows the synchronized dance of seven members, with love stories shown in the background to reflect the lyrics. Among them, the film presents a period from top to bottom, showing iKon's star-shaped dance, which was called the highlight of the music video by ''Billboard''. On May 24, 2021, the music video reached 500 million views on YouTube.

Chinese and Japanese version

On the 12th of July, the Chinese version of the hit song was released, with the lyrics being written by

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. While in 2019, the Japanese version was released on the 27th of February.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Accolades

Certifications

References

{{authority control 2018 songs IKon songs Korean-language songs Gaon Digital Chart number-one singles Billboard Korea K-Pop number-one singles