"Marionette" (

Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The let ...

: 마리오네트) is a song recorded by South Korean girl group

Stellar Stellar means anything related to one or more stars (''stella''). The term may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Stellar'' (magazine), an Irish lifestyle and fashion magazine * Stellar Loussier, a character from ''Mobile Suit Gun ...

for their first EP of the same name. It was released as the album's second single on February 12, 2014. The song was subject of controversy due to its provocative choreography, which was censored on many music shows. It is Stellar's best-selling single thus far, having reached the top 40 on 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 ...

Background and release

After their comeback with the digital single "Study" in 2013, Stellar revealed on February 10, 2014, they would be releasing their first EP ''Marionette'' and announced a song of the same name as its title track. "Marionette" was released on February 12 as the second single from the album, which also came out on the same day.

Composition and lyrical interpretation

"Marionette" is described as a retro

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

song with groovy drum lines and guitar sounds. It was composed by Lee Joohyung and G-High. The title of the song refers to the lyric's analogy of being pulled around like a puppet for still being in love with someone who is no longer around.

Music video

On February 11, 2014, Stellar released a teaser of the music video for the song, which was fully premiered the next day, on February 12. The video, which was directed by Park Seunghun, features the girls dancing at indoors sets and being sexy while performing day to day actions, such as drinking milk and bathing. On February 15, a "no cut" version of the video was released, showing the full choreography for the song entirely filmed in one shot. The video gained 2 million views on

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during its first week. It is Stellar's most watched music video and has gathered over 16 million views as of 2018.

Promotion

In order to promote the single, the group performed it on a few music shows. The first stage was held on

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's ''

M Countdown ''M Countdown'' () is a South Korean music program broadcast by Mnet. The show features appearances by popular music artists who also perform live on stage. It is broadcast from CJ E&M Center Studio in Sangam-dong, Mapo District, Seoul. Bro ...

'' on February 13, 2014. The promotions continued through KBS'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 February 14,

SBS MTV SBS M is a South Korean pay television music channel owned by SBS Medianet, a division of SBS Media Holdings. It features South Korean pop artists, international music, news, and a few reality and variety programs. It was launched in 2001 as t ...

's ''

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'' on February 18, and

MBC Music 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 ''Show ...

's ''

Show Champion ''Show Champion'' (Korean: 쇼 챔피언) is a South Korean music television program broadcast live by MBC M every Wednesday at Bitmaru Broadcasting Center in Ilsan. Hosts * Shindong (February 14, 2012 – December 25, 2012) * Hahm Eun-jung ...

'' on February 19. They also performed the song during the 7th SGC Super Live in Seoul on September 13, 2014, along with the singles "Mask" and "Study".

Commercial performance

After only 3 days of sales, the song managed to debut on the

at number 42 on the issue dated between February 9 and February 15, 2014, selling 45,463 digital copies. It peaked at number 35 on the following week, becoming Stellar's highest charting single. For the month of February, the song appeared on the monthly edition of the Gaon Digital Chart at number 65, with 106,631 copies sold. On the week of March 1, 2014, "Marionette" appeared on the ''Billboard'''s

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 ...

at number 34. The song had sold over 153 thousand downloads as of March 2014.

Controversies

During the release of the album's promotional material, The Entertainment Pascal received criticism for involving the group on a "stripping game", where the fans had to like posts on Stellar's official

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page in order to reveal parts of their bodies in blurred out photos. According to the agency, the activity was part of the song's concept of being a marionette and doing whatever the puppet master wants you to do. Despite the explanation, the game was compared to

sexual exploration Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied wit ...

, which caused the agency to delete all the posts related to the issue.

Ban and censorship

As soon as the music video for "Marionette" was released, it became restricted to ages above 18 in all South Korea and on YouTube. It was also banned from local television due to its provocative choreography and the members' revealing clothes. The controversy also affected the group's appearances on music shows. For most of their stages, portions of the dance had to be toned down as they were considered too vulgar, one of them being the infamously known "butt-rub" move, where the girls scratch their butts to the audience. Despite the overall censorship, the group was allowed to perform the original choreography for the song on their ''Show Champion'' stages.

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Release history

References

{{authority control 2014 singles 2014 songs Dance-pop songs K-pop songs Korean-language songs South Korean pop songs South Korean songs Stellar (South Korean band) songs Obscenity controversies in music