"Playing with Fire" () is a song recorded by South Korean

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of who ...

Blackpink Blackpink (, commonly stylized in all caps or as BLɅϽKPIИK) is a South Korean girl group formed by YG Entertainment, consisting of members Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa. The group debuted in August 2016 with their single album ''Square ...

. It was released on November 1, 2016, together with "

Stay Stay may refer to: Places * Stay, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the US Law * Stay of execution, a ruling to temporarily suspend the enforcement of a court judgment * Stay of proceedings, a ruling halting further legal process in a tri ...

", as the group's second digital single album titled ''

Square Two ''Square Two'' is the second single album by South Korean girl group Blackpink. It was released as a digital single on November 1, 2016, by YG Entertainment and distributed by KT Music. The single has a double A-side, " Playing with Fire" and " ...

'', through

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 compa ...

. The song was written by

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, P ...

and composed by Park and

R. Tee Kim Jung-gu (, born March 6, 1990), known professionally as R. Tee (), is a South Korean record producer, songwriter, and DJ signed with The Black Label. He has produced songs for artists including Big Bang (band), Big Bang, Blackpink, iKon, and ...

Background and release

In October 2016, a teaser image of Jennie was revealed, along with the name of one of the title tracks, "Playing With Fire", followed by teaser images of

Lisa Lisa or LISA may refer to: People People with the mononym * Lisa Lisa (born 1967), American actress and lead singer of the Cult Jam * Lisa (Japanese musician, born 1974), stylized "LISA", Japanese singer and producer * Lisa Komine (born 1978), J ...

Rosé A rosé () is a type of wine that incorporates some of the color from the grape skins, but not enough to qualify it as a red wine. It may be the oldest known type of wine, as it is the most straightforward to make with the skin contact method. ...

, and

Jisoo Kim Ji-soo (; born January 3, 1995), known mononymously as Jisoo, is a South Korean singer and actress. She is best known as a member of the best-selling K-pop girl group Blackpink, formed by YG Entertainment, in August 2016. Outside of her musi ...

the next day. On October 31, the behind-the-scenes video for "Playing With Fire" was released.

Commercial performance

"Playing with Fire" debuted at number 3 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 ...

, with 203,263 downloads (landing at number 2 on the component Download Chart) and 3,825,893 streams (debuting at number 4 on the component Streaming Chart). The following week, it fell to number 4, before reaching number 3 again in its third week. As of September 2018, the song has reached over 2,500,000 digital downloads and 100,000,000 streams in the country. The song also debuted at number one on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

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 ...

chart, selling over 2,000 copies in the US in its first week. It became their second number one entry on the chart. "Playing with Fire" also entered the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. The Canadian Hot 100 was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007, and is currently the standard record chart in Canada; a n ...

at number 92, making Blackpink the first South Korean girl group and only the fifth South Korean act (after Psy, EXO, CL, and BTS) to enter the chart. In the United Kingdom, the track had reached 10.9 million streams as of 2019.

Music video and promotion

The music video for "Playing with Fire" was directed by Seo Hyun-seung, who previously worked with the group and directed the music video for "

Boombayah "Boombayah" () is a song by South Korean girl group Blackpink. It was released coupled with "Whistle" in the group's digital debut single album titled ''Square One'', on August 8, 2016, by YG Entertainment. "Boombayah" peaked at number 7 in Sout ...

", and it was released on Blackpink's official YouTube channel at midnight on November 1, 2016 KST. As of January 2023, the video has over 800 million views. Blackpink also released the dance practice video for "Playing With Fire" on their official YouTube channel on November 4, 2016. It was choreographed by Kyle Hanagami, who had worked with them for "

" from their previous single album ''

Square One Square One may refer to: Film and TV * '' Square One: Michael Jackson'', a 2019 investigative documentary about the first allegations of child sexual abuse brought by the Chandler family *''Square One Television'', a children's television series ...

''. The group had their comeback stage for both songs on November 6 on SBS's ''

Inkigayo ''Inkigayo'' ( ko, 인기가요; English title: ''The Music Trend'', previously ''Popular Song'') is a South Korean music program broadcast by SBS. It airs live every Sunday. The show features some of the latest and most popular artists who p ...

'' and on

Mnet M-Net (an abbreviation of Electronic Media Network) is a South African pay television channel established by Naspers in 1986. The channel broadcasts both local and international programming, including general entertainment, children's series, ...

'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 November 10, 2016. They received two music show wins for "Playing with Fire".

Accolades

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

{{Blackpink Blackpink songs 2016 singles YG Entertainment singles 2016 songs Tropical house songs Songs written by Teddy Park