"Starry Night" (

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

: 별이 빛나는 밤; RR: ''Byuli bichnaneun bam'') is a song 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 ...

Mamamoo Mamamoo (, stylized in all caps) is a 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 ...

. It was released on March 7, 2018, as the second single from the group's seventh EP ''

Yellow Flower ''Yellow Flower'' is the sixth extended play (EP) by South Korean girl group Mamamoo. It was released by RBW on March 7, 2018 and distributed by LOEN Entertainment. The EP contains seven total songs, including the singles "Paint Me" and "Starry ...

'', the first EP in a series of releases focusing on each member. A

dance-pop Dance-pop is a popular music subgenre that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developing from a ...

and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

-inspired track, "Starry Night" was written by

Moonbyul Moon Byul-yi (, born December 22, 1992), better known by her stage name Moonbyul, is a South Korean rapper and singer signed under RBW. She is the rapper of the girl group Mamamoo and its sub-unit Mamamoo+. In May 2018, Moonbyul made her debut ...

, Park Woo-sang, and Kim Do-hoon, with music and arrangement performed by the latter two. The song peaked at number two 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 ...

and earned the group their first-ever music recording certification, after surpassing 100 million streams according to the

Gaon Music Chart The Circle Chart (), previously known as the Gaon Music Chart or the Gaon Chart (), tabulates the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in South Korea. It is produced by the Korea Music Content Association and sponsored by South Korea's ...

Background and release

In January 2018, Mamamoo released the digital single "Paint Me", a precursor to their upcoming album project titled 'Four Seasons, Four Colors', in which the group would release four

EPs EPS, EPs or Eps may refer to: Commerce and finance * Earnings per share * Electronic Payment Services, in Hong Kong, Macau, and Shenzhen, China * Express Payment System, in the Philippines Education * Edmonton Public Schools, in Edmonton, Al ...

, each focusing on one member and a corresponding season. The next month, the group released the first teasers for the first EP in the series, ''

''. "Starry Night" was released as the second single from ''Yellow Flower'' on March 7, 2018, alongside the release of the EP itself. On August 7, 2019, the re-recorded Japanese-language version of the song was released as part of the group's debut Japanese album, ''4colors'', by

JVCKenwood Victor Entertainment , also known as in Japan, is a subsidiary of JVCKenwood that produces and distributes music, movies and other entertainment products such as anime and television shows in Japan. It is known as JVC Entertainment in countries where Sony Music Ent ...

. On September 15, 2021, an orchestral remix of the song was released as part of their debut compilation album '' I Say Mamamoo: The Best''.

Composition

Sonically a

and

K-pop K-pop (), short for Korean popular music, is a form of popular music originating in South Korea as part of South Korean culture. It includes styles and genres from around the world, such as pop, hip hop, R&B, experimental, rock, jazz, gos ...

track, "Starry Night" is a dance track featuring "Latin-inspired strings." The song is composed in the key of

A minor A minor is a minor scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has no flats and no sharps. Its relative major is C major and its parallel major is A major. The A natural minor scale is: : Changes ...

and at a tempo of 124 BPM, running for three minutes and 31 seconds.

Critical reception

"Starry Night" was met with positive critical reception upon release, with Hong Dam-young of ''

The Korea Herald ''The Korea Herald'' is a leading English-language daily newspaper founded in 1953 and published in Seoul, South Korea. The editorial staff is composed of Korean and international writers and editors, with additional news coverage drawn from int ...

'' calling it "dramatic" and "dynamic." CelebMix stated that it "confirmed and lived up to the expectations of the fans and the critics" in a year when many K-pop acts were experimenting with Latin music."

Commercial performance

A commercial success, "Starry Night" debuted at number two on the

, earning 44.7 million index points in its first week. It remained at that position for four consecutive weeks, before dropping to number four for the issue dated April 7, 2018. The song was the highest-performing song of March 2018, earning 219 million index points in that time frame. It was the 13th highest-performing song of 2018 on the chart and was the fourth highest-performing song by a girl group, with over 818 million index points earned in 2018. The song earned a further 77 million points in 2019. "Starry Night" also peaked at number one on the ''Billboard'' Korea K-pop Hot 100 and number eight on ''Billboard'' World Digital Songs Sales. In November 2018, "Starry Night" earned the group their first platinum certification from the Gaon Music Chart and Korean Music & Content Association for surpassing 100 million domestic streams. It was certified for 2.5 million digital downloads in July 2019.

Music video

The music video for "Starry Night" was directed by Won Ki-hong. It was shot entirely in New Zealand. Like with their music video for previous single "Paint Me", the music video was posted to both the group's official channel and the 1theK distributor channel. As of February 2022, the music video has a combined total of 201.4 million views across both channels.

Accolades

Track listings

Digital download # "Starry Night" – 3:31 Digital download – Japanese version # "Starry Night" (Japanese version) – 3:31 Digital download – remix # "Starry Night" (orchestra version) – 3:34

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

{{Mamamoo 2018 songs 2018 singles Mamamoo songs Billboard Korea K-Pop number-one singles