"Tail" (; stylized in

all caps In typography, all caps (short for "all capitals") refers to text or a font in which all letters are capital letters, for example: "THIS TEXT IS IN ALL CAPS". All caps may be used for emphasis (for a word or phrase). They are commonly seen in ...

) is a song by South Korean singer and songwriter

Sunmi Lee Sun-mi (born Sun Mi on May 2, 1992), known mononymously as Sunmi (stylized as SUNMI), is a South Korean singer, dancer, songwriter and record producer. She debuted in 2007 as a member of South Korean girl group Wonder Girls and left the gr ...

. It was released as a standalone

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

on February 23, 2021 through Abyss Company. "Tail" was made available for digital download and

streaming Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...

, and includes the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

track "What the Flower". Both recordings were written by Sunmi, with additional production credits handled by Frants on "Tail" and Hong Song-jin on the B-side. Musically, "Tail" is a

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 ...

and

city pop is a loosely defined form of Japanese pop music that emerged in the late 1970s and peaked in the 1980s. It was originally termed as an offshoot of Japan's Western-influenced "new music", but came to include a wide range of styles – including ...

song which conveys her instinctive feelings regarding love, similar to how "animals use their tail to express their emotions". Commercially, "Tail" peaked at number 22 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

On February 2, 2021, Sunmi's agency Makeus Entertainment (now named Abyss Company), stated that Sunmi is preparing to comeback at the end of February with a new release. On February 10, the singer announced the date of the release via Instagram. On February 15, the tracklist of the single was released. Concept photos and videos for both songs were released on February 17 and 18, as well as a track spoiler video the following day. The music video teaser for "Tail" was released on February 22, 2021. The single released digitally on February 23 along with the music video for the title track.

Music and lyrics

Turning 30 this year in Korean age, the new single marked a milestone for Sunmi. "It’s my first move taken in my 30s and I feel like I’ve taken a very daring step forward," she said. The

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...

lead single, "Tail" is a

and

song about a "super sensitive cat woman villainess who wants love with all her heart, expressing her deepest instinctive feelings". Sunmi added: "Animals use their tail to express their emotions". The song features a unique sense of rhythm and a catchy melody. "What the Flower" is a soul-infused B-side track with her lush vocals moving nimbly across sparkling

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

work and warm

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

Critical reception

Sofiana Ramli of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' wrote that "the pair of songs work well together, presenting new facades to a beloved veteran performer". Writing for ''

IZM ''IZM'' () is a South Korean online magazine that publishes pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ...

'', Stern stated that "Tail" is a "song that reveals Sunmi's concerns, who don't want to fall into mannerism". The A-side song "Tail" won best song in the official 2021 Miyane fan club awards. In addition, the B Side "What the Flower" won the best B-side award for the same year.

Track listing

Credits

Credits adapted from

Melon A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet, edible, and fleshy fruit. The word "melon" can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit. Botanically, a melon is a kind of berry, specifically a "pepo". The ...

. * Lee Sun-mivocals, lyrics, composition, arrangement * Frantscomposition, arrangement (1) * Hong So-jincomposition, arrangement (2)

Charts

Release history

References

Sunmi songs 2021 singles Korean-language songs {{2020s-song-stub