"The Girls" is a

promotional single A promotional recording, or promo, or plug copy, is an audio or video recording distributed free, usually in order to promote a recording that is or soon will be commercially available. Promos are normally sent directly to broadcasters, such as ...

by South Korean girl group

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 ...

for the original

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

of the mobile game ''Blackpink: The Game''. It was first made available in the game on August 23, 2023, before it was officially released two days later, 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 ...

and TakeOne Company. Written by various contributors, including the track producers

Ryan Tedder Ryan Tedder (born June 26, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. As well as being the lead vocalist of the pop rock band OneRepublic, he has an independent career as a songwriter and producer for various artists since th ...

and Lindgren along with group members Jennie and

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. ...

, it is a

trap A trap is a mechanical device used to capture or restrain an animal for purposes such as hunting, pest control, or ecological research. Trap or TRAP may also refer to: Art and entertainment Films and television * ''Trap'' (2015 film), Fil ...

and

EDM EDM or E-DM may refer to: Music * Electronic dance music * Early Day Miners, American band Science and technology * Electric dipole moment * Electrical discharge machining * Electronic distance measurement *Entry, Descent, and landing demonstrat ...

song driven by hip-hop leaning beats over

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

sounds, with lyrics that discuss the importance of being independent and courageous in life. A physical version was also released on the same day, which peaked at number one on the

Circle Album Chart The Circle Album Chart, previously known as the Gaon Album Chart, is a record chart ranking the 100 most popular albums, extended plays and single albums in South Korea based on their pure sales. It is a part of the Circle Chart, previously know ...

with 160,460 sales in the first week. The song also reached the top 10 in Vietnam.

Background

On April 4, 2023, YG Entertainment revealed that the mobile game ''Blackpink: The Game'' would be launching in the second quarter of 2023, as well as an original soundtrack and music video accompanying it. Developed by TakeOne Company, the game officially launched on May 18 on mobile app platforms. The same day, a music video teaser was released, confirming the soundtrack's title to be "The Girls" and revealing a snippet of the song as animated avatars of the Blackpink members danced to it. Record producer

, who worked with Blackpink on " Bet You Wanna" (2020), posted a teaser of "The Girls" on his social media handles, confirming his involvement on the song. In 2022, Tedder had confirmed in an interview with ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...

'' that he had written songs with members Jennie and

for their upcoming album, describing the process as very much Blackpink's work with him supporting and contributing, though none of his songs ultimately ended up on ''

Born Pink ''Born Pink'' is the second studio album by South Korean girl group Blackpink, released on September 16, 2022, through YG Entertainment and Interscope Records. It marked the group's first full-length record since '' The Album'' in 2020. Production ...

'' (2022).

Release

Initially planned to be released simultaneously with the game release, the song and its music video were indefinitely delayed due to work on presenting the "highest-quality content" for the video taking "longer than expected." On July 4, the game team released a statement apologizing for the delay and announcing that the music video would be released in the game within a month. On August 3, they announced the official release date of "The Girls" in the game to be August 23. TakeOne Company also announced that a physical package, available in "Stella" and "Reve" versions and containing a QR code to download the song and lyrics, would be released two days later. On social media, the song's producer Ryan Tedder confirmed that "The Girls" would be introduced to streaming platforms as well as radio upon release. The song and its music video premiered in ''Blackpink: The Game'' on August 23, accompanied by a viewing party hosted on Blackpink's

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel in which the group play several games and react to the video. Following the premiere, YG Entertainment announced with a teaser poster that "The Girls" would be officially released as a digital single on August 25. The song was sent for

radio airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...

in Italy on September 8.

Music and lyrics

"The Girls" serves as the

for the group's

mobile game A mobile game, or smartphone game, is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any portable device, including from mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone), tablet, PDA to ...

''Blackpink: The Game'', written and

composed Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

alongside group members Jennie and

with their frequent collaborator Danny Chung, in addition to

Melanie Fontana Melanie Joy Fontana (born October 3, 1986)Joyce Cohen''New York Times'', December 26, 2004. is an American singer, composer and songwriter signed to Universal Music Group. Early life Fontana was born in Newington, Connecticut. She moved to New Y ...

, Michel 'Lindgren' Schulz, and

Madison Love Madison Emiko Love is an American singer and songwriter. She is signed to Artist Publishing Group. Early life Madison Emiko Love was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Her father, Roger Love, is a vocal coach. Love moved to New York ...

. It is an

and

-based track that features hip-hop-leaning beats and a

sound throughout the song. Its lyrics revolve around "the importance of being independent and courageous."

Music video

On May 18, 2023, a 22-second music video teaser for "The Girls" was released, featuring a snippet of the song with the refrain "Don't mess with the girls." The music video was released on August 23 in ''Blackpink: The Game'' and on August 25 in Blackpink's

channel. In the video, animated avatars of the Blackpink members are depicted singing and performing choreography to the song.

Commercial performance

The physical version of "The Girls" debuted at number one on the

dated August 20–26, 2023 with 160,460 copies sold in the first week, becoming Blackpink's fifth number-one album on the chart. It debuted at number 13 on the monthly chart with 178,360 copies sold. It has sold a total of 190,480 since its release.

Accolades

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Certifications

Release history

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Girls (Blackpink song), The Blackpink songs 2023 songs Songs written by Melanie Fontana Songs written by Madison Love Songs written by Ryan Tedder Song recordings produced by Ryan Tedder Trap music songs Songs about fame South Korean electronic dance music songs Songs written by Jennie (singer) English-language South Korean songs YG Entertainment single albums 2020s Korean-language albums