"XOXO" is a song recorded by Canadian-Dutch-Korean singer and songwriter Jeon Somi. It was released by

The Black Label The Black Label Inc. (; stylized as THEBLACKLABEL or THEBLΛƆKLΛBEL) is a South Korean record label and an associate company of YG Entertainment. It was founded in 2015 by YG producer Teddy and Kush. History On September 22, 2015, YG Entertain ...

and

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...

on October 29, 2021, as the lead single from the singer's debut studio album of the same name. It was written by

Teddy Teddy is an English language given name, usually a hypocorism of Edward or Theodore. It may refer to: People Nickname * Teddy Atlas (born 1956), boxing trainer and fight commentator * Teddy Bourne (born 1948), British Olympic epee fencer * Tedd ...

, Danny Chung, Vince, Jeon Somi, and Kush, and composed by them alongside Pink Sweats.

Background and release

On October 14, The Black Label announced that Jeon Somi was scheduled to make a comeback with her first full-length album ''XOXO'' at the end of the month. In the following week Jeon revealed the release date and shared the tracklist of the album through her social media accounts, which included the lead single entitled "XOXO". The song and its music video were released 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 ...

alongside the album on October 29.

Composition

"XOXO" was written by

, Danny Chung, Vince, Jeon Somi, and Kush, and composed by Pink Sweats, Pacific, Teddy, and 24. The song is described as 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 ...

track with a trap beat and a layered chant-like hook. Lyrically, the song is an anthem filled with anger and centers on leaving a cheating partner and no longer letting one's feelings be trivialized. According to Somi, the title of the song is "the goodbye you send to the player who cheated on you" and 'XOXO' are "hugs and kisses that are a bit more evil than sweet”.

Critical reception

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 ...

''s Carmen Chin praised the song as "ridiculously catchy" with "well-placed rap verses and an earworm of a chorus". However, she criticized it as a "foolproof but boring pop anthem" made specifically to appeal to the general audience.

Music video

On October 27, the music video teaser was released. On October 29, the official music video was released. The video takes place after the music video for " Dumb Dumb" and opens with a scene of Jeon Somi discovering she’s been cheated on by her lover. She deals with her heartbreak by embarking on a revenge mission on her ex-boyfriend. She playfully wields a sledgehammer as she skips around a graffiti-covered car in an outdoor parking lot in some scenes, and completely trashes a hallway in others.

Accolades

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Release history

Notes

References

{{Somi 2021 songs 2021 singles Interscope Records singles Songs written by Teddy Park Songs written by Jeon Somi