Mic Drop (song)

South Korean boy band BTS had achieved consecutive entries on Billboard charts with The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Pt. 2 (2015), The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever (2016), and Wings (2016). The band further garnered major attention in the United States after winning the Top Social Artist award at the 2017 Billboard Music Awards, becoming the first K-pop group ever to be nominated for and win a Billboard Music Award. They released their fifth extended play Love Yourself: Her on September 18, 2017, to commercial success. The EP debuted and peaked at number seven on the US Billboard 200, becoming the first Korean album to enter the top 10 on the chart. Originally included as a B-side track on Love Yourself: Her, a remix of "Mic Drop" by electro house DJ Steve Aoki featuring American rapper Desiigner, was announced for release as a single on November 7, 2017. In an interview with Billboard magazine, Desiigner stated that he had met the band at the Billboard Music Awards earlier that year and became involved in the collaboration. Big Hit and RED Music later serviced the song to contemporary hit radio in the US on December 5, 2017. A Japanese version of the song was digitally released for purchase on December 6, 2017, by Universal Music Japan as the band's eighth Japanese-language single album, together with the Japanese version of previously released Korean single "DNA" and a new, original Japanese track "Crystal Snow". It was also released as a four-version CD single in Japan on the same day, with a regular edition and three different limited editions: A, B and C. All four editions contain "Mic Drop", "DNA" and "Crystal Snow" as a triple A-side. Individually, edition A includes a DVD with the music video for the Japanese version of "Mic Drop" and a dance version video of the song, == Music and lyrics ==

Musically, the album version of "Mic Drop" has been described as a groovy hip hop number backed by heavy bass and sampled gunshots. The remix version introduces EDM synths and trap-infused beats over the original hip hop melody. In terms of musical notation, the original version was composed in the key of F♯ major, while the remix was composed in A♯ minor. Both versions have a tempo of 170 beats per minute and last for 3:58. Two versions of the remix were released: the studio version released on digital streaming platforms featured Desiigner, while the version accompanying the music video replaced the rapper's intro with Korean verses from the original album version. musician Steve Aoki (pictured) produced the remix of "Mic Drop". As opposed to Aoki's signature build-and-drop house music style, it makes use of an uptempo "cluttered" production, which loops its starting rhythm with trap and a pulsating synth-line. According to RM, "Mic Drop" was inspired by former US president Barack Obama's mic drop at his last White House Correspondents' Dinner in 2016. Speaking about the song in an interview, Desiigner said: "What ["Mic Drop"] means to me is definitely—like when you really amazingly, tremendously kill the beat. And you just drop the mic after that. You just know that you did your thing on that." == Critical reception==

Upon release, "Mic Drop" was met with generally favourable reviews from music critics. Writing for The Malaysia Star, Chester Chin praised the song as "a brilliant display of artistry," calling it "an explosive and menacing track with some dirty bass to boot." Jeff Benjamin from Fuse lauded the cohesiveness of the song's diverse musical styles, writing that the Steve Aoki remix "wasn't just brilliant for its blending of different genres and styles, but how all those elements enhance one another." He further stated, "Desiigner's ridiculously awesome flow fits perfectly alongside BTS' braggadocio, with it all backed by a mainstream-accessible Aoki beat." In his review for The Korea Herald, Dam-young Hong cited the track as "an artwork, offering listeners a flash of footprints BTS have left in the K-pop scene over the past few months." Mike Nied of Idolator deemed the song "one of the hardest hitting on an album of iridescent pop hits." Reviewing for Vulture, Kim Youngdae and Park T.K. wrote, "The beat is distinctive, making every part of this song instantly recognizable." In The New York Times, Jon Caramanica shared a similar view, favouring the sound of the song and labelling it as "a fantastically squelchy beat." Billboards Caitlin Kelley cited it as one of the best songs of BTS and wrote, "the intensity of the song is the product of a potent mixture: an ominous, trap-infused beat rages against boastful lyricism befitting a world class act." Emlyn Travis of PopCrush called "Mic Drop" BTS' "quintessential hip hop track", noting that it evolved the band's sound "while keeping their old roots intact." Chris DeVille from Stereogum viewed the song as "tensely jittery" in which the band "never cease sounding like a boy band even as they lean liberally into hip-hop." In a mixed review for Spin, Monique Melendez felt that the song is "inspiring in its lyrical confidence" but "doesn't push any musical boundaries." Accolades == Commercial performance ==

The original version of "Mic Drop" debuted at number 17 on the Gaon Digital Chart and at number 14 on the component Download Chart on the issue date of September 23, 2017. The song peaked at number six on the Billboard K-pop Hot 100 chart and number seven on the US World Digital Song Sales chart. The single debuted at number one on the US World Digital Songs chart, becoming the band's sixth number one on the chart, and entered the US Digital Song Sales chart at number four. The song charted at number 37 on the Canadian Hot 100 and appeared at number 46 on the UK Singles Chart. The song eventually received platinum certification from the RIAA in November 2018 for track-equivalent sales of one million units, making BTS the first Korean group to achieve this. In April 2019, it was certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for track-equivalent sales of 35,000 units in Australia. Following the release of the song as a single album in Japan, "Mic Drop / DNA / Crystal Snow" topped the Oricon Daily Singles Chart on its first day of release, selling 269,861 copies. The single remained at number one on the daily chart for the next six days, selling 365,096 physical copies in its first week. By doing so, the band became the first foreign artist to surpass 300,000 copies in a week. "Mic Drop / DNA / Crystal Snow" peaked at number one on the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart for the chart issue dated December 4–10, 2017. On January 15, 2018, the single received double platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ), denoting shipments of 500,000 copies, making BTS the only foreign artist to achieve this for a single released in 2017. == Music videos ==

move at the end of the music video. It was inspired by former US President Barack Obama's mic drop at his final White House Correspondents' Dinner in 2016. Hyunwoo Nam was credited as the director of photography and Cathy Kim as the producer. Over the course of the video, several black-hooded figures are seen rioting as the band continue to dance in military-style outfits while surrounded by burning cars. Critics associated the visual with the theme of rebellion. Jennifer Drysdal from Entertainment Tonight called the video "epic" and praised the band's performance writing that the members "command the screen with electrifying dance sequences." Writing for Vice magazine, Phil Witmer deemed the visual as "objectively incredible." The clip was an instant success on YouTube, achieving over 10 million views in 14 hours. "Mic Drop" was the ninth most watched K-pop video of 2017 on YouTube. As of January 2024, the visual has garnered over 1.4 billion views. An accompanying music video for the Japanese version of the song was uploaded to Universal Music Japan's YouTube channel on December 5, 2017. The setting of the visual is almost identical to the remix music video, except for Aoki's figure, which was replaced by a hooded silhouette with glowing red eyes. == Live performances and other usage ==

in Hong Kong on March 24, 2019 Following the release of Love Yourself: Her, BTS appeared on several Korean music programs, including Mnet's M! Countdown, KBS's Music Bank, SBS's Inkigayo and MBC Music's Show Champion to promote the original version of "Mic Drop" and the album. The band performed the song at the SBS Gayo Daejeon music festival on December 25, 2017. They also performed the song on December 31, 2018, at the MBC Gayo Daejejeon, wearing red and black outfits in styles similar to their attire for the music video. Towards the end of the performance, Suga's mic drop move was swapped for a scroll that read "Happy New Year" in Korean when unfurled. On August 11, 2019, the band performed the song during the one-night only Lotte Duty Free Family Concert at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena in Seoul. BTS performed the remix version of "Mic Drop" live for the first time on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on November 27, 2017. The band performed an "energetic" rendition of the song, trading off vocals and rapping verses on a "stark" stage decorated with flashing lights. Ryan Reed of Rolling Stone praised the performance, calling it "intricately choreographed." They performed the remix again on the November 30 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! as part of the Mercedes-Benz Live! concert series, and at the 2017 Mnet Asian Music Awards in Hong Kong on December 1. Additionally, BTS gave a pre-recorded performance of the song on ''Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve on December 31, 2017. On April 13, 2019, BTS performed it together with their 2019 single "Boy with Luv" on Saturday Night Live'', becoming the first K-pop group to perform on the show. For the performance, the band wore casual and colourful outfits from Virgil Abloh's first menswear collection for Louis Vuitton. It received widespread acclaim in the media as one of the most-anticipated performances in the show's history. Stephen Thompson of NPR wrote: "Lots of bands can seem strangely diminished by the SNL stage on TV, but on Saturday night, BTS filled every inch of the frame with flashy motion — tight choreography, bright colors, bold energy." Tyler Watamanuk of GQ praised "the crooning vocals, precise choreography, and charismatic swagger" while also lauding the "expert-level" on-stage fashion style of the band. Writing for Elle, Alyssa Bailey cited the performance as "real show-stopping." On December 7, 2019, the band performed the song as the opening act of the 2019 iHeartRadio Jingle Ball concert at The Forum, Los Angeles. "Mic Drop" was included on the setlist of BTS' Love Yourself World Tour (2018–19). For performances of the song during the Love Yourself: Speak Yourself stadium extension of the tour, the band wore "retro-futuristic" outfits created by Dior artistic director and fashion designer Kim Jones, from his 2019 menswear pre-fall collection. HBO series Silicon Valley featured the remix version of "Mic Drop" in the trailer for the show's fifth season. Uzbeki figure skater Misha Ge performed to the song during the figure skating gala event at the 2018 Winter Olympics. == Track listings ==

Korean and Japanese versions Credits are adapted from the CD liner notes of Love Yourself: Her. • BTS primary vocals • "Hitman" Bang songwriter • Jungkook chorus • KASS gang vocals • RM songwriter, gang vocals • J-Hope songwriter, gang vocals • Supreme Boi vocal arrangement, chorus, gang vocals, production, record engineerer • Pdogg rap and vocal arrangements, gang vocals, synthesizer, keyboard, producer, record engineer • Jaycen Joshua mix engineer Remix version Credits are adapted from Melon. • BTS primary vocals • Desiigner featured vocals, songwriter • Steve Aoki producer, keyboard, synthesizer • Pdogg additional producer, synthesizer, gang vocal, rap arrangement, recording engineer • Supreme Boi songwriter, chorus, gang vocal, vocal arrangement, recording engineer • "Hitman" Bang" songwriter • J-Hope songwriter • RM songwriter • Tayla Parx songwriter • Flowsik songwriter • Shae Jacobs songwriter • Jungkook chorus • DOCSKIM gang vocals • Hiss noise gang vocals • Jaycen Joshua mix engineer • David Nakaj assistant mix engineer • Ben Milchev assistant mix engineer • Randy Merrill mastering engineer == Charts ==

Weekly charts Year-end charts == Certifications and sales ==