Kill This Love (song)
"Kill This Love" is a song recorded by South Korean girl group Blackpink. It was released on April 4, 2019 through YG and Interscope, as the lead single for the group's second Korean-language EP of the same name. It was written by Teddy Park and Bekuh Boom and produced by them alongside R.Tee and 24. The single has been described as an electropop song, whose lyrics talk about the girls' decision to end a toxic relationship. A Japanese language version of the song was released in October 2019.
An accompanying music video for the song was directed by Seo Hyun-seung and uploaded onto Blackpink's YouTube channel simultaneously with the single's release. Upon release, the music video broke the record for the most views within 24 hours, accumulating 56.7 million views and has, as of 7th July 2020, accumulated more than 900 million views on the platform.
Commercially, the single reached the charts in 27 countries. It peaked at number two in South Korea and became the group's first top-50 hit in the United States and the United Kingdom, thus also becoming the highest-charting female K-pop song on the Billboard Hot 100 at the time.
Background
, CEO of YG Entertainment announced in February 2019 that Blackpink was set for a comeback with an EP in March. The single and EP were announced on March 25. Between March 31 and April 1, multiple individual teaser pictures were posted onto their social media accounts.Composition and lyrics
The song was written by Teddy Park and Bekuh Boom, who previously wrote "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du", while production was handled by them alongside R.Tee and 24. Its lyrics have been described as a "breakup anthem" and the song itself has been described as a stomping, brassy electropop track with trap elements. The song contains "blaring horns and martial percussion", with Rosé and Jisoo leading the "impassioned" pre-choruses about breaking up. The song ends with an "imperial rallying cry to cut off the dead weight". BillboardMusic video
An accompanying music video for the song was directed by Seo Hyun-seung and shot in mid-March. It was released simultaneously with the song. Upon the music video's release, Kill This Love simultaneously obtained the records of fastest-liked video and fastest viewed video on YouTube, reaching 1 million likes in 28 minutes and 56.7 million views within 24 hours of release, averaging about 650 views per second during that interval and making it the most viewed YouTube video in the first 24 hours after release. Furthermore, it became the fastest video to reach 100 million views on YouTube, doing so in approximately 2 days and 14 hours, beating the record set by fellow Korean artist Psy with "Gentleman" in 2013. It also set the record for the biggest YouTube Premiere with 979,000 concurrent viewers. On April 9, the dance practice video for "Kill This Love" was released on Blackpink's official YouTube channel. South Korean public broadcaster KBS banned the music video "for violating the country’s Road Traffic Act", due to a scene in which Rosé is seen driving a car at high speed without a seatbelt.Promotion
Blackpink promoted the song on several music programs in South Korea including Show! Music Core and Inkigayo. "Kill This Love" and other songs of the same-titled EP were performed at Coachella on April 12.Commercial performance
"Kill This Love" debuted at No. 25 of the Gaon Digital Chart with only one and a half day of charting, later peaking at no. 2 the second week, giving the group their sixth top five song. In the United States, the single debuted at No. 41, selling 7,000 pure copies first week and accumulating 18.6 million streams. The song stayed in the Hot 100 for a total of four consecutive weeks. In the United Kingdom, "Kill This Love" charted at No. 33, the highest for any female South Korean act.Accolades
| Publication | List | Rank | |
| Amazer | Most Covered K-pop Songs of 2019 | 1 | |
| Billboard | The 100 Best Songs of 2019: Staff List | 66 | |
| Billboard | The 25 Best K-pop Songs of 2019: Critics' Picks | 21 | |
| Pitchfork | The 20 Best Music Videos of 2019 | 14 | |
| BuzzFeed | Best K-pop Music Videos of 2019 | 9 | |
| CelebMix | Top 10 KPOP songs of 2019 | 5 | |
| Paper | Paper's Top 50 Songs of 2019 | 1 | |
| Refinery29 | The Best K-Pop Songs of 2019 | 17 | |
| Rolling Stone India | 10 Best K-pop Music Videos of 2019 | style="text-align:center;" | |
| South China Morning Post | The 10 best K-pop songs of 2019 | 2 | |
| YouTube | Top 10 Most-Watched MVs of 2019 Within Korea | 4 |
| Ceremony | Year | Category | Result | |
| BreakTudo Awards | 2019 | International Music Video of the Year | ||
| BreakTudo Awards | 2019 | Boom Video of the Year | ||
| Melon Music Awards | 2019 | Best Rap/Hip Hop Track | ||
| Mnet Asian Music Awards | 2019 | Song of the Year | ||
| Mnet Asian Music Awards | 2019 | Best Dance Performance Female Group | ||
| MTV Video Music Awards | 2019 | Best K-Pop | ||
| People's Choice Awards | 2019 | Music Video of 2019 | ||
| Gaon Chart Music Awards | 2020 | Song of the Year – April | ||
| iHeartRadio Music Awards | 2020 | Best Music Video | ||
| iHeartRadio Music Awards | 2020 | Favorite Music Video Choreography |
| Program | Date | |
| Inkigayo | April 21, 2019 | |
| Inkigayo | May 26, 2019 |