"Wannabe" is a song by South Koreangirl groupITZY from their second EP, titled It'z Me. It was released by JYP Entertainment as the lead single on March 9, 2020. It was written and produced by Galactika. The song employs a combination of house and hip-hop/pop production that is mixed with bubblegum-pop melodies. An accompanying music video for the song was directed by Naive Creative Production and uploaded onto JYP's YouTube channel simultaneously with the single's release. Within 24 hours, the music video accumulated over 11 million views and has, as of July 2020, accumulated more than 160 million views on the platform making their fastest music video to reach that. Commercially, the single reached the charts in eight countries, peaking at number six in South Korea.
Background and composition
The song was confirmed on March 1, 2020, as the lead single of the album. "Wannabe" employs a combination of house and hip-hop/pop production that is mixed with bubblegum-pop melodies, with the lyrics conveying themes stressing the importance of personal identity and individuality. The song was written and produced by Galactika, who also produced their debut track "Dalla Dalla." It runs for three minutes and twelve seconds.
Music video
The music video was released on March 9, 2020 along with the album. The music video was directed by the Naive Creative Production. As of May 2020, it has over 117 million views and 2.4 million likes on YouTube. On March 15, the dance practice video for "Wannabe" was released on Itzy's official YouTube channel.
Live performances
On March 12, 2020, the group made the debut performance of 'Wannabe" on M Countdown. On March 13, they performed the song on Music Bank. Itzy performed the song again on Show! Music Core on March 14. On March 15, Itzy performed the song on Inkigayo. On March 20, the song was again performed on Music Bank. On April 4, Itzy performed the song on Show! Music Core. On April 6, they performed "Wannabe" once again on Inkigayo. The group received eight music show wins for the song.
"Wannabe" debuted at number 6 on the Gaon Digital Chart, giving the group their third top ten song. The song debuted at number 4 on the US World Digital Song Sales chart. It also became the group's first top-five entry since "Dalla Dalla" and their third top-ten entry overall, respectively. In New Zealand the song peaked at number 22 on the Hot Singles chart. In Japan "Wannabe" debuted and peaked at number 23, making it their highest peak on that chart. "Wannabe" also marks the group's debut on the Canadian Hot 100 at number 92, becoming only the seventh K-pop female act to appear on the chart. The song topped the charts in Malaysia and Singapore, becoming their first number-one song on both charts.
