"Missing You" (Korean: 그리워해요; RR: Geuriwohaeyo) is a song by South Korean girl group 2NE1, released on November 21, 2013 by YG Entertainment. The song was produced and written entirely by long-time producer and collaborator Teddy. Commercially, "Missing You" debuted at number one on the Gaon Digital Chart and sold over 1 million digital units by the end of 2014.
Beginning on November 18, 2013, YG Entertainment began releasing individual teasers featuring each member singing a snippet from the track, leading up to its release on November 21, 2013. The day before the release, Yang Hyun-suk was quoted stating the single brought his wife to tears when she first heard it. Dara spoke about the song, saying, "I cried so much during the recording that I used up a box of Kleenex by myself." Bom commented, "It is a song through which you can hear the emotions that come from our hearts very well."[1]
A Japanese version for the song was later included in the group's Japanese edition of their second Korean studio album Crush, which was released on June 25, 2014. The track was also featured in the 2NE1 Best Collection -Korea Edition- compilation album, which was released by YGEX in December of the same year.
The song received positive reviews from music critics. Jeff Benjamin of Billboard praised the song's musical styles—where he wrote, "While slow and tender at its core, the experimental track incorporates unexpected electronic flourishes and alien-like harmonies before its soaring guitar line brilliantly evolves into a pounding piano chords for the ladies to belt over."[2]Pitchfork included "Missing You" in their list of 20 Essential K-pop Songs in August 2014, praising its musicality and the group's vocal delivery and referred to it as "one of the most vocally rich and structurally distinctive singles Korea’s ever produced".[3] The music video also received attention from press regarding CL's nude scene, with Billboard referring to it as a more sophisticated version of Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" music video, which was released just a couple months prior and also widely notable for unprecedented nudity.[4]
"Missing You" was an commercial success, topping all South Korean daily charts and achieved an all-kill soon after release.[5] In its opening week, the song landed at the top position on the Gaon Digital Chart and became the group's eighth number one single. In the month of November alone, the track sold 453,481 digital units and ranked as the ninth best-selling song of the month in the country.[6] It went on to sell over 1,080,000 digital downloads by the end of 2014, making it 2NE1's most commercially successful single released in 2013.[7]
The music video for "Missing You" premiered on November 21, 2013 at midnight KST (UTC+09:00) on 2NE1's official YouTube channel. It received more than 3 million views in less than two days.[14] The members are depicted individually reminiscing over their previous relationships in solitary while navigating through a somber neutral-colored storage room-like setting, where at one point member CL is shown to be nude while recollecting her deep emotions. The members are shown to be united in the sense they share common sentiments of heartbreak. Regarding CL's nude scene, Billboard states "the video's talking point is undoubtedly when CL goes nude for a daring naked scene during the second chorus. The rapper/singer wistfully sits in a room of deteriorating cement, covering herself with only her arms and legs."[4][15]
Promotions for the single debuted with 2NE1's performance at the 2013 Mnet Asian Music Awards in Hong Kong, which followed a remix of the group's 2011 track "Lonely".[16] On November 24, 2NE1 began promoting the song on M! Countdown, Show! Music Core and Inkigayo, and received five first place awards. Music show promotions for the single concluded on SBS Inkigayo on December 22, 2013.[17]
^<12월 첫째 주 인기가요 차트> [Inkigayo chart for the 1st week of December]. SBS (in Korean). December 2, 2013. Archived from the original on April 10, 2021. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
^<12월 둘째 주 인기가요 차트> [Inkigayo chart for the 2nd week of December]. SBS (in Korean). December 9, 2013. Archived from the original on April 10, 2021. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
^"2NE1, '그리워해요' 일간차트 1위 석권" [2NE1, 'Missing You' won the 1st place on the daily chart]. Ten Asia (in Korean). Nate. November 22, 2013. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
^Sun, Mi-kyung (November 22, 2013). "'MAMA' 2NE1, '그리워해요' 첫 공개…감성 충만했다" ['MAMA' 2NE1 performed 'Missing You' for the first time... it was full of emotions]. Osen (in Korean). Nate. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
^"'인기가요' 2NE1, '그리워해요' 마지막 무대 고급 그 자체" ['Inkigayo' 2NE1, the final stage of 'Missing You']. My Daily (in Korean). Nate. December 22, 2013. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
