Any Song

"Any Song" was written by Zico and produced by him and Poptime.[1][2] In an interview with GQ Korea, Zico described "Any Song" as "a song made with a lighter heart."[3] He elaborated about the process behind song-writing in another interview:

"I wanted to make a song people could listen to when they're not thinking about anything. [...] and that was where the concept of ‘Any Song’ came about. If I found myself thinking or deliberating on something, I stopped and relied on instinct for this song. People are always thinking about so many different things, so I thought, at least since it's the beginning of the year, we could just enjoy this song without thinking about much. The song's message is that it has no message."[4]

Musically, "Any Song" was described as a hypnotic dancehall,[5] hip hop,[6] and jazz[7] song featuring a bounce-style melody and "airy" lyrics.[5][6] According to Newsen's press release, it incorporates a "witty" refrain over a "exciting" rhythm.[8] Throughout the song, Zico switches between singing and "trendy rapping."[6] In terms of musical notation, the song is composed in the key of A# minor at 108 beats per minute and is three minutes and forty seven seconds long.[9] The lyrics revolve around the thoughts that cross one's mind at a party. Billboard's Tamar Herman described it as "a witty tune that acts as if a lyrical stream of consciousness."[5]

Hwasa (left) and Chungha (right) are among the celebrities who attempted Zico’s "Any Song" dance-challenge.[7]

On January 7, 2020, KOZ Entertainment posted a concept teaser on its official SNS account, announcing the title and release date of the track.[10][11] The following day, Zico posted a concept photo on his official Instagram account, featuring him in a birthday hat looking exhausted.[12] "Any Song" was made available for streaming and digital download on January 13, 2020, as a single through KOZ Entertainment.[13][1]

The song quickly became viral after Zico started a dance challenge by posting videos of himself and South Korean singers Hwasa and Chungha dancing to "Any Song" on TikTok with the hashtag "Any Song Challenge."[14][15][16][17] The challenge involves performing the "easy-to-follow" choreography by Zico to his track.[6][15] Following the viral trend, several Korean celebrities participated in the dance challenge including Girls' Generation's Tiffany Young, Sandara Park, Lee Hyori, Crush, Park Shin-hye, Jang Sung-kyu, Winner's Mino, Kim Do-yeon and Choi Yoo-jung of Weki Meki and Lee Dae-hwi and Jeon Woong of AB6IX.[7][18][19][20] Originating in Korea, the challenge later spread to many parts of the world.[21] The challenge-videos garnered cumulative views of over a 100 million in only 10 days and around 800 million in a month.[21][6] On March 23, 2020, Zico performed "Any Song" live for the first time on the South Korean music program You Hee-yeol's Sketchbook.[22]

An accompanying music video for "Any Song" was uploaded to Kakao M's official YouTube channel on January 13, 2020.[23] The clip was preceded by two sets of video and photo teasers released on January 9 and 10.[24][25] The visual opens with Zico's friends turning up at his house for a party.[23] The following scenes show his friends having fun at the party without him.[5] Throughout the clip, Zico is either forced to play games or is lifted into the air by his friends.[23] As the video progresses, Zico is left feeling out of sorts as he supposedly planned to enjoy himself.[5] As the party comes to close, Zico puts on his headphones and begins dancing on his own, when no one is watching him.[5] However, his solitary fun is interrupted as his friends sing "Happy Birthday" to him, with a cake.[23][5] The clip ends with Zico leaving his friends and running outside of his house in quest for freedom and happiness.[5]

"Any Song" broke the record of iKon's "Love Scenario", to become the longest-running number one song on the Gaon Chart.[26]

"Any Song" was a huge success in South Korea. Upon release, the song skyrocketed to the top of all real-time charts of online streaming sites including Melon, Soribada, Genie, Naver, Bugs, and Flo, achieving an "all-kill" and becoming the first song of 2020 to do so.[27][16] The single remained at the summit of all real-time charts for seven consecutive days.[28] On Korea's largest digital music site, Melon, the track gained over 1.3 million listeners within 24 hours,[29] and remained on top of the weekly chart for 8 weeks.[26][30] "Any Song" debuted at number one on the Gaon Digital Chart on the chart issue dated January 18, 2020, and spent five consecutive weeks at the top spot, tying with IU's "Good Day" and Psy's "Gangnam Style".[31][26] It dropped to number two on the week of February 22, where it stayed for another week.[32][33] On the first week of March, "Any Song" regained its number one position and remained at the top spot for a further week, tallying a total of seven non-consecutive weeks atop the chart.[34][35][26][30] By doing so, the song broke the record for the most weeks at number one in the Gaon Chart's history, previously held by iKon's "Love Scenario".[26][30] The single went on to spend 17 straight weeks in the top ten of the chart, before it fell to number 12 on the May 16, 2020 chart.[36] The track also topped the component Streaming chart and the Download Chart for eight non-consecutive weeks and two straight weeks respectively.[37][38] "Any Song" was the best-performing song of the February 2020 issue of the Gaon Monthly Digital Chart, while also the second-best performing song of January and March.[39]

"Any Song" debuted atop the Billboard K-pop Hot 100 for the chart issue dated January 18, 2020, and spent six consecutive weeks on the summit.[40] Its streak was eventually broken by BTS's "On" which earned three weeks at the top spot.[41] The song peaked at number four on the US Billboard World Digital Song Sales chart on the week of January 25, 2020, becoming the singer's eighth chart entry and giving Zico his fourth top five on the chart.[42] The single remained on the chart for six consecutive weeks.[43] It also reached top ten peaks in Malaysia and Singapore.[44][45]

Propelled by its enormous success on digital platforms, "Any Song" became the first-place winner on various South Korean weekly music programs such as SBS's Inkigayo, KBS's Music Bank and MBC's Show! Music Core. The song won a total of 10 music show awards including triple crown (three consecutive wins) on Inkigayo and four straight wins on Show! Music Core.[43]

• Digital download / streaming[1]

1. "Any song" – 3:47

Credits and personnel adapted from Melon.[1]

• Zico – songwriter, vocals, producer
• Poptime – producer

• List of Gaon Digital Chart number ones of 2020
• List of K-pop Hot 100 number ones
• List of Inkigayo Chart winners (2020)