삐삐 (BBIBBI)

The song

‘삐삐 (BBIBBI)’ is a digital single by IU, released on 10 October 2018. It is a one-song release, and the first new song after A Flower Bookmark, Pt. 2 a year earlier.

The album introduction says the single came out that day to mark ten years since IU’s debut. The same text calls it the first alternative R&B song she had attempted, says the lyric addresses people who overstep in their dealings with others, and notes that IU wrote it and took part in the production. The music video was uploaded to the 1theK (원더케이) channel on the day of release.

Reviews

IZM reviewed the single in October 2018. Hwang Seon-eop wrote that “this song too, for all the room a trendy sound leaves it to become stale, is turned into ‘a song only IU could sing’ through her own sense of message and a vocal delivery that matches it”. On its detail he wrote that “the first impression may be a little plain, but on repeated listening there is much that lands anew — what the lyric means, the keyboard laid thinly over the beat, the sources built from the voice itself and the rest of the fine sonic construction — so the pleasure of rediscovery keeps going”, and closed by calling it “an interesting single that converts ten years of fatigue into anticipation”.

Idology (아이돌로지) took up the song in its new-release column ‘1st Listen’ on 2 November 2018. Mimyo opened with “IU sings over a beat of spare weight; there is truly no room to be bored”, and wrote that “at some point IU’s vocal began to sound like the expressions of a character actor, and ‘Bbibbi’ lets you savour, at length, the delight of that unfolding in a three-dimensional, riddling shape throughout”.

The Singles Jukebox took up the song on 26 October 2018, each writer signing a short piece with a mark out of ten. Seven wrote. Alex Clifton gave it eight: “This is a song delivered by someone who knows exactly who she is and where she’d like others to stay around.” Clifton added that “instead it’s firm in asking for boundaries, a serious message wrapped up in cutesy packaging”. Iain Mew gave it eight: “‘Bbibbi’ is a sequel in the best sense, returning to the best aspects of ‘Palette’ (the unfeasibly relaxed groove) and taking them somewhere new.” Ryo Miyauchi gave it eight, writing that “it comes off not angry nor too passive, instead simply calm yet honest: exactly how a warning from IU would sound”.

Billboard placed the song fourth in “20 Best K-pop Songs of 2018” on 17 December 2018. The entry, signed with initials only, says that “‘BBIBBI’ sees her emphasizing and acknowledging one’s worth and personal rights, giving a ‘yellow C-A-R-D’ to those who disrespect and infringe on others’ privacy”.

Numbers

In “20 Best K-pop Songs of 2018”, published by Billboard on 17 December 2018, ‘BBIBBI’ placed fourth of the twenty.

Afterwards

The fifth mini album Love Poem followed in November 2019.