The “Gangnam Style” hitmaker has another smash on his hands.
It’s official: PSY and SUGA of BTS did it. “That That (Prod & Feat. SUGA of BTS)” is a hit.
It’s still going strong five weeks after it dropped on April 29. On June 2, the music video for “That That (Prod. & Feat. SUGA of BTS)” hit 200 million views on YouTube. It’s the first K-Pop music video of 2022 to achieve that milestone.
“That That” is the lead single from PSY’s eighth studio album PSY 9th. It’s the follow-up to 2017’s 4X2=8, and it’s his first release under his own record label. (He launched P NATION in 2018 after leaving YG Entertainment in the same year.) The album has 12 other songs. PSY worked with Crush, Epik High’s Tablo, Heize, MAMAMOO’s Hwasa, and Sung Si Kyung.
Before the album dropped, PSY posted a video on Instagram. It was of a speech he gave in 2013. In it, he talked about how it took him a decade to duplicate the success of his seminal hit “Champion.” The producer said it might take him another ten years to come up with a worthy follow-up to “Gangnam Style.”
“I know a lot of you have high expectations for my next hit,” he said. “Perhaps the next time you’ll meet a song like ‘Gangnam Style’ will be in 2022.”
As it turned out, he was right.
How it happened
PSY knew he wanted to work with SUGA after the latter released the “raw and trendy” track “Daechwita.” But before he could reach out to the BTS member, SUGA beat him to the punch.
“One day, I got a text from an unknown number,” PSY recalls. “It said, ‘Hi, this is SUGA. I’d like to talk to you about something. So I met up with him. He’s a great performer, but he’s also good at writing music. He’s produced songs for Heize and IU. He told me he wanted to give me a song.”
So it was that SUGA brought PSY the instrumental that became “That That.”
“SUGA’s the one who produced that beat,” says PSY. “At first, that was all he wanted to do. Then he featured on the track, learned the choreography, and starred in the music video. Step by step, his involvement in the project grew. I want to take this opportunity to thank him.”
“At first, because he’s many years my senior and so well-respected in the business, I was nervous,” admits SUGA. “To be honest, I haven’t gotten that close with anyone I collaborated with. I’m not the type to meet up with them in person. I usually work over email. But he wanted to see me in person. Working with him felt like working with a childhood friend. That made the process much more fun. We became besties in a way.”
PSY agrees that they formed a friendship after working on “That That” together.
“When meeting younger artists, I don’t want to make them feel uncomfortable. I don’t want to be unapproachable. With SUGA, it was hard for me to feel any age gap. If he thinks of me as a bestie, that’s great. How much younger does that make me?” he joked.
The lyrics
So what is “That That” about?
According to Genius’s English translation, PSY sings about how the “pandemic’s over.” He proclaims that it’s time to get back to the “crowded streets” and the “hustle and bustle.”
The lyrics also gave a nod to “Gangnam Style.” “North, south, east, west, ayy / Gangnam, Gangbuk, ayy,” he sings. “Everyone gather, throw your hands in the air / I say ‘yeah.'”
In another part of the song, Psy and Suga sing about shaking it from “left to right, top to bottom.” They also threw in a few lines about how they feel good now that they’re back to “laughing, crying, living, loving.”
PSY and SUGA, smashing records
“That That (Prod. & Feat. SUGA of BTS)” debuted at #80 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart. It also charted on the Digital Song Sales chart and the Top Selling Songs chart at No. 2. On the Hot Trending Songs chart, it peaked at No. 4.
On Billboard’s Global 200 chart, “That That” debuted at No. 5 with 29,600 units sold and 67.7 million streams in its first week. On the Global Excl. US chart, “That That” debuted at No. 2 with 18,800 units sold and 61.5 million streams outside of the United States. Both charts were launched in September 2020. They rank songs based on data from over 200 territories.
“That That” marks PSY’s first entry on the Global 200. It’s SUGA’s second, following his No. 37 peak in December 2021 with “Girl Of My Dreams,” his collab with Juice WRLD. While BTS holds the record for most Global 200 No. 1’s with six, “That That” is now the highest-charting solo project from a BTS member and the first top 10 entry. (In February, Jungkook‘s “Stay Alive,” which SUGA also produced, debuted at No. 13.)\
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This song is also the first and second entry on the Global Excl. US chart for PSY and SUGA, respectively. While BTS has topped this chart five times, this No. 2 entry is the peak on this chart for a BTS member’s solo project, behind “Stay Alive,” which debuted at No. 8.
To date, PSY has charted five songs on the Hot 100. He’s the South Korean soloist with the most appearances on that chart. SUGA is in second place with three appearances. Thanks to “That That,” he was able to break out of a tie with CL and BLACKPINK’s Lisa.
Congratulations to PSY and SUGA!
Featured Image Daniella Sison
