"Four Seasons" (Korean: 사계; RR: sagye) is a song recorded by South Korean singer Taeyeon. Written by Kenzie, who also co-produced the song with Afshin Salmani, Andrew Allen and Josh Cumbee, the reggae-tinged ballad was released as a digital single on March 24, 2019, by SM Entertainment and Dreamus, with an accompanying music video released two days prior to its digital release. Initially a standalone single, both the song and the B-side track "Blue" were later included as bonus tracks in the Korean release of Taeyeon's second album Purpose, released on October 28.
Upon its release, "Four Seasons" received positive reviews from music critics for solidifying the singer's growth as a "full-time" vocalist. The song achieved great commercial success, earning Taeyeon her fifth chart-topper as a lead artist (sixth overall) on the Gaon Digital Chart for two weeks and to date, her longest charting performance on the chart. It eventually became her first single to receive a Platinum certificate by KMCA for achieving over 100,000,000 streaming units in November 2019, only six months after its release. The singer eventually promoted both songs during her concert "’s…one" on March 28. It won the Digital Daesang award at the 29th Seoul Music Awards in January 2020.
Background and release
On March 17, 2019, Taeyeon was announced to be releasing a digital single titled "Four Seasons" with its b-side track "Blue". The song is described as a ballad with an instrumental structure that is centered on acoustic guitars. It compares the ups and downs of love to the four seasons. While the B-side track "Blue" is a ballad song with Taeyeon's affectionate vocals and lyrics that capture the double meaning of 'blue' (푸른) and 'gloomy/feeling blue' (우울한) and the longing for an old lover and feelings after a break-up. The music video for "Four Seasons" was released on March 22, two day before the single album. Taeyeon later filmed a live performance of the song from her concert "’s…one", which was released on March 28.
Chart performance
"Four Seasons" debuted at number one on South Korea's Gaon Digital Chart for the chart issue dated March 24–30, 2019. It was the best-performing single of March 2019 on the Gaon Digital Chart. It claimed the number one spot on the Billboard K-Pop Hot 100 for two consecutive weeks and reached number 6 on the Billboard World Digital Songs chart.
Accolades
Melon Popularity Award
| Award
|
Date (2019)
|
Ref.
|
| Weekly Popularity Award
|
April 1
|
|
| April 8
|
Track listing
Digital download
| Title |
Lyrics |
Music |
Arrangement |
| 1. |
"Blue" |
- Hyun Ji Won
- JQ (makeumine works)
|
- Alex Mood
- Mariella "Bambi" Garcia Balandina
- Oskar Salhin
- Mimmi Gyltman
- Rassmus Björnson
|
- Mariella "Bambi" Garcia Balandina
- Rassmus Björnson
|
3:32 |
| 2. |
"Four Seasons" |
Kenzie |
|
|
3:08 |
| Total length: |
6:40 |
Charts
Weekly charts
Monthly charts
|
Year-end charts
|
Certifications and sales
Personnel
Credits are adapted from the CD booklet of Purpose.
- Original title: "Did You Ever Even Love Me At All"
- Korean lyrics by Kenzie
- Composed by Josh Cumbee (Nonfiction), Afshin Salmani (Nonfiction), Andrew Allen, Kenzie
-
Arranged by Kenzie, Nonfiction (Josh Cumbee & Afshin Salmani (AFSHeeN))
- Vocal directed by Kenzie
- Background vocals by Taeyeon
- Bass Performed by Choi Hoon (78)
- Guitar Performed by Hong Jun-ho
- Strings Arranged & Conducted by Ina Il
- Strings Performed by ON the string
-
Recorded by Lee Min-gyu at SM Big Shot Studio/ Jeong Ki-hong (Assistant. Choi Da-in) at Seoul Studio/ Lee Chang-sun at prelude Studio
- Digital Editing by Jang Woo-young at doobdoob Studio
- Engineered for Mix by Lee Min-gyu at SM Big Shot Studio
-
Mixed by Gu Jong-pil (BeatBurger) at SM Yellow Tail Studio
-
Mastered by Kwon Nam-woo at 821 Sound Mastering
Release history
See also
