BTS I NEED U is a song from The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Pt. 1 album. It was the first of BTS’ career to garner them a win on a South Korean television music show.
The song revolves around a tumultuous relationship where they feel trapped and ruined, yet unable to break free. The lyrics convey their desperation for the girl to end the relationship on their behalf. The music video draws inspiration from the book “The Owl Service,” portraying an endless cycle of life and death.
“I Need U is a special song to me, and I also wrote the intro to HYYH p1. I don’t really know why but I considered that song to be the end, the last light. You may think the reason was because we weren’t doing well before then but that wasn’t actually true, if you looked at the numbers, it wasn’t as bad as we thought it was, we just had really high expectations. That’s what we thought at the time, that this could be the last. That’s why it was like we went all-in and gave it everything we had. I can still remember the emotions I felt back then clearly. The first show we performed I Need U on was Mcountdwn and I still remember what outfits we wore. We recorded even without an audience. We had shorts and I was the only one in a navy outfit. I felt an emotion I never felt before on that stage. I wondered, why does it feel so sad singing this song? We gave it our everything thinking it could be the last so it was a big turning point of our lives”
BTS SUGA – Min Yoongi, 2020
- “I Need U” reached one million views in 16 hours—the fastest record for any BTS music video at the time.
- BTS received the Best Male Dance award for “I Need U” at the 2015 Melon Music Awards.
- By September 2016, the song had sold over 800,000 digital downloads domestically.
- In December 2019, its music video became BTS’ 14th to surpass 200 million views.
- The physical single was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) that same month for selling over 100,000 copies.
- The digital single received silver certification in June 2021 for surpassing 30 million streams.
- Billboard ranked “I Need U” as the 80th greatest K-pop song on its list of the 100 Greatest K-pop Songs of the 2010s. They wrote “INU shot BTS to new heights in South Korea and rewrote the fortunes of today’s biggest boy band”.
Immediately after release, “I Need U” became the top trending search term on South-Korean portal sites and ranked number one on various real-time music charts, and reached the top 10 on Melon, Bugs, and Naver Music’s real-time music charts.
It debuted at number five on Gaon’s Weekly Digital and Weekly Download charts, with 93,790 digital units sold in its first week. The single went on to accumulate over 850,000 digital downloads.
In the US, “I Need U” debuted at number 4 on the Billboard World Digital Songs Chart, ranking the highest of the six tracks from its parent EP that entered the chart. As of September 2019, the song has sold 98,000 downloads.
reference: Billboard
Official Music Videos
Original title: I Need U
Released: April 29, 2015
Genre: Dance-Pop, K-Pop
Length: 3:30
Language: Korean
Label: Big Hit Entertainment
Song Writers: Pdogg, “Hitman” Bang, RM, Suga, J-Hope, Brother Su
Producer: Pdogg
Credits adapted from Tidal
The Japanese version of the song “I Need U” appears in BTS’s first Japanese studio album Youth.
Original title: I Need U (Japanese Ver.)
Released: June 17, 2015
Length: 3:33
Language: Japanese
Label: Pony Canyon
Song Writers: Pdogg, Hitman Bang, RM, Suga, J-Hope, Brother Su
Producer: Pdogg
Credits adapted from Tidal
Official Music Video(s)
In Japan, the single sold over 43,000 copies on its opening day and debuted at number one on the Oricon Daily Singles Chart. By the end of its first tracking week, it sold an accumulated 95,668 copies for the period dated December 7–13, and entered the weekly chart at number three.
Other Performances:
In addition to comeback promotions on various television music programs in South Korea, BTS performed “I Need U” at several of the largest K-pop concerts and festivals in South Korea, including the 2015 Dream Concert, KBS1’s 열린음악회 (Open Concert), Asia Song Festival in Busan, and the 2015 Super Seoul Concert in Sky Dome. A special remixed version of the song was presented for the first and only time at the 2015 Melon Music Awards on November 7. The song was also performed at major overseas events such as the 17th Korea & China Song Festival in Beijing, China, and the 2015 Kpop Concert Live In Yangon Myanmar held to mark the 40th anniversary of Korea-Myanmar diplomatic relations. “I Need U” was subsequently included as a permanent part of every BTS tour setlist since its release. In 2020, BTS performed “I Need U” as part of their three-song set for the 10th annual KBS Song Festival held on December 18. Presented as a special throwback tribute to their first music show number-one, the band dressed in black and white outfits reminiscent of the ones they wore for their performance of the song on Music Bank in May 2015 (when they won their fourth first-place trophy).
Episode 방탄소년단 ‘I NEED U’ MV shooting
방탄소년단 ‘I NEED U’ Dance Practice
First Release! BTS Powerful Charisma! M COUNTDOWN EP.422
Comeback Stage BTS 방탄소년단 – I NEED U, Show Music core 20150502
BTS (방탄소년단) Music Bank HOT Stage 2015.05.15
HOT BTS 방탄소년단 – 아이 니드 유, Show Music core 20151226
2015 MBC Music festival 2015 MBC 가요대제전 – BTS 20151231
BTS Exclusive
BANGTAN BOMB ‘I NEED U’ Stage @COMEBACK SHOW ‘BTS DNA’ – BTS (방탄소년단)
BANGTAN BOMB Recording I NEED U chorus in BTS choir