Square Up (EP)
Square Up is the first Korean extended play by South Korean girl group Blackpink. It was released on June 15, 2018 by YG Entertainment. It is available in two versions and contains four tracks, with "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du" released as the lead single. Upon its release, Square Up debuted at the top spot of the Gaon Albums Chart and went on to sell almost 179,000 copies on its first fifteen days of release in South Korea. The EP also debuted at number 40 on the US Billboard 200, becoming Blackpink's second highest selling album in a Western market as well as the second highest-charting to date by an all-female K-pop group.
Background and release
On April 24, 2018, YG Entertainment founder Yang Hyun-suk raised expectations of the group's comeback via SNS stating that by the end of this year Blackpink will return with new music soon. And on May 17, he revealed the month of June for the release while answering fan asked questions on SNS. An official news report revealed that the mini album would be released on June 15.On June 1, the album's moving poster was unveiled, followed by the full track list on June 5 and an individual moving poster of the members, teasing audio of "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du" and "Forever Young". Subsequently, from June 12 to June 14, the album's teaser posters were released.
On June 14, a teaser of the music video for "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du" was released on both Blackpink's official YouTube channel and the group's official V Live channel. On June 15, the mini album was released, along with the music video for "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du".
Promotion
On the afternoon of June 15, Blackpink held a press conference for the release of "Square Up" at M-CUBE, Sinsa-dong, Seoul. On the same day, one hour prior to the mini album's release a countdown special live was broadcast on Naver's V LIVE broadcasting site featuring Blackpink discussing the new music. It garnered over 850,000 viewers. On June 16, "Blackpink Area", a Square Up concept pop-up store was made public to the fans, at the same location where Blackpink House was filmed, for 9 days. On June 23, the group appeared as guests on JTBC's Idol Room to promote the EP, making their debut on the show.Blackpink held their comeback stage on MBC's Show! Music Core on June 16 and on SBS's Inkigayo on June 17 featuring performances of both the lead single "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du" and the second single "Forever Young", and further continued promoting on various music programs in Korea. On July 14, the group finished promotions for "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du" and started promoting "Forever Young" as the second single from the EP and wrapped up their seven week long promotion on August 5 after performing on Inkigayo.
On August 17, it was announced that similar to "Blackpink Area", another pop-up store at BOK Gallery, Takeshita Street in Harajuku, Japan will be made public from August 22-26.
Commercial performance
The mini album debuted on the top spot of Japan's Oricon Weekly Digital Albums chart with 3,915 downloads. The lead single "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du" debuted as the highest-charting Hot 100 hit ever by an all-female K-pop act, opening at number 55 with 12.4 million US streams and 7,000 downloads sold in the tracking week ending June 21, 2018, according to Nielsen Music, also entering on the US Streaming Songs tally at number 39, where Blackpink became the first K-pop girl group to chart a title. The single also sat atop Billboard World Digital Songs, making it the group's fourth number one song on the chart. Square Up also brought the group their first entry on the US Billboard 200, debuting at number 40 with 14,000 album-equivalent units. The mini album also topped the Billboard World Albums chart.In South Korea, the mini album debuted at number one on Gaon Albums Chart. While “Ddu-Du Ddu-Du” debuted at number 3 on the Gaon Digital Chart and at number one on the Gaon Download Chart on the chart issue dated June 10–16, 2018 with 31,072,049 digital points. In its second week, "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du" peaked at number one on Digital, Download, Streaming, and Mobile Charts on Gaon with 85,411,467 digital points.
As of May 23, 2019, the songs from the EP has been streamed over 220,000,000 times in America, equivalent to 150,000 album-equivalent units. The total worldwide sales for the EP, both pure sales and album-equivalent units combined, is estimated to be almost 620,000.
Billboard listed Square Up as the twentieth best K-pop album of 2018, describing it as "a testament to their dedication to rambunctious, hip-hop infused dance music" that " confidence, sass and an overpowering sense of chic." Refinery29 placed Square Up at number 8 at their best K-pop albums of 2018, saying that it "shimmers with signature Blackpink cheekiness and effortless swagger, momentarily satiating the fans who are waiting for more."
Track listing
Accolades
| Critic/Publication | List | Rank | Ref. |
| Billboard | The 20 Best K-Pop Albums of 2018: Critics' Picks | 20 |