J.Y. Park and Sunmi - When We Disco

I. Introduction

When We Disco is a song recorded by J.Y. Park and Sunmi.
Written and composed by Park, it was released as a digital single on August 12, 2020 by JYP Entertainment.

The song was featured at "J.Y. Park Best" album, with a Japanese version as bonus track.

II. Background and Release

At a restaurant, after hearing a song that she used to listen to in New York with J.Y. Park when Wonder Girls were touring the United States with him, Sunmi sent a recording of the song to her former boss to reminisce about the past. J. Y. Park answered her message by sending her a demo of his song, asking her "if she missed the days [they] worked together" and suggesting a collaboration.

At this point, he had almost completed writing the lyrics.

I asked if it was a duet, he texted me saying yes with a smiley face. I asked him if he was thinking of anyone else for the song, and he responded, "No, there’s no one else but you." Sunmi said.

On July 24, 2020, it was reported that J. Y. Park would release a new song in August and that all recordings had been completed.

On August 3, a teaser poster announcing Park and Sunmi's collaboration scheduled to be released on August 12 was posted on JYP Entertainment's twitter account and retweeted by both singers.

On August 6, J. Y. Park shared a teaser for the music video on his Instagram account.

A second teaser was released on YouTube the following day.

On August 10, both singers shared the online cover image for the song.

The single was released on August 12 with its music video inspired by the American films Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Pulp Fiction (1994) which J. Y. Park loves, as mentioned at the end of the video.

III. Music and Composition

J.Y. Park was inspired by Modern Talking's song ''Brother Louie'' which serves as the opening song for the South Korean talk show Radio Star and was stuck in his head at the time; it took him a few hours to complete the song.

J.Y Park said to have used "typical instruments of the European disco genre and recorded with the equipment imbued with 80s vibes to fully recreate nostalgic melody''.

[ref][/ref]IV. Tracklist

V. Spotify Playlist

VI. Videos

VII. Concept Pictures

VIII. Commercial Performance and Reception

After its release, the single quickly topped the real-time music charts becoming an instant success and well liked by korean general public.

Jason Lipshutz of Billboard said that the song "showcases both of [J. Y. Park and Sunmi's] vocal talents above sparkling synth lines."