"I Need U" (stylized in all caps) is a song recorded by South Korean boy band BTS as the lead single from their third extended play, The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Part 1 (2015).
Two remix versions of the song were subsequently released on the band's first compilation album The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever in 2016.
The physical single was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) that same month for selling over 100,000 copies.
[1] "I Need U" is "an expressive dance track that soars with BTS’ emotive vocals as whistling synths, reverberating hi-hats, and R&B-inspired riffs build upon one another to create a sense of melodic despondency."
[5] "I Need U" was met with positive reviews from critics, several of whom noted BTS' partial auditory shift away from their classically hip-hop oriented singles and exploration of other genres "towards a more diverse, pop sound" as a turning point in the band's career that laid the groundwork for their future rise to international superstardom and propelled their "momentum further than ever before, with both local and international audiences taking note".
[2][6][7] Writing for Billboard, Tamar Herman felt the track was "less of a song and more of a revolution", calling it a "milestone of sonic development", and praised the tonal shift in the band's musicality towards a more "ambient electronic-pop sound" as a "representation of their stylistic maturing".
[2] Tassia Assis of Clash labelled it a "vital BTS track" that "thrives on a wistful atmosphere of electronic synths and emotional hooks" and "take[s] the listener on a journey that is both exhilarating and moving".
Park wrote that the "romantic chords in the intro" create a "fierce and tragic atmosphere" when they meet the "desperation-laden refrain" but, "despite the intense trap beat" and the "tense development in the rap and chord progression of the verse", it "leaves the listener with tender softness"—they called it "one of the defining tracks of BTS' career".
[10][11] In 2019, Billboard ranked "I Need U" as the 80th greatest K-pop song of the 2010s, writing that it "shot BTS to new heights in South Korea and rewrote the fortunes of today's biggest boy band".
[30] The music video's release was preceded by a teaser clip uploaded to Big Hit's official YouTube channel on April 23, 2015.
Speaking to Billboard, Michelle Cho, an assistant professor of East Asian Popular Cultures at the University of Toronto, said: "As an audio-visual experience, "I Need U" inaugurated the Bangtan Universe—the coming-of-age storyline that brilliantly integrates the Most Beautiful Moment in Life [album] trilogy and continues in music videos, "concept videos" (mini-films), and the multiform, open-ended narrative that's been serialized in album liner notes and Twitter and Instagram posts".
was the group's 30th to surpass 100 million views—doing so on March 16, 2021—and further extended their record among Korean singers as the act with the most music videos exceeding that many views.
[46] However, the group went on to successfully promote across multiple channels on various South Korean television music programs, including on KBS, MBC, SBS, and Arirang TV.
To commemorate the release of the Japanese single and generate further interest, a special pop-up shop in collaboration with Shibuya Marui was announced on November 18, 2015.