Written by members G-Dragon and T.O.P, the song peaked at number one on the Gaon Digital Chart,[1] and become one of the best-performing singles of 2011 in their home country.
Following a two-year hiatus where members explored and experimented with different sounds, BigBang returned to South Korea with their 2011 Big Show concert,[2] showcasing songs from the then-unreleased EP.
[6] The track is built over "fist-pumping beats and applause", features "heavily autotuned vocals" and concludes "with sudden silence and then picking up again as if returning for an encore.
"[7] Billboard noted how "Tonight" was "more nuanced and sophisticated than many of [Big Bang's] previous club anthems," and hailed it "four-minute sonic journey" to one of the group's concerts.
[12] By the end of 2011, "Tonight" was the eighth best-performing single of the year in South Korea,[13] with over 2.3 million downloads sold.