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ARMY MAGAZINE

Chicken Noodle Soup, a Celebration of Culture

“A let it rain

And clear it out

A let it rain

And clear it out..”


Detective ARMYs once again prove their investigating capabilities by guessing correctly about J-Hope’s collaboration with Becky G. It all started when J-Hope was photographed at Incheon Airport, where he was reported leaving for the US without the rest of BTS members. ARMY then found out that J-Hope specifically was going to LA, and not long after that the singer Becky G uploaded a video of Korean snacks on her MV filming set. ARMY quickly linked these two events and were convinced the mega-stars would be filming a music video for their collaboration.


On Sept 25, both of them finally confirmed that they had been working on “a little something-something” as Becky G tweeted.

A quick reply followed from the official BTS Twitter account.



What really took the internet by storm, though, was when the BTS tweet was followed by CNS hashtag. It didn’t take long until ARMY also found out that CNS meant “Chicken Noodle Soup”, referring to a 2006 hit with the same title released by Webstar and Young B featuring the Voice of Harlem. If that were not enough, J-Hope and Becky G kept teasing fans the whole week by tweeting a literal chicken noodle soup (J-Hope tweeted in Spanish and Becky G tweeted in Korean, cute!) which dropped another hint that the song would be in at least 3 languages: Korean, English and Spanish.

On Sept 27, the song was finally released along with an MV which has been viewed over 12 million times in the first 12 hours​. (billboard article)


The track also topped the iTunes chart in at least 69 countries and, according to Nielsen Music, debuted with 9.7 million US streams and 11,000 downloads sold in the week (ending Oct 4). Other achievements include the song debuting at No. 81 on the Hot 100 (dated Oct 12) and at No. 1 on Billboard’s World Digital Song Sales Chart. The latter accomplishment making J-Hope the only BTS member with a solo No.1 on the chart and the second Korean solo artist to enter the Top 100 of the United Kingdom’s Official Singles Chart after PSY with “Gangnam Style” back in 2012. So, what makes this song special and so easy to love, not only by ARMY but people all around the world?


J-Hope opened up about the meaning of this song for him on Naver’s V Live, right after the song was released. This song is special for him because he, “first learned to dance with this song” and he really wanted to write a track that emphasizes his love for dancing. He said that he had been working on the song for a long time with another artist, and originally planned to put the song on “Hope World” as a b-side track. Unfortunately, things didn't work out so he ended up releasing “Hope World” just as it is and “kept feeling sorrow over it”. J-Hope stated before in an interview with Time that when working on a song, he usually gets his beats from what appeals to him, and the original “Chicken Noodle Soup” has this kind of appealing charm on him that he couldn’t stop thinking about releasing his own version of the song. So he talked to the staff at the agency to help him make it work and things finally started to progress as J-Hope sent Becky G the song and met her in person at the Billboard Music Awards.


Now, onto the song. “Chicken Noodle Soup” starts off with J-Hope’s original lines in Korean, in which he wrote a lot about his background. He mentioned his hometown, Gwangju, and his old underground dance team, NEURON, which he said has shaped him into who he is right now and how dancing has been his way of life. Then the verse shifts to Becky G’s lines where she raps in Spanish about her identity and claims that she has an “innocent face but freakyyy”. J-Hope also uses a modified and updated “Chicken Noodle Soup” original dance. As ARMY is used to, this also took over the internet by trending #CNSChallenge and #showyourmove which several famous artists, idols and dancers have completed. So far we have seen Tomorrow by Together—BTS’s label dongsaengs, Taeyang of SF9, Sienna Lalau—the choreographer for “Chicken Noodle Soup”, and even American NBA champions, The Golden State Warriors! This trilingual track embraces not only J-Hope and Becky G’s roots, but also pays respect to the culture of Harlem. ARMY also didn’t forget to thank Bianca Bonnie (who formerly went by Young B, the writer of the original “Chicken Noodle Soup”) for creating such a masterpiece and inspiring young J-Hope by trending #ThankYouBianca.


So, have you danced to Chicken Noodle Soup today?


ARMY Magazine does not own any of the photos/videos shared in our blog. No copyright infringement intended.

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