I Am (stylized in sentence case) is the debut extended play by South Korean girl group (G)I-dle. The album was released digitally on May 2, 2018, and physically on May 3, 2018,[1] by Cube Entertainment. The album contains six tracks including the lead single, "Latata", which was composed by Big Sancho and member Soyeon, and is a blend of several different genres.
On April 5, 2018, Cube Entertainment revealed the name of their upcoming girl group, (G)I-dle.[2] The agency revealed the group's lineup by pairs of members: Miyeon and Yuqi, Shuhua and Soojin, Soyeon and Minnie on April 8, April 10 and April 12, respectively.[3]
On April 18, Cube Entertainment announced via SNS that the group would debut with the mini-album I Am on May 2 of the same year.[4] The following day, a debut schedule was released.[5]
Concept images featuring each of the members were released from April 23–24.[6][7]
On April 26, the group unveiled the track listing of the EP, with "Latata" revealed as the lead single.[8]
On April 29, an audio snippet video was released, showcasing a short teaser of every song on the album.[9] On April 30, six individual music video teasers for "Latata" were released, as well as a group teaser.[10][11]
Soyeon described the album I Am as "an album containing six different personalities." She continued, “I wrote the lyrics for the title song "Latata" while thinking about each member."[12]
(G)I-dle held a live showcase at the Blue Square iMarket Hall on May 2, where they performed "Latata" along with "Maze".[13]
The group started promoting their title track "Latata" on May 3. They first performed the lead single on Mnet's M Countdown, followed by performances on KBS' Music Bank, MBC's Show! Music Core and SBS's Inkigayo.[14] They received their first-ever music show win since debut on May 22, 2018 on SBS MTV's The Show.[15] Two days later, on May 24, the group received their second music show win for "Latata" on M Countdown.[16]
I Am debuted and peaked at number thirteen on the Gaon Album Chart issued on April 29, 2018.[17] The album also debuted at number seven and has since peaked at number five on Billboard's World Albums issued on May 9, 2018.[18] The EP has sold 1,000 copies in America as of August 2018.[19]
The album placed at number 13 on Gaon for the month of May 2018, with 15,288 copies sold.[20] The album has sold over 21,916 physical copies as of July 2018.[21]
I Am ranks No. 11 on Billboard's Best K-pop Album of 2018.[22]
In April, 2020, I Am achieved 34,000 album-equivalent units, making it (G)I-dle's biggest-selling album in the United States.[23]
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