J-Hope expressed in a V Live stream that the original "Chicken Noodle Soup" by Webstar and Young B was meaningful to him because he often listened to it when he first began learning to dance. J-Hope wanted his version of "Chicken Noodle Soup" to be featured on his debut mixtape Hope World as the track represented his passion for dance. He also wanted the track to feature another artist; but as a collaboration failed to occur, the track was not released in 2018.[3]
Becky G and J-Hope contributed to writing the trilingual lyrics, which center around one's identity and paying respect to their roots.[5]
Release
Big Hit Entertainment released the song on September 27, 2019, during BTS' hiatus period. It was released for free on multiple platforms, and a download link of the mp3 file was provided on Big Hit's Twitter account.[6]
Following the release of the music video, both Young B. and DJ Webstar voiced their enthusiasm for the "Chicken Noodle Soup" remake separately on social media.[7]
J-Hope also issued an Internet dance challenge, encouraging his fans to try the choreography. He posted a video of himself doing the dance on BTS' official TikTok, and filmed fellow BTS groupmates Jungkook, Jimin and V dancing to the song on V Live.[8]
Commercial performance
"Chicken Noodle Soup" debuted at number 81 on the Billboard Hot 100, with 9.7 million streams and 11,000 downloads for the week ending October 4. J-Hope became the first member of BTS to chart on the Hot 100 as a solo artist outside of the group, the third Korean solo artist to rank on the chart (after Psy and CL), and the sixth Korean artist overall to do so. "Chicken Noodle Soup" also debuted at number one on the World Digital Song Sales chart and is his second song to do so after 2018's "Daydream".[9]
Music video
The music video was directed by Yongseok Choi of Lumpens, and co-produced by Nathan Scherrer. It was shot in Los Angeles and features over 50 dancers of different nationalities.[10]
The video incorporates dance moves from the original "Chicken Noodle Soup" dance, as well as new choreography that includes flapping elbows with bent legs to mimic a chicken. The video ends with an informal clip of the dance crew singing and dancing. This addition was requested by J-Hope with the intention of capturing the positive energy on the day of the film shoot.[3]
Promotion
After Becky G tweeted "#BeckyHasAnotherSecret", BTS tweeted at her saying "I have a secret too..." with the hashtag "#CNS" on September 26.[11]