IVE – LOVE DIVE: How a Self-Assured Newcomer Conquered the Fourth Generation of K-pop Girl Groups

*Editor's note: "One Track" is a series that examines landmark K-pop songs in depth. The twenty-first instalment focuses on "LOVE DIVE" by IVE, the song that ushered in the golden age of fourth-generation K-pop girl groups.*

On 16th December 2022, the Korea Music Content Association published the Circle Chart's annual digital rankings for the year, aggregating streaming, downloads, and background-music plays from 1st January to 10th December. Topping that chart was "LOVE DIVE" by IVE, a girl group that had not yet celebrated its first anniversary as a professional act. A début-year artist claiming the annual number-one spot is unusual in itself; that the same song was repeatedly named "Song of the Year" at major awards ceremonies made the achievement all the more striking.

Origins

"LOVE DIVE" was the title track of IVE's second single, released on 5th April 2022. IVE is a six-member girl group launched in December 2021 by Starship Entertainment, which had already introduced the group to the public with its début single "ELEVEN". "LOVE DIVE" arrived roughly four months later as the follow-up.

According to the English-language Wikipedia, the song was written by Sophia Brennan, Elle Campbell, and Nick Han, with Seo Ji-eum adapting the original English demo into Korean lyrics. The genre is described as "dark modern pop" — a contemporary sound with a brooding undertone. Thematically, the lyrics have been interpreted as depicting a new-era Cupid's grand plan to shine on stage; one critic noted the mythological echoes of Narcissus and Cupid.

Music and music video

Critical reception was broadly consistent. NME likened the song to a siren's call weaving through dark bass lines; Time described it as dreamy and ethereal. Several reviewers noted that it carried a more restrained atmosphere than the group's energetic début, "ELEVEN".

The music video was directed by House of Tim. In it, the members appear as sleek, modern-day Cupids inhabiting a lavish, otherworldly castle above the clouds. The video surpassed ten million views within ten hours of release and crossed fifty million within a week — a new personal record for the group. It reached 100 million views on YouTube on 15th June, reportedly 72 days after release. On TikTok, videos tagged #LOVEDIVE accumulated more than 200 million views in the first week alone.

Chart performance and records

On South Korean music-programme rankings, the song claimed first place on SBS MTV's *The Show* for two consecutive weeks from 19th April, and also topped *Show Champion* and *Music Bank*, amassing ten number-one wins across broadcasts from this single alone. On streaming platforms, it swept the daily charts of all major domestic services after its first number-one on Melon, and as of early September it had remained on Melon's chart for 152 consecutive days. Cumulative streams on Melon reached 112.1 million; on Spotify, the song crossed 100 million streams 103 days after release.

Its international performance was equally notable. According to Wikipedia, the song peaked at number 15 on the Billboard Global 200 and number 10 on the Billboard Global Excl. US chart. A Japanese-language version followed on 16th January 2023. First-week physical sales of the single reached 330,000 copies, and entertainment outlet StarNews reported that IVE had sold more than one million copies across just two singles within six months of débuting — the fastest pace ever recorded by a girl group.

Year-end accolades confirmed the song's dominance. "LOVE DIVE" won Best Song of the Year at the 2022 Melon Music Awards, Song of the Year at the 2022 MAMA Awards, and Song of the Year at the 2022 Asia Artist Awards. On the Circle Chart's annual tally, it claimed not only the overall digital number-one but also the streaming chart crown and the inaugural annual number-one on the newly established Global K-pop chart.

Significance

The word most often applied to "LOVE DIVE" — and to IVE as a whole — is "complete". StarNews characterised IVE not as a group selling a story of growth and self-discovery, but as one that arrived fully formed, projecting confidence from the very start. That ethos, it argued, is embedded in the group's very name: "IVE" conveys agency and assurance. The same analysis grouped "ELEVEN", "LOVE DIVE", and the subsequent "After LIKE" as a "narcissism trilogy" — three songs in different genres, all united by a theme of self-love.

Where aespa's "Supernova" — examined in a previous instalment of this series — drew its power from an elaborate fictional universe and the conceit of artificial intelligence, "LOVE DIVE" reached its audience through a single emotional attitude: self-love. In doing so, the two songs illustrated that fourth-generation girl groups were finding their way to the top by entirely different routes.

A note of caution is warranted, however. Much of the narrative around IVE's "completeness" has been shaped by coverage that blends the perspectives of the agency and its fanbase. It is worth asking, separately, how much of the song's success can be attributed to the power of its concept, and how much to fan-driven consumption and the viral mechanics of short-form video platforms.

In a word

A headlong dive into self-love made the biggest splash of the year.