A Greeting From Home Is the Title

In three lines

• LISA's 'SaWaDiKa' was released worldwide at 9am on September 4.
• The title is a Thai greeting. The music video was shot in her hometown, Bangkok.
• It is the pre-release single from the EP 'PRESS PLAY', due October 23.

What we know

Item	Detail
Artist	LISA
Song	'SaWaDiKa'
Release	September 4, 9am (worldwide, simultaneous)
Position	Pre-release single from the EP 'PRESS PLAY' (October 23)
Music video	Directed by Bang Jae-yeop · shot in Bangkok
Korean announcement	Sony Music Entertainment Korea

On making a greeting the title

'Sawadika' is Thai for hello. The song's title is a single word of greeting.

A greeting has no content. It is what you hand over before you say anything. Making it the title means this song declares where it comes from before it says anything else.

The video runs the same way. Bang Jae-yeop shot it in LISA's hometown of Bangkok, and muay Thai gloves, tuk-tuks and the old shopfronts around Hua Lamphong station come into frame. The title says hello and the screen shows the place.

The song's first line is a greeting too. It opens with "Hello Sawadika".

The numbers after two days

The music video reached 70.8 million views in its first 24 hours — the most in 24 hours for any video released this year.

It passed 100 million this afternoon. A little over two days after release.

JISOO's 'CLICK' came out the same day. Two members of one group released solo songs in a single day; that story was told in an earlier article, so here it gets one line.

What lies ahead

This song is the pre-release single from the EP 'PRESS PLAY', out October 23. The song arrives seven weeks before the album.

In November comes the residency 'VIVA LA LISA' at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas — the 13th, 14th, 27th and 28th, four nights. Her label and the venue said it is the first solo residency by a K-pop artist at that venue, and that every seat sold within ten minutes of going on sale.

Sue Kim's documentary 'Always Lalisa' screens first at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11 and reaches cinemas on October 12.

What to check today

Listen to the song once first. How a single word of greeting is used in the chorus is the first thing to check.

Then watch the video. Confirm with your eyes the order in which the title greets and the screen shows where she is from.

Last, remember October 23. Where this song sits inside the album is something only that day will tell you.

That's the last of the numbers. Now, the music.