Lay 02 Sheep

Lay 02 Sheep is the first studio album by Chinese singer Lay Zhang. It was released on October 7, 2017 in South Korea and China by SM Entertainment. The album features ten tracks in total, including the two singles "I Need U" and "Sheep".

Lay 02 Sheep
Studio album by Lay Zhang
Released	October 7, 2017
Recorded	2017
Studio	Zhang Yixing Studio, China
Genre	Mandopop Hip hop R&B EDM
Length	32:09
Language	Mandarin Chinese
Label	SM Entertainment
Producer	Lay Zhang
Lay Zhang chronology
Lose Control (2016) Lay 02 Sheep (2017) Winter Special Gift (2017)
Singles from Sheep
"I Need U" Released: September 25, 2017 "Sheep" Released: October 7, 2017

Background and release

On September 21, Lay and S.M. Entertainment released teaser images for the album on different social media platforms. On September 25, the single "I Need U" was released as Lay's gift to his grandparents' on their 50th wedding anniversary.[1]

On September 27, it was confirmed by S.M. Entertainment that Lay will be releasing his second album Lay 02 Sheep on October 7, 2017.[2] Lay was a producer and personally executed the composition, arrangement and lyrics writing of all the songs as well as the directing of the music videos. On October 6, 2017 S.M. Entertainment released a teaser for the music video of "Sheep".[3] Lay 02 Sheep was officially released on October 7 (Lay's birthday) through online stores.

Singles

The music video for "I Need U" ranked #1 on Billboard's China Weibo Live Chart. In 12 hours, it hit more than 26 million views online, consecutively being the major 3 music chart's winner.[4][5] "I Need U" charted in 17 countries and ranked #1 on iTunes in 12 countries, including the United States, Canada, Malaysia, Portugal, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, Hong Kong, China and more.[6][7]

Promotion

On October 7, Lay performed a flash mob of "Sheep" in Sanlitun, Beijing.[8] The album premiere, "2017 Zhang Yixing Showcase" was held at the Beijing National Aquatics Center on October 12.[2] On October 21, Lay kickstarted the first stop of his "Lay 02 Sheep Signing Promo" at Hongqiao Art Centre, Shanghai.[9] The second wing of his "Lay 02 Sheep Signing Promo" continued at Shenzhen on October 29.[10] On November 5, the "Lay 02 Sheep Signing Promo" was wrapped up at Changsha, Hunan.[11] He subsequently performed the song at the reality talent show, The Next Season 2 on Dragon TV which he guested.[12] On December 31, Lay performed "Sheep", "Boss" and "Mask" on Hunan TV's Year End Concert.[13]

Commercial performance

On its first day of digital sales, the album broke 5 records on QQ Music: Gold (¥250,000 in 30 seconds), Double Gold (¥500,000 in 45 seconds), Triple Gold (¥750,000 in 52 seconds), Platinum (¥1 million in 1 minute 10 seconds) and Diamond Record (¥5 million in 9 hours 11 minutes).[14] The album later broke a Double Diamond (¥70 million) record on May 3, 2018.[15]

The album entered iTunes Worldwide at #9, being the first Chinese singer to enter iTunes Worldwide Top 10 Albums list.[16] Within 2 hours, the album ranked #1 on iTunes in 10 countries including Japan, Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines and more.[17] Billboard China ranked the lead song, "Sheep" at #2 on the Top 10 Chinese Songs of 2017.[18]

Track listing

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Arrangement	Length
1.	"Sheep (羊)"	Dom.T Lay	Lay Devine Channel JDODD	Lay Devine Channel	3:25
2.	"I Need U (需要你)"	Zhou Wei Jie Lay	Lay Devine Channel	Lay Devine Channel	3:39
3.	"Peach (桃)"	Devine Channel J Skillz JDODD	Lay Devine Channel J Skillz JDODD	Lay Devine Channel	3:26
4.	"Hand (匕首)"	Liu Yuan Lay	Lay Julien Maurice Moore MZMC	Lay	3:23
5.	"Boss (老大)"	Maxx Song Jenesis	Lay Command Freaks	Lay Command Freaks	2:59
6.	"Shake (摇摆)"	Dom.T Lay	Lay Devine Channel	Lay	3:07
7.	"Too Much (太多)"	Dom.T Lay	Lay Devine Channel	Lay	3:02
8.	"Mask (面罩)"	Dom.T Lay	Lay Julien Maurice Moore MZMC Andrew Bazzi	Lay	3:06
9.	"Director (导演)"	Lay	Lay Devine Channel TONY Casper	Devine Channel Lay	3:25
10.	"X Back (兴迷)"	Wang YaJun Lay	The Stereotypes Lay	The Stereotypes Lay	3:22
Total length:					32:59

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2017)	Peak position
Chinese Albums (YinYueTai)[19]	1
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[20]	87
South Korean Albums (Gaon)[21]	10
US World Albums (Billboard)[22]	4

Year-end charts

Chart (2017)	Peak position
Chinese Albums (YinYueTai)[19]	1
Chinese Albums (Billboard)[18]	2

Sales

Region	Sales
China (DL)[23]	811,103+
Japan (Oricon)[24]	757+
South Korea (Gaon)[25]	21,214+

Release history

Region	Date	Format	Label	Producer
South Korea	October 7, 2017	Digital download, streaming audio	S.M. Entertainment	Lay Zhang
China
Various
South Korea	October 18, 2017	CD, Digital download, streaming audio
China

Awards

Year	Award	Category	Result
2017	Tencent Video Star Awards	Album of the Year	Won
2018	25th ERC Chinese Top Ten Awards		Won
		Producer of the Year	Won

References

1. "EXO's Lay proposes in Paris for his new "I NEED U" music video". Scout Magazine. 2017-09-25. Archived from the original on 2017-09-27. Retrieved 2017-09-27.
2. "SMTOWN: LAY's 2nd Album To Be Released Oct 7". Facebook. Retrieved 2017-09-27.
3. SMTOWN (2017-10-06), LAY 레이 'SHEEP (羊)' MV Teaser, retrieved 2017-10-06
4. "Yixing Studio Weibo: 'I NEED U' 26M Views Online, 1.2 Youtube". Weibo (in Chinese). Retrieved 2017-09-27.
5. "EXO's Lay Joins 1 Million Views Club In Less Than 24 Hours Since "What U Need" Release | Soompi". www.soompi.com. Retrieved 2017-10-07.
6. "Yixing Studio Weibo: MV "I NEED U" iTunes". Weibo (in Chinese). Retrieved 2017-09-27.
7. "EXO's Lay Sees International Success On Charts With "What U Need" | Soompi". www.soompi.com. Retrieved 2017-10-07.
8. "Lay surprises crowd with street performance of 'Sheep'". SBS PopAsia. Retrieved 2017-10-12.
9. "张艺兴《SHEEP》签售会将袭 华为nova 2系列顶级HiFi助阵_驱动中国". mobile.qudong.com. Retrieved 2017-10-25.
10. "张艺兴深圳签售教粉丝跳《SHEEP》". 新浪娱乐 (Sina Entertainment) (in Chinese). 2017-10-30.
11. "[张艺兴][新闻]171031 《SHEEP》签售会长沙站主题确定" (in Chinese). Oct 31, 2017.
12. "Zhang Yixing performed on The Next 2《天籁之战2》". Harbin Daily (in Chinese). 2017-12-08.
13. "张艺兴双台跨年点燃舞台 跨屏助力收视率". Phoenix TV (in Chinese). January 2, 2018.
14. "QQ Music Weibo: "Lay 02 Sheep" Breaking Records". Weibo (in Chinese). Retrieved 2017-10-07.
15. "张艺兴专辑《SHEEP》破双白金 关注环境保护". China News (in Chinese). Retrieved 2018-05-04.
16. "SHEEP 跻身世界专辑Top 10". Weibo (in Chinese). 张艺兴工作室 (Zhang Yixing Studio). 2017-10-09.
17. "张艺兴《SHEEP》上线爆屏 破最快钻石唱片记录". Phoenix TV (in Chinese). 2017-10-09.
18. "BILLBOARD RADIO CHINA公佈2017年度華語十大金曲". Billboard (in Chinese). December 11, 2017.
19. "YinYueTai Top 10 Album Charts of 2017". YinYueTai (in Chinese). Retrieved January 2, 2018.
20. "2017 Oricon Weekly Chart" (in Korean). October 24, 2017. Retrieved 2017-10-25.
21. "2017 Gaon Album Chart - Week 42". Gaon Music Chart (in Korean). October 15–21, 2017. Retrieved 2017-10-26.
22. "Billboard's World Albums". Billboard. October 28, 2017. Retrieved 2017-10-17.
23. Lay 02 Sheep sales in China's three major music platforms:
    • "QQ "Sheep" sales Page". QQ Music (in Chinese). Retrieved May 14, 2018.
    • "KuGou "Sheep" sales Page". KuGou. Retrieved May 14, 2018.
    • "Kuwo "Sheep" sales Page". Kuwo. Retrieved May 14, 2018.
24. "2017 Oricon Weekly Chart (See #87)" (in Korean). October 24, 2017. Retrieved 2017-10-25.
25. "Gaon Album Chart - October, 2017". Gaon Music Chart (in Korean). Retrieved 2017-11-09.

External links

• "I Need U" music video on YouTube
• "Sheep" music video on YouTube