8 Letters is the highly anticipated debut album from five-member boy band Why Don’t We. It features two previously released singles, “Talk” and “Hooked”, and the title single “8 Letters” released along with the announcement of the album’s release on the 8th of August.
As fans had originally theorized before the album’s release, the name 8 Letters contains a double meaning. Member Corbyn Besson explained this in an interview with Apple Music, released a day after the album:
The first meaning is obviously, the eight letters meaning “I love you” so it’s kinda like a message to our fans, you know, we love you. But also, it’s almost like the album is eight separate letters, almost like eight separate love songs.
On 14 January 2018, Why Don’t We announced the making of a new album via an Instagram post.
Two weeks before the official announcement of the album’s release, the band made another Instagram post with the caption containing 8 “x"s, which fans initially interpreted as representing the 8 weeks left until September 27, the band’s 2-year anniversary and the speculated release date of the album.
Just 24 hours before the official announcement of the album’s release, the band teased the album one last time across all their socials.
It has been theorized by fans that the release date, 8/31, also has a double meaning. It could refer to the 8-letter phrase “I love you” which the title track is based on, which contains 3 words and has 1 meaning. At the same time, it could also refer to the album itself: 8 tracks, 3 singles, and 1 album.
Less than an hour after the album dropped it had topped the American and Canadian iTunes Chart. It also peaked at #3 in the UK iTunes Chart.
In it’s first week, the album debuted at #9 on the Billboard 200 and went on to spend four weeks on the chart.
Just a few hours after the announcement of the song “Hooked”, a picture of the words “Hooked”, “Trust Fund”, “Smooth Charm” and “Rare Find” having been stitched on the band members' jeans was widely shared across social media:
As such, many fans thought that “Smooth Charm” and “Rare Find” would also be songs on the album, and the situation was exacerbated by the creation of a Genius shell page for “Smooth Charm”.
However, it was revealed only in the band’s Instagram live video a few days after the announcement of 8 Letters that the two song titles were stitched on their jeans only “just for fun”.