Korean boy band BTS released their first new music of 2018 today, dropping their third Japanese album Face Yourself.
Featuring 12 tracks, the album features both new and old music from the record-breaking act. Along with Japanese versions of older tracks already released in Korean and Japanese, including “Blood, Sweat & Tears,” “DNA” and “Mic Drop,” Face Yourself contains four new tracks: "Intro: Ringwanderung," "Don't Leave Me," "Let Go" and "Outro: Crack.”
Following the 'X Yourself' theme of last year's Love Yourself: Her, Face Yourself begins off with an homage to that album: “Ringwanderung” is a house remix of the songs originally released on Her, which recently marked its 25th week on the Billboard 200 chart, while “Crack” end things off with an ambient, old-school-inspired hip-hop melody. Meanwhile, the other two new full-length tracks present sentimentality in the form of the sleek orchestral EDM of “Don’t Leave Me” and the romantic electropop & alt R&B ballad “Let Go.”
Along with being released as a physical album, Face Yourself was released simultaneously internationally digitally, a rarity for music coming from the restricted Japanese music market. It's now available stateside through Spotify, iTunes and Apple Music, and Google Play.
South Korean boy band BTS (Bangtan Boys or "bulletproof boy scouts" in Korean) blend dance-oriented K-pop with hip-hop influences. The septet's lineup includes Rap Monster (Kim Namjoon), team leader and rapper; Jin (Kim Seokjin), singer; Suga (Min Yoongi), rapper; J-Hope (Jung Hoseok), rapper and choreographer; Jimin Park, singer and choreographer; V (Kim Taehyung), singer; and Jungkook Jeon, singer, rapper, and choreographer. The group members also produce, compose, and write their lyrics themselves. Combining love ballads and rapping with topical lyrics, BTS connected with similarly aged fans and set themselves apart from the K-pop industrial machine. Formed by producer Bang Si Hyuk, BTS debuted in 2013 with the first installment of their "School Trilogy" series, 2 Cool 4 Skool. A few months later, they released part two of the saga, the EP O!RUL8,2? The group's final installment, Skool Luv Affair, was released around Valentine's Day in 2014. Later that year, BTS released their full-length debut album, Dark & Wild, featuring the single "Danger." As their fan base grew and international tours sold out, they released The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Pt. 1 in April 2015 and the follow-up, Pt. 2, some months later in November. They embarked on a massive world tour as The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Pt. 2 topped a record-setting six international music charts, including Billboard's World Albums chart. After four weeks, they set a record as the first K-pop act to achieve such a feat.
The group continued to break records with the release of its sophomore LP, Wings. Released in late 2016, Wings not only became the first BTS effort to debut atop both the Korean album and song charts, but BTS also became just the third K-pop act to land in the Canadian Hot 100. However, the album's impact was most apparent on the Billboard charts. The best showing to date for a K-pop act, Wings debuted in the Top 30 of the Billboard 200 -- both their highest U.S. chart debut and most sales to date -- becoming the first K-pop artists with three albums to enter the main album charts (Wings became their sixth Top Three hit -- and second number one -- on the World Albums chart). They also became the first K-pop act to spend four weeks on the charts. Wings continued the artistic and creative growth for the septet, featuring seven solo tracks that showcased the personality of each member. Four months later, BTS re-released the album as You Never Walk Alone. The updated version added four new songs to the original Wings track listing, including the singles "Spring Day" and "Not Today." With their presence in the United States continuing to expand, the group went on to win the Top Social Artist Award at the 2017 Billboard Music Awards. Their fifth EP, Love Yourself 'Her', arrived that September and became the first K-pop album to debut in the Billboard 200's Top Ten, entering the chart at number seven. ~ Matt Collar & Neil Z. Yeung
