Wings (BTS album)

Background

From September 4 to 13, 2016, Big Hit Entertainment released a series of short films for each member to promote the new comeback. Each film uses heavy imagery and quotes from the book, Demian, by Hermann Hesse. They are: Jungkook's "Begin", Jimin's "Lie", V's "Stigma", Suga's "First Love", Rap Monster's "Reflection", J-Hope's "Mama", and Jin's "Awake". On September 25, 'Wings': Boy Meets Evil was released as their comeback trailer. Later they released the concept photos for the new studio album. On October 5, they released the album's track list.

The group held a press conference for the release of their album on the 10th. Asked about their new concept and its meaning, leader Rap Monster explained, "The harder a temptation is to resist, the more you think about it and vacillate. That uncertainty is part of the process of growing. [Blood Sweat & Tears] is a song that shows how one thinks, chooses, and grows." Symbolism such as the "wings" were representations of growth, with Suga adding, "The song relays an optimistic determination to use our wings to go far, even if we are met with temptations in life."

During their V-live pre-show held on the 9th, the members discussed their own solo songs featured in the album, with Jungkook explaining that his solo track, "Begin", was about his journey to Seoul and meeting the BTS members. V revealed his song, "Stigma", describing it as "a song under the neo-soul genre". J-Hope described his song, "MAMA" as unforgettable, as it was about his childhood emotions for his mother. "Awake" was also Jin's first experience in co-composition. Rap Monster revealed that the 14th track, "Two! Three! (Still Wishing There Will Be Better Days)" was the first official fan song. In an additional V-live broadcast on October 20, 2016, Rap Monster discussed the album's songs in-depth. He complimented J-hope's dancing abilities for the trailer and Jimin's songwriting on "Lie", and shared that "First Love" reminded him how important the piano is for Suga.

The song "Am I Wrong" samples Keb' Mo's 1994 jazz/blues song "Am I Wrong" and the album credits Kevin Moore as co-writer and co-producer.

A re-packaged edition of the album, titled You Never Walk Alone, was released on February 13, 2017. This edition adds four new tracks which are "Spring Day", "Not Today", "A Supplementary Story : You Never Walk Alone" as well as an extended version of "Wings". The new version dominated the digital music market in South Korea. Lead track “Spring Day” shot straight to the top spot across eight online music streaming sites, including Melon, Mnet, Genie and Naver Music within an hour of its midnight release. MelOn's site was temporarily inaccessible and there was an error message when trying to access BTS' "Spring Day" due to so many people trying to download it. The song delivers a warm, comfort and hopeful message. It depicts personal experiences of the band members Rap Monster and Suga, about never losing hope while waiting to be reunited with an estranged friend. Spring Day is an alternative hip hop song with the essence of British rock and electronic music. The main melody was written by Rap Monster.

The group announced in November 2016 to be going on the 2017 BTS Live Trilogy Episode III: The Wings Tour in support of their album, having shows in South Korea, the Americas, and various Asian countries starting in February 2017.

Music videos

On October 6 of 2016, they released a teaser for their title track "Blood Sweat & Tears". At 12:00 KST, October 10, 2016, the official music video for "Blood Sweat & Tears" was released. The six minute video features Rap Monster reciting from a passage of Hermann Hesse’s Demian, which was an inspiration for the album's concept, and does not appear on the album version of the song. Billboard K-Town's Tamar Herman described the music video as "a haunting [one] that explores ideas of fate, reality, life and death, and falling from grace."

The MV was directed by Choi Yongseok and Ko Yoojeong of Lumpens. Additional notable players of production include Nam Hyunwoo of GDW as director of photography, Kim Gyeungseok of Sunny as gaffer, Lee Moonyoung of Myllab as art director, and Shin Yunkyun of DnD line for special effects. Choreography was created by Keone Madrid & Quick Style Crew and supervised by Son Sungdeuk. Within 24 hours of the music video's release, it reached 6.3 million views, setting a new record. Also on October 13, it was reported that "Blood, Sweat & Tears" had become the fastest K-pop music video by a group to reach 10 million views. According to reports, this was achieved in less than 42 hours - almost half the amount of time taken for their previous record "Fire", which took 72 hours.

On February 9, 2017, a music video teaser for "Spring Day" was released. The following day, February 10, a music video teaser for "Not Today" was released. At the usual 12:00 KST, February 13, 2017, the official music video for "Spring Day" was released. The video, directed by frequent BTS collaborator Lumpens (YongSeok Choi), reflects the album’s title and transmutes “Spring Day” from a love song into an ode dedicated to the dead. It begins with V stepping onto train tracks and facing an oncoming train, then shows a variety of contrasting bright and muted scenes featuring BTS' members as they spend time with one another. “Spring Day” ends with the septet walking together, but a subtle camera shot reveals that Jimin is the only person actually physically there.

At 12:32 AM KST of February 20, 2017, the official music video for "Not Today" was released on YouTube. In less than 24 hours, the music video was able to reach 11 million views, breaking the record for most views for a K-pop music video in 24 hours yet again. The previous record-holder of this was also BTS' "Spring Day" which was released just a week earlier.

Commercial performance

The sales for the album reached 500,000 copies on its first week of pre-orders. It became the highest charting K-pop album to land on the Billboard 200 with 16,000 copies sold, with 11,000 in traditional album sales. Furthermore, the album spent a second week on the Billboard 200, making BTS the first K-pop act to spend a second week on the chart with the same album. In the two weeks it sold 22,000 copies; of that sum, nearly 13,000 were in traditional album sales). In its third week, it moved another 1,000 copies, spending another week as the highest-selling K-pop album in America. They also became the third K-pop act to chart on the Canadian Hot 100, ranking at number 86, a new best for a K-pop group. BTS also topped Billboard's World Albums chart and World Digital Songs chart for the week of October 29. They also charted on YouTube Music Global Top 100 - 17th on the video chart, and 14th on the tracks chart. The album also managed to make the UK Albums Chart, at number 62, making history as the first Korean act to do so. The album debuted at number 1 on the United World Chart with 367,000 copies sold globally in its first week.

Shortly after release, the group achieved an "all kill" on the South Korean music charts. On the Korean Gaon Chart, both the album and "Blood Sweat & Tears" debuted at number one on the albums and singles charts, respectively. All 15 songs on the album charted in the top 50 of the Gaon Singles Chart, garnering over one million digital downloads and over eight million streams. It also broke Gaon Album chart records as the highest-selling album on its monthly and yearly charts.

You Never Walk Alone, the repackaged album, received a record-breaking pre-order by retail outlets of over 700,000 physical copies. Upon its release in South Korea, the album charted first on Gaon weekly album chart, earning the band their 7th number one album. In China the album sold 144,400 in the first week on QQ Music, and charted first on the best-selling albums of the week.

In the United States, the album debuted at No. 61 on the Billboard 200, extending BTS' record as the K-pop act with the most entries on Billboard 200 albums chart to four. The album also debuted at No. 1 on World Albums giving BTS their third chart-topper on that ranking. "Spring Day" debuted at No. 15 on Billboard's Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart and No. 1 on World Digital Songs Sales selling 14,000 digital downloads; moreover, all four new songs from You Never Walk Alone held down the first four slots making BTS the first act on World Digital Song Sales to do so.

Reception

Fuse's Jeff Benjamin wrote, "The rising K-pop phenoms' new album is doing it right by letting their seven members spread their artistic wings and solidifying their individual identities—all while keeping the band identity strong as ever." Fuse listed Wings at number 8 on their list of the 20 Best Albums of 2016, praising the album's "vulnerable and honest song material" and diverse tracks. The album also topped Billboard's "10 Best K-Pop Albums 2016" list. Billboard branded the album an "accomplishment all its own", praising BTS' involvement in co-writing and producing as well as the compositional choice to allow each member a solo song reflecting individual musical style, showing that "they can compete with top pop acts." The music chart also described BTS' music as "forward-thinking", referring to the tropical house and EDM sounds on the album and lyrics that discussed the darker side of mental health issues. Billboard's Tamar Herman later wrote an article on the repackaged album You Never Walk Alone, describing the single “Spring Day” as an "alt hip-hop song infused with rock instrumentals and EDM synths" combining the rap elements for which BTS has become known with "dreamy vocals and yearning lyrics." Hermann calls “Not Today,” the dual single counterpart to "Spring Day," a power anthem for “all the underdogs in the world."