BTS to drop anthology album ‘Proof’ on Friday
A photo of K-pop supergroup BTS, provided by Big Hit Music last Friday. (Yonhap via The Korea Herald/Asia News Network)
SEOUL — K-pop supergroup BTS will make a highly anticipated return to the music scene Friday with an anthology album titled “Proof.”
The group will drop the album compiling the group’s nine-year-long activities since its debut at 1 p.m. on Friday in South Korea, which is midnight US EST, apparently with the US market in mind, according to the local music scene.
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It will be the band’s first physical album since it released the single CD with “Butter” and “Permission to Dance” last year.
The forthcoming album depicts the past, present and future of BTS as a top K-pop group that is about to begin its 10th year this month.
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Last month, BTS unveiled the track list for the anthology album via its social media accounts.
The album, which consists of three CDs, will have a total of 48 tracks, including three new songs — “Yet To Come,” “Run BTS” and “For Youth.”
Team leader RM, Suga and J-hope took part in the creation of the main track “Yet To Come” with the subtitle “The Most Beautiful Moment.”
“As BTS celebrates the ninth anniversary of its debut and is about to open a new chapter in their 10th year as artists, ‘Proof’ was designed to look back on the group’s past activities and ruminate on their meaning,” the group’s agency Big Hit Music said in a release.
The album’s first CD has 19 tracks, mostly biggest hits from throughout the group’s career. They include “Danger,” “Fire,” “DNA,” “Boy With Luv” featuring Halsey, “Spring Day,” “Fake Love,” “Dynamite” and “Butter.”
The second CD is made up of subunit tracks while the final disc is dedicated to Army, the group’s global fandom, as it includes previously unreleased songs and demo versions of some of the hit songs.
BTS will not hold a press event to promote the new album on the day of its release. It, however, will perform the new songs, including “Yet To Come,” for the first time at 9 p.m. Monday on its YouTube channel Bangtan TV in celebration of its ninth anniversary, according to the agency Tuesday. The group will introduce the album and its tracks to fans during the online show.
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On the same day, the K-pop septet will pre-record its part in Mnet’s music program “M Countdown” at the Jangchung Arena in central Seoul with about 4,000 Armies attending.
“Since the pre-recording is set to take place on the special day for BTS members and you Armies, we came to increase the size of the event and spectators to be with as many Armies as possible,” Big Hit said.
After the show, set to air June 16, the band will appear on two more TV music programs to promote “Proof.”
The group will take the stage of KBS 2TV’s “Music Bank” on June 17 and SBS’ “Inkigayo” on June 19 to perform the new songs. The group last appeared on local TV music programs in March 2020.
Anticipation is building in the music industry with three days to go before the album’s release as its 2021 single “Butter” was a huge success.
“Butter” secured 10 non-consecutive weeks on Billboard’s Hot 100 main singles chart and the most downloads in the United States last year. The single CD that contains the song also recorded the most first-week sales of any album released last year with 1.97 million copies.
“Not everybody can release an anthology album,” pop music critic Jung Min-jae said. “For ‘Proof,’ BTS appears to have gotten a hint from the anthology album released by British band The Beatles in mid-1990s.”
He said the album may feel like a “present” to many devoted BTS fans since it contains the group’s hit songs, previously unreleased songs as well as demo versions of some of its hits. (Yonhap)
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