BTS are Back

BTS+are+Back

Thuy Pham, Journalist

They’re back – and one may be wondering who exactly is back. Or, most people probably know who exactly is back due to the constant media promotion within the past few weeks. That’s right, South Korea and America’s most loved boy group BTS, is back with their newest EP ‘Map of the Soul: Persona,’ which was officially released to the world on April 12th. But, what makes this comeback so special and important for the group?

Upon the release of the album on streaming platforms and YouTube, BTS fans took immediately to each and every one of these applications to increase views and streams. For instance, the entire album topped the iTunes charts, from ‘Intro: Persona’ to the end of the list, with ‘Dionysus.’ Additionally, the album topped the charts for Spotify’s US 50 and Global 50, naturally. Fan streaming platforms were primarily geared towards setting records on YouTube, but the immense love that the album received allowed the group to top charts as well. The record for the most views within 24 hours on YouTube was previously held by K-pop girl group BLACKPINK for their newest song ‘Kill This Love,’ beating out PSY’s ‘Gentleman’ music video. In comparison to BLACKPINK, BTS’ music video for the music video ‘Boy with Luv’ created a new number for the record with over 70 million views within the first 24 hours. With this, the music video also became the fastest music video to reach 100 million views in less than 24 hours – beating even their own records.

BTS’ digital presence extended to that beyond the streaming platforms that fans were using. On Saturday, April 13th, BTS took to the Saturday Night Live stage with Emma Stone to perform their new hit title track ‘Boy with Luv’ as well as ‘Mic Drop’ from their 2017 EP ‘Love Yourself: Her.’ With this comeback, BTS have been doing nothing but setting new Firsts, with them being the first ever K-pop act to perform on Saturday Night Live. In fact, fans even camped out for a week in advance to try and score tickets to the recording of the show – something that has never been seen before. Considering that fans camped out for weeks in advance for BTS’ stadium concert in New York at the end of last year, SNL is nothing compared to the lengths that fans took to camp out for the Citi Field Stadium Concert Date.

As the album release is still relatively new to the media, BTS are setting new precedents with each and every day as their album continues to break records and top charts – all while the group is increasingly catching the eyes of various audiences around the world. From here, BTS can only grow bigger than they ever have been.