Wings is the second studio album by
South Korean boy group BTS. The album was released on October 10, 2016
and contains 15 tracks, with "Blood Sweat & Tears" as its first
single, and seven solo songs recorded by the members.
It
charted on the Billboard 200 at number
26, making it the highest charting and best selling K-pop album on the chart; and the first to
spend more than one week on the chart.[5] The album's
lead single, "Blood Sweat & Tears", became the group's first
domestic number one hit on Gaon Digital
Chart. It
broke South Korean Gaon chart
records as the highest selling album recorded on its monthly and yearly charts.
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.[19] 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.[23]
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.
On
October 6, they released a teaser for their title track "Blood Sweat &
Tears". At 12:00 KST, October 10, 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 pyers 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.
