On Friday, after keeping fans on their toes for weeks, world-renowned K-Pop group BTS kicked off “Phase 4” of its “comeback map” by releasing its newest studio album, Map of the Soul: 7.
The record serves as the septet’s seventh overall studio album and a follow-up to their critically acclaimed 2019 EP, Map of the Soul: Persona.
Not accounting for its popular digital bonus track — On, featuring Sia — Map of the Soul: 7 includes 19 all-new BTS tracks. Among them are the previously released smash-hits Boy with Luv, which features Halsey, and Black Swan.
Along with the album’s release, Big Hit Entertainment, BTS’ management company, put out a brand new “Kinetic Manifesto Film” for the song On. The track serves as the album’s second single, following Black Swan.
(L-R) Jimin, RM, Jungkook, V, J-Hope, Jin, and SUGA of the K-pop boy band BTS visit the ‘Today Show’ at Rockefeller Plaza on Feb. 21, 2020, in New York City.
Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
The heavily choreographed video features the members of BTS: Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V and Jungkook, along with a marching band and California-based dance troupe The Lab.
Before the band hits the road to promote the album, an official music video for the “lead single” will both kick off and conclude the fifth and final phase of the comeback map.
Starting this April, BTS will kick off the Map of the Soul world tour with four consecutive shows in their hometown of Seoul, South Korea, at the Olympic Stadium. The following week, they will head over to North American to continue the 37-date trek.
This will mark the group’s first world tour since the Love Yourself / Speak Yourself trek, which ran between 2018 and early 2019.
The upcoming North American leg of the tour includes 15 shows with two Canadian gigs in Toronto:
May 30 — Toronto, Ont. @ Rogers Centre
May 31 — Toronto, Ont. @ Rogers Centre
Select tickets for the shows are still available. For additional tour dates and further updates, you can visit the official Big Hit Entertainment website.
The highly anticipated release of Map of the Soul: 7 resulted in a mass flood of BTS Army members sharing their thoughts and overall excitement about the group’s new music online.
#BTS and #MapoftheSoul7 were only a few of the trending topics on Twitter.
Here’s what some Twitter users had to say:
As well as all the praise that BTS received, the album itself, along with all 20 of its tracks, skyrocketed to the top of various music charts across the globe — including every slot on the U.S. iTunes Top 20 list.
Map of the Soul: 7 is now available worldwide through all major streaming platforms.
Additionally, physical variants of the album can now be purchased online.
Map of the Soul: 7 full tracklist:
1. Intro: Persona
2. Boy With Luv (ft. Halsey)
3. Make it Right
4. Jamais Vu
5. Dionysus
6. Interlude: Shadow
7. Black Swan
8. Filter
9. My Time
10. Louder than Bombs
11. On
12. Ugh!
13. 00:00 (Zero O’Clock)
14. Inner Child
15. Friends
16. Moon
17. Respect
18. We are Bulletproof: the Eternal
19. Outro: Ego
20. On (ft. Sia)
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