Photo
By Danielle Cruz
South Korean boy group, BTS (Bang-tan Son-yeon-dan) released their third Japanese album on Tuesday, April 3.
The album titled Face Yourself included five new original songs as well as the Japanese version of several of their Korean title tracks and b-side tracks.
As expected, the album did well in Japan with the band selling over 100,000 albums on the first day as well as rising to No. 1 on the Japanese Oricon chart and Japanese iTunes chart.
Perhaps one of the more unexpected, yet unsurprising results of the release of their new album was how well it did internationally. Typically most international fans don’t bother to buy the Japanese version of a Korean album. However despite this, it rose to number one on the iTunes chart in over 50 countries. The album also rose to No. 2 on the US iTunes All Genre chart and No. 1 on the US iTunes Hip-Hop/ Rap album chart, making Face Yourself the group’s highest-charting Japanese album.
Title track of the album Don’t Leave Me also saw success with it rising to No. 6 on the US iTunes All Genre Song chart and No. 2 on the US iTunes Hip-Hop/ Rap song chart.
A heavily EDM influenced track with a subtle violin instrumental in the background, Don’t Leave Me was composed by BTS for the original soundtrack of the Japanese remake of Signal a popular Korean drama from 2016.
The album also had BTS re-releasing Crystal Snow— a later album released in early December of last year as a sort of Christmas present to their fans.
The other original tracks on the album included two that were oddly titled Intro: Ringwanderung and Outro: Crack. Both these tracks we’re no longer than two minutes and both were perceived as remix versions of the bands other released songs.
At first listen Intro: Ringwanderung sounds like a remix of their Korean song Best Of Me, but after listening fans realized that the only similar lyrics these songs have is the line “you got the best of me.” Not only that but curiously enough the instrumental version of the song is remixed with the band members’ voices sounding as though they have been slowed down and the pitch lowered a few octaves.
Outro: Crack on the other hand comes off as a remix version of Let Go, another original track off of this album. It’s a Lo-Fi Hip-Hop track, with very few vocals which left many fans startled as this was the first time BTS had produced a track in this genre of music.
Let Go was perhaps the most well received track from the album. It’s a sad yet hopeful song about letting someone you love go so you both can grow into the people you are meant to be. The singers declare that saying goodbye is not enough to move on but they must both let go of the memories of each other in order to move on and learn to be happy once more.The lyrics also played into the theme of BTS’s last album Love Yourself: Her which talked about the importance of learning to love yourself before loving others.
Though the release date for their upcoming Korean album has not yet been announced, fans of BTS have perceived Face Yourself as a preview of the quality of music the band has yet to release.
