K-Pop
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BTS EXHIBITION: Proof is headed to the U.S.! On Tuesday (April 11), HYBE, BigHit Music and Live Nation shared the news that the traveling exhibit will be opening in Los Angeles this spring to commemorate the K-pop group’s 10th anniversary.
Proof will take over the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica in May, following its successful, sold-out stops in both Seoul and Busan, South Korea last fall. A release teases that the exhibition will offer ARMY “an immersive visual journey that explores the members’ past, present, and future through photographs, videos, and experiential installations in a multi-room walkthrough experience.” Attendees will also have access to exclusive, limited-edition BTS merch.
“The most beautiful moments in everyday life/ The faint sound of music reaching around the door/ A familiar face in a crowd of strangers/ A flash of memory in the quiet moments of the day/ Some moments in life are made more special for being unremarkable/ A reminder of all the times that will remain in the past, everlasting and unchanged,” reads the teaser on the exhibit’s official website.
ARMY can register now through next Monday (April 17) for a chance to purchase tickets, but only those who receive a unique access code will be able to get access before any remaining tickets go on sale to the general public.
When it comes to the members’ recent solo activities, Jimin released his debut solo album FACE last month, making history as a the first South Korean solo act to score a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with his single “Like Crazy.” Next, Suga will step back into his Agust D moniker to drop his own solo album D-DAY on April 21.
Check out the official announcement of BTS EXHIBITION: Proof heading to L.A. below.
Tiffany & Co. unveiled its newest campaign on Monday (April 10) starring BTS‘ Jimin alongside Zöe Kravitz and Gal Gadot.
Titled “This Is Tiffany,” the campaign features the K-pop idol draped in a number of dazzling pieces from the luxury brand’s signature Tiffany HardWear collection, including a pavé diamond-encrusted link necklace and matching bracelet — both of which sparkle against his sleek, black tuxedo jacket.
“Gentlemen, start your engines. House ambassador Jimin of BTS is going places in Tiffany HardWear,” Tiffany & Co. wrote on the company’s official Instagram account, sending ARMY into a frenzy over Jimin’s role as ambassador. “Exuding elegance in everything he does,” one fan commented, while another simply declared, “Jimin is the hottest man ever.”
“Our ‘This Is Tiffany’ campaign is an authentic homage to individual style,” said Alexandre Arnault, Tiffany & Co.’s evp of product and communication, in a statement. “We may make the jewelry but it’s house ambassadors like Zoë, Jimin of BTS and Gal who give meaning to the collections and make our pieces all their own.”
Jimin’s latest glitzy modeling campaign arrives right on the heels of his debut solo album FACE, which was released at the end of last month. The six-track project included singles “Set Me Free Pt. 2” and “Like Crazy” and rocketed to No. 2 on the Billboard 200. The latter single also delivered Jimin his first-ever solo No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, making him the first South Korean solo artist to top the all-genre tally in its nearly 65-year history.
Get a look at Jimin’s “This Is Tiffany” campaign below.
BTS‘ Suga finally dropped the full track list for his anticipated full-length solo debut under his alter ego Agust D on Monday (April 10). The 10-song album due out on April 21 opens with the collection’s title track, “D-Day” (produced by Vincent “Invincible” Watson and 2Live) and also features “Haegeum (produced by Agust D), “HUH?!” (produced by Agust D and El Capitxn, co-written by J-Hope), and “Amygdala” (produced by El Capitxn). The album’s second half includes a collaboration with recently deceased Oscar-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto.
The second half of the collection features “SDL” (produced by the singer and El Capitxn), pre-release single “People Pt. 2 (feat. IU) (produced by El Capitxn), “Polar Night” (produced by the singer and El Capitxn), “Interlude: Dawn” (produced by the singer and El Capitxn), “Snooze (feat. Ryuichi Sakamoto and Kim Woosung of The Rose) (produced by El Capitxn) and “Life Goes On” (produced by El Capitxn); the final track is one of two featuring a co-writing credit for J-Hope).
Speaking to Billboard about the album last week, Suga said he doesn’t have a “different mindset” when releasing music solo as Agust D or as Suga in BTS, explaining that, “Ultimately, the goal of releasing this music is for as many people to listen to my music as possible. So, ‘People Pt.2’ was made thinking about how people will receive Agust D’s music, which is why we also featured IU. It’s kind of a trial to release this music under the name Agust D. I’m actually a little bit worried.”
The singer added that “Pt. 2” deals with seeking connection and fighting loneliness, whereas the first part of the song, “People,” from the 2020 D-2 mixtape looked externally to other people’s judgements.
“I think loneliness is being together in modern society. I always talk about loneliness in my interviews, but regretfully, it isn’t always in the final interview,” he said. “Not only me, everyone has this loneliness inside them until the moment they die. However deep you are in a relationship, how much you engage with other people, how many friends you meet, or how often you meet with your family, you always have the loneliness inside… This album doesn’t really finalize everything in its message either. So, there might be a possibility there could be a ‘Part 3’ later on. For now, we’re just trying to say, ‘Let’s not hate each other. Let’s find a way.’”
BTS‘ Suga is using his forthcoming Disney+ documentary, SUGA: Road to D-DAY, to get personal with fans. The first trailer for the film arrived on Thursday (April 6), and shows the rapper asking himself a series of introspective questions while traveling across the world and writing his debut solo album, D-DAY.
“What I want to say right now … how should I do it? I’m 30 now. There are a lot of things you can do when you’re 30, aren’t there?” the rapper ponders while writing lyrics and recording for his upcoming release. “If people think that SUGA’s works are good, should it be good enough?”
The trailer sees the K-pop star traveling across various cities around the world, including San Francisco, Las Vegas, Malibu, Chuncheon (South Korea) and more as he continues to reflect, at one point admitting he often thinks about giving it up altogether.
“I believe that wounds and scars are the results of our actions. It takes a lot of guts to let go of something. The day I’m free from all the negative thoughts, I’ll set it as D-Day and start all over again,” he says. “I think of quitting music more than a hundred times a day, but when everyone comes together like this, I can do it because it make me feel like making music is fun.”
The trailer concludes with the official release date for SUGA: Road to D-DAY: April 21, the same day that Suga’s debut solo album is set to arrive.
Watch the first trailer for the documentary in the video above.
Jimin unveiled a behind-the-scenes look at the making of his music video for “Set Me Free Pt. 2” on Wednesday (April 5).
The clip posted to the official BTS YouTube channel gives ARMY a peek at the K-pop idol’s creative process as he leads the troupe of dancers through rehearsals ahead of the shoot. “I think we could come a bit slower than the beat,” he suggests to the choreographer, explaining, “I have to keep moving slowly but at this speed, there might be a pause in the middle.”
Jimin and the dancers then run through the movements sans any music in order to nail each element of the hard-hitting choreography as expertly as possible. “This is not easy,” he says during a break. “It’s not as easy as it seems, right? Let’s do this!”
From there, the entire team starts practicing to a slowed-down version of the bombastic single before eventually ratcheting up the tempo to full speed, with Jimin joking, “I don’t think I got the moves wrong.”
“Set Me Free Pt. 2” served as the lead single for the BTS member’s debut solo record FACE. Its follow-up, “Like Crazy,” rocketed to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 upon its release last week (chart dated April 8), setting a new benchmark for the solo efforts among the seven-piece boy band. Meanwhile, the album as a whole debuted at No. 2 beneath Morgan Wallen’s behemoth One Thing At a Time, which has now spent a full month at the top of the Billboard 200.
Watch Jimin’s dance practice for “Set Me Free Pt. 2” below.
Brace yourself, BTS ARMY — Suga‘s next single finally has a title. The K-pop group’s management company, BigHit Entertainment, shared details regarding Suga’s lead single from his upcoming D-DAY album on Tuesday (April 4) and revealed that another South Korean pop star will be featured on the track.
“People Pt.2 (feat. IU)’ Release 2023. 4. 7,” the entertainment company shared in a tweet, featuring a poster of the BTS member peacefully playing a keyboard in what looks like a home studio. Suga also shared the poster to his Instagram account, in addition to a separate post featuring Korean text that reads, “I’m going to see you soon.”
IU will be featured on “People Pt.2,” but the collaboration is far from the first time she and Suga have collaborated on a track. In 2020, IU released her song “Eight,” which featured the BTS member on vocals and song production. As for the track itself, “People Pt.2” serves as the follow-up to Suga’s “People.” The original version of the song first appeared on the BTS rapper’s second mixtape, D-2.
“People Pt.2” will serve as the lead single from Suga’s debut solo album, D-DAY. The rapper will be releasing the LP — set to arrive on April 21 — under the name Agust D. A solo documentary titled Road to D-Day (air date TBD) and the April 26 start to Suga’s first-ever solo world tour are set to follow the release of the album.
See Suga’s single announcements below.
Jimin jumps from No. 10 to No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart (dated April 8), becoming the top musical act in the United States for the first time, thanks to his new solo album, FACE, and its breakout track, “Like Crazy.”
The set, released via BigHit Music/Geffen/Interscope Records, debuts at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 164,000 equivalent album units, according to Luminate. The last artist to debut as high with a first charting effort was Olivia Rodrigo, whose LP Sour debuted at No. 1 in June 2021.
The new album’s “Like Crazy” concurrently blasts in at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming Jimin’s first solo No. 1 outside BTS, which has scored six leaders.
Jimin also becomes the first South Korean soloist top the Hot 100.
All seven members of BTS have scored solo Hot 100-charting songs, with Jimin the first to reach No. 1. Here’s a look at every entry on the chart by a BTS member so far, listed chronologically:
Artist Billing, Title (Peak Position, Date):
J-Hope feat. Becky G, “Chicken Noodle Soup” (No. 81; Oct. 12, 2019)
Agust D (Suga’s alternate billing), “Daechwita” (No. 76; June 6, 2020)
Juice WRLD & Suga, “Girl of My Dreams” (No. 29; Dec. 25, 2021)
V, “Christmas Tree” (No. 79; Jan. 8, 2022)
Jung Kook, “Stay Alive” (No. 95; Feb. 26, 2022)
PSY feat. Suga, “That That” (No. 80; May 14, 2022)
Charlie Puth feat. Jung Kook, “Left and Right” (No. 22; July 9, 2022)
J-Hope, “More” (No. 82; July 16, 2022)
J-Hope, “Arson” (No. 96; July 30, 2022)
JIN, “The Astronaut” (No. 51; Nov. 12, 2022)
RM with Youjeen, “Wild Flower” (No. 83; Dec. 17, 2022)
TAEYANG feat. Jimin, “Vibe” (No. 76; Jan. 28, 2023)
J-Hope with J. Cole, “On the Street” (No. 60; March 18, 2023)
Jimin, “Set Me Free, Pt. 2” (No. 30; April 1, 2023)
Jimin, “Like Crazy,” (No, 1; April 8, 2023)
Jimin is the first solo member of BTS to hit No. 1 on the Artist 100, and is the only member of the group to have reached the chart.
A week ago, he became the seventh member of the septet to rule the Emerging Artists chart. (He graduates from the survey this week, due to his new Billboard 200 and Hot 100 success, per chart rules).
Jimin is also the first South Korean soloist to crown the Artist 100. The South Korean groups to lead the list: BTS (21 weeks), BLACKPINK, Stray Kids (two each), SuperM, TOMORROW X TOGETHER and TWICE (one each).
Among other Artist 100 chart moves, Lana Del Rey vaults 29-5 thanks to her new album, Did You Know There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, which opens at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 (115,000 units), marking her ninth top 10. Fall Out Boy re-enters at No. 8 thanks to its new LP So Much (For) Stardust, which starts at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 (64,000 units), becoming the act’s seventh top 10.
The Artist 100 measures artist activity across key metrics of music consumption, blending album and track sales, radio airplay and streaming to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity.
Congratulations are definitely in order for Jimin. Not only did the BTS singer score his very first solo No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with new single “Like Crazy” Monday (April 3), he also became the first solo South Korean artist to ever reach the top spot on the chart.
Luckily, ARMY and fans of Jimin’s solo career alike already have the “congratulations” department covered. Within an hour of the news breaking of the 27-year-old K-Pop star’s tremendous new feat, countless messages of support flooded in on social media — to the point where iterations of Jimin’s name occupied five of the top 30 trending topics on Twitter at the time of publication.
“So utterly proud of how far jimin has come to even getting his first ever #1 on hot100 for his own solo song that is so absolutely insane,” tweeted one proud fan. “Just shows how hard [work] really does pay off when you ACTUALLY make GREAT music.”
“ALL THOSE HOURS AND DAYS HE DEDICATED IN THE STUDIO PAID OFF PARK JIMIN WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU,” wrote another.
It wasn’t just fans who were quick to congratulate the “Set Me Free Pt. 2” singer for his history-making No. 1. His BTS bandmates also took to social media to virtually pat him on the back, including RM, who served as a co-writer on “Like Crazy.”
“I’m proud,” he simply wrote on his Instagram Story, sharing a screenshot of the Hot 100 leaderboard.
J-Hope also shared the screenshot on his Story, along with a string of purple heart emojis.
See the best fan reactions to Jimin scoring his first ever solo No. 1 on the Hot 100 below:
so utterly proud of how far jimin has come to even getting his first ever #1 on hot100 for his own solo song that is so absolutely insane and just shows how hard working work really does pay off when you ACTUALLY make GREAT music— FACE 🪞ia (@vminpinkie) April 3, 2023
YALL DONT UNDERSTAND. JIMIN IS THE FIRST AND ONLY KOREAN SOLOIST TO HAVE REACHED #1 IN THE BB HOT100 HISTORY. THIS IS HUGE. IM SO SO SO PROUD OF JIMIN LIKE IM GONNA WALK BAREFOOT ALL THE WAY TO SEOUL TO GIVE HIM THE BIGGEST HUG RN— ْ (@pjmvelvets) April 3, 2023
Jisoo‘s ME has topped this week’s new music poll.
Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (March 31) on Billboard, choosing the BLACKPINK member’s two-song solo project as their favorite new music release of the past week.
ME brought in more than 66% of the vote, beating out new music releases from Taylor Swift, Melanie Martinez, Boygenius and more.
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Jisoo is the final member of the the K-pop girl group to go solo with ME, with two songs: “Flower” and “All Eyes on Me.” Accompanying ME‘s release at midnight on March 31 was the official video for Jisoo’s “Flower,” which debuted on BLACKPINK’s YouTube channel.
Trailing behind ME on the fan-voted poll is Swift’s dreamy new “Lavender Haze (Acoustic Version),” with 15% of the vote.
See the final results of this week’s poll below.
It may be the last day of March, but we’re going out with a bang when it comes to new music thanks to releases by Jisoo, Boygenius, Chlöe and more.
The BLACKPINK singer became the final member of the the girl group to go solo with her single album ME, featuring songs “Flower” and “All Eyes on Me,” while Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus and Phoebe Bridgers reunited for their full-length album The Record a full half-decade after forming their alt-rock supergroup for their self-titled 2018 EP.
Chlöe Bailey also unveiled her debut solo album, In Pieces, on the heels of previously released singles “Pray It Away,” Chris Brown collab “How Does It Feel” and the piano-driven title track. Plus, Tyler, the Creator re-upped on his 2021 opus Call Me If You Get Lost by dropping Call Me If You Get Lost: The Estate Sale — a deluxe edition with eight new tracks not on the original album, including single “Dogwood” and collaborations with Vince Staples (“Stuntman”), A$AP Rocky (“Wharf Talk”) and YG (the 2020 demo version of “Boyfriend, Girlfriend”).
Meanwhile, on the new song front, Taylor Swift stripped down her bombastic Midnights opener “Lavender Haze” for a ghostly acoustic version that could sound easily at home on her 2020 album Evermore.
Becky G and Peso Pluma delivered a horn-blasted Spanish-language duet with “Chanel,” and Charlie Puth teamed up with Dan + Shay for their boundary-setting ballad “That’s Not How This Works.” (A promised remix with Sabrina Carpenter is still a couple of weeks away.) Plus, rising U.K. pop star Maisie Peters offered yet another irresistible sneak peek of her upcoming sophomore album The Good Witch with the triumphant “Lost the Breakup.”
Vote for your favorite release in Billboard‘s latest new music Friday poll below.