K-Pop
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BTS‘ Love Myself campaign is officially five years old. Launched in 2017 and in partnership with UNICEF, the campaign — named after the group’s Love Yourself album trilogy — was designed to extend a helping hand to children and teens who have experienced violence, and give them the tools to uplift themselves as well as others. On Tuesday (Nov. 29), the septet reiterated their campaign’s message in a video that features all seven BTS members.
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“The Love Myself campaign that BTS, BigHit Music and UNICEF initiated together in 2017 marked its fifth anniversary,” RM said as he kicked off the heartfelt message. “Over the past five years, the Love Myself campaign’s message has permeated our lives like background music. When I look into the daily lives shared by ARMY, the massage of Love Myself seems to take big parts of their emotions.”
Jin added, “Love Myself campaign is like background music hits home. As we live our lives to the fullest each day, we might not notice its presence. When we’re troubled or stumbling, however, Love Myself shows up in the right place and gives us the courage to overcome.”
“I’m delighted and proud that our Love myself message comes to many people’s minds in their daily lives. But, at the same time, I’m afraid there might be people who still don’t know how to love themselves,” Suga said
To that, J-Hope added, “If you find anyone who needs the strength to love themselves, please reach out first. Please teach them how to love themselves, and give them the energy of hope.”
To honor the campaign’s fifth anniversary, Jimin said that he wants fans to try and love themselves. V stated that he believes loving oneself is the beginning of true love, while Jung Kook encouraged fans watching the message to take a look back at the emotional progress they have made over the year.
Concluding the message, RM told fans, “We believe that you will continue to support the Love Myself campaign to create greater positive energy in people’s lives.”
According to the campaign’s website, as of August 2021, BTS’ Love Myself partnership with UNICEF has raised over $3.4 million, while #BTSLoveMyself hashtag has been used more than 15 million times across social media.
Watch BTS’ message regarding the fifth anniversary of the Love Myself campaign in the video above.
Another accolade for BLACKPINK! The girl group, along with nine other acts in K-pop, managed to secure the worldwide fans’ choice top 10 award at the 2022 MAMA Awards, which took place in Japan at the Kyocera Dome Osaka on Tuesday, Nov. 29.
Though the girl group was not in attendance, they were honored with a “Pink Venom” dance tribute and a special segment that aired at the award show that also featured their music producer Teddy Park.
BLACKPINK was the only female group who won the worldwide fans’ choice top 10 award. The other nine artists who were victorious in the category are BTS, ENHYPEN, GOT7, NCT DREAM, PSY, SEVENTEEN, Stray Kids, TREASURE and TOMORROW X TOGETHER. Winners of the award were voted on by fans on the MAMA website in a series of polls that ended on Nov. 4.
Day 2 of the 2022 MAMA Awards is scheduled to take place on Nov. 30. BLACKPINK is up for another four awards at the ceremony in the best female group, best dance performance female group and song of the year “Pink Venom,” as well as artist of the year categories.
For BLINKs who were hoping to catch the quartet at the awards show, you’re out of luck. BLACKPINK is just one day away from starting the European leg of its Born Pink World Tour. The European leg will kick off on Nov. 30 in London, and will make stops in Barcelona, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam and more before heading back to Asia in 2023.
BTS‘ Suga is not a light pour in the preview of the K-pop superstar’s new talk show, Suchwita. The first look at the series, which will debut next Monday (Dec. 5), finds Suga hanging with bandmate RM in a montage in which footage of the pop icon making his way to the couch is interspersed with glimpses of a turntable and a temple as he settles in with a glass and explains the definition of the show’s name.
“Suchwita… time to drink with Suga,” he announces as the first glasses of liquor are filled. The old friends cheers and wonder “how serious are these folks about it,” seemingly in reference to people who are interested in both drinking and telling stories. The two also speculate about who might appear on the series in the future, with Suga teasing, “Can it really get that far?”
RM will drop his solo debut album, Indigo, on Friday (Dec. 2), just days before Suchwita rolls out. The latest project from the on-hiatus BTS will feature RM collaborating with Erykah Badu, Anderson .Paak, Kim Sawol, Mahalia, Colde, Tablo and parkjiyoon. The nine-track album’s lead single, “Wild Flower” (featuring youjeen) will coincide with Friday’s release.
Though Indigo will be RM’s first full-length solo album, the rapper previously released two mixtapes. He was the first of the BTS members to share solo material, dropping his self-titled mixtape in 2015, which contained singles “Do You,” “Awakening” and “Joke.” RM then released a second mixtape in 2018 titled Mono. “Forever Rain” was released as the only single from the latter body of work; the set debuted at No. 26 on the Billboard 200.
Suga has also been keeping busy on the solo front, releasing “Our Island” from the BTS Island: In the SEOM soundtrack and, earlier this summer, teaming up with K-pop superstar Psy for the dance-y single “That That.“
Check out the first trailer for Suchwita below.
On October 28, Billboard hosted the first-ever THE-K Billboard Awards, organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange (KOFICE), and the Penske Media Corporation (PMC). The event was broadcasted live via YouTube in 73 countries.
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A total of eight teams won awards in three categories based on Billboard’s charts. In particular, awards went to four newly debuted artists in the Hot Rookie category, casting light upon the new K-pop stars who have fascinated global audiences.
THE-K Billboards Awards presented awards in the Top Artist, Global Artist, and Hot Rookie categories. Nominees were selected based on their scores in three Billboard charts – Billboard Hot 100, Billboard 200, and Global 200.
Real-time communication with K-pop fans(Hwan Kim [announcer], Yoon-ha Kim [music critic])/ K-Culture Festival’s official YouTube channel
For the Top Artist category, BTS and TOMORROW X TOGETHER took home awards. They made stellar achievements in the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200 charts, raising the appeal of K-pop across the world.
Winners in the Global Artist category were chosen based on the Global 200 chart. BTS and IVE won this category as they have amassed a great number of fans around the globe, including in the US.
For the Hot Rookie category, teams that debuted less than three years ago and recorded the highest total scores on three charts (Hot 100, Billboard 200, and Global 200) received the award. The winners included IVE, NewJeans, ENHYPEN, and Kep1er (based on data from January to September 2022).
Billboard President Mike Van’s congratulatory speech and announcement of selection criteria/ K-Culture Festival’s official YouTube channel
During the award show, Billboard President Mike Van said, “I am truly happy to recognize the dazzling achievements of K-pop artists through THE-K Billboard Awards. We are here today to celebrate K-pop’s contribution to the global music industry.”
Yoon-ha Kim, a music critic and one of the co-MCs of the event, congratulated both the K-pop artists and their fans by saying, “K-pop fans’ love and devotion are behind the astonishing success of K-pop.”
THE-K Billboard Awards is a follow-up program of the K-Culture Festival, which was held from September 30th to October 8th. Marking the third anniversary since its establishment, the K-Culture Festival is a major global hallyu festival jointly organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; and the KOFICE. The festival introduced diverse Korean culture, mainly K-pop and K-drama.
With less than one week to go before the release of RM’s debut solo album Indigo, the BTS rapper shared the project’s official tracklist and its previously teased star-studded set of collaborations.
The LP will be lead by single “Wild Flower (with youjeen)” and will feature nine other tracks: “Yun (with Erykah Badu),” “Still Life (with Anderson .Paak),” “All Day (with Tablo),” “Forg_tful (with Kim Sawol),” “Closer (with Paul Blanco, Mahalia),” “Change pt.2,” “Lonely,” “Hectic (with Colde)” and “No.2 (with parkjiyoon).” “Wild Flower,” according to a press release, will see RM singing about his “desire to live like humble and tranquil wildflowers rather than a flamboyant flame that quickly blows out.” The single will arrive with the release of Indigo on Friday (Dec. 2).
As for the rest of the the album, RM teased its themes in a preview video shared on Nov. 22: “Record of RM: Indigo. From the colors of nature, human, etc. Documentation of my youth in the moment of independent phase. Sun-bleached record faded like old jeans. The last archive of my twenties,” the video read.
Though Indigo will be RM’s first full-length solo album, the rapper previously released two mixtapes. He was the first of the BTS members to share solo material, dropping his self-titled mixtape in 2015, which contained singles “Do You,” “Awakening” and “Joke.” RM then released a second mixtape in 2018 titled Mono. “Forever Rain” was released as the only single from the latter body of work; the set debuted at No. 26 on the Billboard 200.
See the tracklist for Indigo below.
HONG KONG — Chinese-Canadian pop star Kris Wu was sentenced to 13 years in prison for rape and other sexual offenses, a Chinese court said on its official Weibo account on Friday (Nov. 25).
The Chaoyang District People’s Court in Beijing said that from November to December 2020, Wu, also known as Wu Yifan, raped three women at his home when they were under the effect of alcohol.
Wu was sentenced to 11.5 years for rape and 22 months for “assembling a crowd to engage in promiscuous activities” in July 2018, according to the Weibo post. Wu, who is a Canadian citizen, will serve a 13-year term in China before being deported.
“Justice was delayed, but now it’s here,” Du Meizhu, the Chinese influencer who blew the whistle on Wu, wrote on Weibo after the announcement.
Born in China and raised in Canada, Wu was a former member of the popular K-pop group EXO before returning to China to pursue his solo career in 2014.
Wu was detained in Beijing in July last year and was formally arrested on suspicion of rape in August, after the then-18-year-old Du accused him of luring her and other underaged girls into having sex under the pretense that they would be promised an acting career. The closed-door trial began in Beijing in June.
The sexual assault allegations against Wu prompted widespread criticism and became one of the most high-profile #MeToo cases in China.
Wu was also ordered to pay a 600 million yuan ($83.5 million) fine for hiding personal income through domestic and foreign affiliated enterprises, local taxation authorities said on their website.
Wu’s scandal came at a time when Chinese internet and media regulators have pledged to silence “unhealthy” online fan groups and crack down on “tainted artists” who have used drugs, visited prostitutes or broken the law, from all forms of broadcast.
Artists in China have been under great pressure to refrain from “immoral conduct,” which includes acts as minor as smoking or having tattoos.
Under public pressure from the sex-crimes allegations, some 20 brands — including Lancôme, Louis Vuitton, Bulgari and Porsche — cut ties with Wu last year. Chinese music streaming platforms, including Tencent’s QQ Music and NetEase Cloud Music, pulled his songs, and his Weibo social media account, where he had over 51 million followers, was taken down shortly after his detention.
Wu’s former group, EXO, became one of the most successful boy bands of South Korea, selling over 1.4 million albums in their first year, according to its label, SM Entertainment, and performed sold-out gigs around the world.
He has also starred in films and appeared as a judge on The Rap of China, a popular reality television program. By 2017, Wu was named Forbes’ 10th most influential Chinese celebrity of the year, with an annual income of 150 million yuan ($23 million).
In 2018, Wu signed with Universal Music to distribute his music in global territories besides Japan and South Korea. His debut studio album, Antares (2018), knocked Ariana Grande off the U.S. iTunes music charts and was platinum-certified in China. It peaked at No. 100 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, while the single “Like That” rose to No. 73 on the Billboard Hot 100. (Each lasted one week on the charts.)
Wu’s contract with Universal expired in March 2021 and the label has not renewed it.
While making your debut into the K-pop industry is a battle in and of itself, carving your place in it is another conversation entirely that VERIVERY found required a series of experimenting and ultimately confronting harsh realities about themselves and their futures.
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After VERIVERY hit the K-pop scene in early 2018 with their feel-good, throwback-pop single “Ring Ring Ring,” the K-pop boy band dipped into singles that spanned into hard-hitting EDM, smooth-groove R&B, experimental electronica and more. The septet always had international expansion top of mind with a DIY mindset being hands-on with music they felt was relatable beyond core K-pop fans and creatively directing and editing some of their music videos and album packages. Despite fluctuating album sales and public reactions through the years, the group pushed into 2022 as their most ambitious yet with more music, touring and honesty than ever.
VERIVERY’s third major musical shift began in early 2021 with the release of their Series ‘O’ Round 1: Hall EP and the dramatic, dark electro-pop single “Get Away.” The new musical vision was brought to the group by their Korean record label Jellyfish Entertainment (home to fellow boy band VIXX, who have made a splash on various world-music Billboard charts) with the concept how young people face, fight against and embrace the darkness in themselves and the world at large.
With two EPs and their first full-length album Series ‘O’ Round 3: Whole released this past April, VERIVERY tell Billboard that they found themselves taking in their music’s messages to seriously reflect on surviving in the K-pop market and disappointments from the past. VERIVERY tell Billboard that they found themselves taking in their music’s messages to seriously reflect their innermost worries about surviving in the K-pop market and disappointments from the past. “The lifetime of an idol isn’t that long,” dancer-rapper Hoyoung says. “After being a member of VERIVERY for four years, we do have to think about the future.” Leader and eldest member Dongheon admits, “We were afraid for our future.”
After speaking the worst-case scenario out loud and pushing on regardless, VERIVERY returned last week with the new single “Tap Tap” off their Liminality – EP. LOVE. Instead of a new direction, the band returned to their rookie roots with another bright, bouncy single that boasted ’80s synth-rock production and unexpected sonic shifts. Almost like a rebirth, Liminality smashed their best sales records in days while “Tap Tap” took their first-ever No. 1-winning spot on Korea’s competitive music-chart program Show Champion. These shows act as signals to the K-pop industry that an artist has made an impact with the shocked tears the members shed while accepting their trophy all the more indicative of how important this moment was for the group.
“It took us 1,415 days to reach where we are at right now,” the group says in a joint statement to Billboard just moments after securing the win. “Looking back on that journey, it may seem like we’ve come full circle, but we think that viewing the win as a new start is much more important. We want to thank all the fans who have constantly pushed us to stride forward and do better through their love and support, and taking that into account we think it’s more fitting to view it as a fresh start so that we can begin paying back all those who have cheered us on by working even harder. Thank you to everyone who have made this possible.”
Read on for more from Dongheon, Hoyoung, Minchan, Yeonho, Gyehyeon, Yongseung and Kangmin about the work put into their 2022, facing fears, and where this new musical step will take them next.
You just wrapped your U.S. and Latin American tour last month. Were there any markers you had to know it was a successful tour?
HOYOUNG: Because we were going to so many cities, I want to make sure that a lot of people got to know VERIVERY and that we’re spreading VERIVERY’s name.
KANGMIN: I think what determines a successful world tour is what shows on the fans’ faces and how they felt.
GYEHYEON: For me, If the fans re-visit us, wherever we are on tour, I think that just defines like, “Wow, this is a successful tour.” Also, a successful tour is just completing it without anybody getting hurt.
Originally, VERIVERY was the first K-pop act to come back to tour the U.S. in late 2021, which was exciting, but a COVID infection cut it short. Did you take any different precautions or preparations this time?
HOYOUNG: We’re always doing exercises, especially vocal exercises. Actually, YEONHO has this tape that covers his mouth when he sleeps so he can breathe through his nose, it protects his throat. It’s keeping his throat a little more moisturized so that he can sing better.
YEONHO: Yeah, it helps when it comes to the big notes so I had to get to used to sleeping with that.
HOYOUNG: And we got to meet fans face-to-face this time, no more barriers in front of us. We could do hi-touch [high fives] and take photos with them. We did a fan sign in LA.
KANGMIN: We were kind of nervous because I can’t speak English! [Laughs]
YEONGSEUNG: Communication is so important.
True, but fans love you for things beyond language and you guys do a great job at expressing yourselves. Like, the Series ‘O’ era that included songs written by you and your first full-length album. How did you feel about the time period overall?
DONGHEON: After our last tour [ended in 2021], we were able to release multiple albums and, through that, I think our mindset got a little bit more chill and we were more relaxed. During tour, we had a lot of conversations with our members and a lot to talk about. We had some difficulties, but we were able to overcome that. And then throughout this tour, we were able to enjoy it more than ever.
What kind of difficulties did you have?
DONGHEON: Hm, well there were just the big and small stresses like jet lag and we weren’t able to control our mentality or health as well while we were on tour. That became a little sensitive. But just seeing our fans on tour allows us to be able to overcome that, and that mindset really changes throughout.
HOYOUNG: The main keyword to the Series ‘O’ was embracing the darkness in us. When we first heard that was our story for our next album, we thought a lot about how to try to deliver that to our fans. But as we started progressing through the albums, we found that we had a lot of time thinking about ourselves individually and about the darkness within us. I think that kind of made us think more maturely and grow up a bit into adults.
DONGHEON: Many people have just questions about their future and we were afraid for our future. We always think about our future and our team, our music, our dance. It can be very dark…
HOYOUNG: Adding a word to what DONGHEON said, after being a member of VERIVERY for four years we do think about the future because we know that the lifetime of an idol isn’t that long, to be honest right? We’re thinking about the future, thinking about us as a group and what more we can achieve. I think we’re very energetic, outgoing and active but all our members do have a lot on their minds. We have had some hard times with having too many thoughts in our brain but we talk a lot as a group to overcome that.
What do those talks look like? Is it at the label? In a dorm? At a bar?
HOYOUNG: We gather around a lot at the lounge [living room] and talk. Now that we’re all adults, even KANGMIN, we might have a little to drink… [Group laughs] But we really try to take those times after practice and rehearsals to try and reflect on our previous practices to make a better performance. Even when we fight, we try to finish any arguments on that day so that, as a team, there’s nothing that could split us apart or anything. The most that we can do as a group is always talking with each other, connect with each other member-to-member. I think that’s how our teamwork improved a lot. Our leader usually just says, “Should we have dinner?” That’s kind of the sign for “Let’s have a talk.”
Did you learn that habit from anyone or did that happen naturally in the team?
HOYOUNG: We’ve done that since we were trainees but, honestly speaking, as trainees we were too desperate to debut. We practiced alone just to survive, to be honest. But after DONGHEON came in to Jellyfish Entertainment, he helped us come together as a group. I think that’s how VERIVERY was formed. We have a lot of thanks to him and I know that the rest of the members all feel the same way that I do right now that being a leader isn’t an easy job but he’s handling everything.
Do you feel pressure as a leader, DONGHEON? Is there a different kind of pressure when expanding into new places like America?
DONGHEON: I’m flustered by the compliments. [Laughs] But it’s very hard because so many members have many ideas and many opinions. To be honest, it’s very hard, but I like it.
During Series ‘O,’, was there anything else you guys felt you needed to process individually versus as a group?
YONGSEUNG: In my case, we had to stop the last tour because of me. [YONGSEUNG and VERIVERY have a light laugh] I was very sad and disappointed in myself. It’s very hard to let that feeling go. So, I was very disappointed, but now I think I overcame that. This time, this tour is different. I exercise a lot with members and I practice a lot. So, I wanted to show the next version of VERIVERY on this tour. In fact, I feel a lot more comfortable now.
Will the Americas continue to be a focus for you guys?
HOYOUNG: America’s a place that we always thought we must go to; it just fits with us. The songs can be really relatable to the fans so it’s always been a place that we thought that we have to go so we’re thinking of coming back a lot.
MINCHAN: And I want to tell the international fans, that “I love you.” [Laughs] It’s a very important thing, right? At every show, I received so much energy from the fans so keeping up this momentum, we’re going to push right through and enjoy ourselves. We’ll keep going!
What’s next as you keep going further?
YONGSEUNG: We included a fully self-composed song in the full-length album. So, coming up next, expect new, self-composed songs.
Is that the vibe you guys are going for, trying to take a little more ownership of the music and concepts?
YONGSEUNG: On tour, we performed a song we made “Crack It,” we want to share more of our self-composed songs.
HOYOUNG: What I’m thinking is we’ve done some dark, I’m thinking that we’re going to do something bright now. We’re going through a lot of hard darkness and now going through a bright stage. I think that’s going to end up really good.
“Tap Tap” just dropped with HOYOUNG as a co-writer and is looking to be your biggest single yet. Tell me more about the viewpoint now with this song and Liminality – EP. LOVE.
YONGSEUNG: We’ve been through lots of things like concerts and our tour since we promoted our last single “Undercover.” This is an album coming off of those various experiences, as well as the first bright concept we’ve had in a while so we hope that it holds just as much meaning to fans as it does to us.
MINCHAN: It’s our first comeback with a bright concept ever since our debut era and I hope that we can prove to everyone that VERIVERY is able to pull off bright, happy concepts as well.
DONGHEON: I’m hoping that this album is able to provide a different experience as “Tap Tap” is a song that keeps you bouncing even in the winter. It’s a brighter, happier version of VERIVERY that people haven’t been seen in a while, so I hope the song leads to more opportunities for everyone to laugh a little more.
HOYOUNG: I’m excited to show to our VERRER how VERIVERY can pull off a brighter concept with almost four years under our belt.
What else do you want to tell VERRER fans at this point?
MINCHAN: I want to say thanks to all the fans who came to our show. We tried hard for this tour. Please look forward to what’s next.
GYEHYEON: With the bright, bouncy song that we’ve come back with, VERIVERY will make sure to provide everyone with tons of love so that we could all wrap up the year happily.
BTS‘ Jungkook dropped the video for his solo track “Dreamers” on Tuesday (Nov. 22), a kind of travelogue in which the singer explores Qatar, the site of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The dreamy song that is part of the official soundtrack of the global football classic that kicked off this week in the tiny Middle Eastern country features Jungkook singing alongside Qatari artist Fahad Al-Kubaisi.
The clip opens with a stunned-looking Jungkook wandering through a brightly lit corridor before emerging into a space filled with pulsing lasers as dancers in a market join him on a stroll through the city. Meanwhile, Al-Kubaisi sings his bits from the deck of a huge schooner as Jungkook croons from atop a skyscraper amid images of children watching digital whales break free from the bonds of the ocean and soar above skyscrapers.
The visual ends with Junkook singing the song’s hopeful refrain, “Look who we are, we are the dreamers/ We make it happen, cuz we believe it,” surrounded by dancers holding up flags from around the world. Jungkook premiered the song at the opening ceremonies for the quadrennial international tournament over the weekend.
The solo BTS star is one of the few pop artists who’ve participated in the events surrounding this year’s World Cup, which has come under scrutiny for the process of awarding the bid to the tiny religiously conservative Gulf skeikdom, where homosexuality is a crime and where officials banned a rainbow flag armband meant as a show of solidarity and diversity. Qatar has also come under scrutiny for the thousands of deaths among the migrant workers who helped build the stadiums where the games are being held, with reports that the laborers were paid unfair wages and housed in substandard, broiling conditions in the nation where temperatures can rise above 120 degrees in the summer.
“Dreamers” is Jungkook’s second solo song this year amid BTS’ ongoing hiatus, following on the heels of his “Left and Right” collaboration with Charlie Puth.
Watch the “Dreamers” video here.
Throughout Jung Kook‘s professional career, the BTS superstar has made a point to use his birthday to share more of himself as a musician with fans. Whether it’s been to upload a cover of a song by any of his favorite artists or share work-in-progress demos of his solo work, Jung Kook uses every Sept. 1 to celebrate music in a big way.
Even before his official debut with BTS in 2013, Jung Kook had shared covers and collaborated with his band members on SoundCloud tracks — crucial early steps in creating the BTS ARMY we know today. Despite being the group’s youngest member — who debuted when he was still a teenager — Jung Kook has always taken the time to share the latest artists and tracks he loves while also giving fans glimpses into his budding career as a soloist.
While BTS ensured the focus remained on the group during their first nine years together, the moments each member has been able to show on his own are particularly precious. From memorable performances at awards shows to different television appearances, Jung Kook has made sure that each of his solo moments — sometimes alongside artists he enjoys, including individual BTS members — counts.
To celebrate BTS’ “golden maknae,” take the time to honor Jung Kook’s musicality with his best moments as a soloist. With works uploaded as early as 2013 to his first top 40 hit as a soloist, one can hear the ongoing growth and development in his vocals, technique, showmanship and confidence through the years.
Below, revisit the performances where Jung Kook acts as one of the leading performers and enjoy the evolution.
RM is getting ready to bare his soul and share what the past few crazy years of his life has been like in his forthcoming debut solo album, Indigo. The BTS rapper shared an identity film teaser for the project on Tuesday (Nov. 22), which gave fans an inside look at what to expect from the LP leading up to its December release.
The film, naturally, features an abundance of the color blue. Thirty-four seconds into the sparse visual, more details about the project emerge via text: “Record of RM : Indigo. From the colors of nature, human, etc. Documentation of my youth in the moment of independent phase. Sun-bleached record faded like old jeans. The last archive of my twenties,” the video reads before gracefully fading out.
The new description acts as a continuation of the first hints fans got when BigHit Music shared the album announcement earlier this month. “Indigo recounts the stories and experiences RM has gone through, like a diary,” an official press release said of the project. “The album will present a different charm of RM with various featured artists.” (None of the featured artists have been announced so far.)
Though Indigo will be RM’s first full-length solo album, the rapper previously released two mixtapes. He was the first of the BTS members to share solo material, dropping his self-titled mixtape in 2015, which contained singles “Do You,” “Awakening” and “Joke.” RM then released a second mixtape in 2018 titled Mono. “Forever Rain” was released as the only single from this latter body of work, and the set debuted at No. 26 on the Billboard 200.
Indigo is set to be released via BigHit on Dec. 2. Watch the identity film for the album in the video above.