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RM‘s debut solo album, Indigo, has topped this week’s new music poll.
Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (Dec. 2) on Billboard, choosing the BTS member’s long-awaited full-length as their favorite new music release of the past week.
Indigo beat out new music by Morgan Wallen (One Thing at a Time), Lewis Capaldi (“Pointless”), Kelly Clarkson and Ariana Grande (“Santa, Can’t You Hear Me”), Latto featuring GloRilla and Gangsta Boo (“FTCU”), and others.
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The K-pop superstar’s new offering features guest turns from a wide array of global stars, including Erykah Badu (opener “Yun”), Anderson .Paak (“Still Life”), Epik High’s Tablo (“All Day”), South Korean singer-songwriter Kim Sawol (“Forg_tful”), and more.
“Indigo recounts the stories and experiences RM has gone through, like a diary,” a news release revealed ahead of the album, promising to “present a different charm” to the rapper.
RM becomes the latest member of BTS to deliver a solo LP, just months after J-Hope dropped the 10-track Jack in the Box. He previously released his self-titled EP in 2015 and follow-up Mono in 2018.
Trailing behind Indigo on the fan-voted poll was Wallen’s three-track sampler, One Thing at a Time, with 7% of the vote. Placing third was Capaldi’s new romantic ballad “Pointless,” with 1% of the vote.
See the final results of this week’s new music release poll below.
Dedicated ARMY veterans will likely be dissecting the set of RM’s NPR Tiny Desk concert for the rest of the month. To celebrate the release of his solo album, Indigo, the BTS rapper born Kim Nam-joon recreated an amazingly detailed replica of the Washington, D.C.-based Tiny Desk office set in South Korea, complete with shelves packed with tasty Easter eggs.
But the focus, of course, was on the vocals, which the 29-year-old star delivered on with ease, beginning with the jazzy opening track of his three-song set, “seoul.” The chilled-out bilingual song from RM’s 2018 mono mixtape set a mellow mood for the 18-minute mini-show, complete with warm keyboards and restrained beats from drummer JK Kim.
After the opening track, RM said it was about his second home town in South Korea, before introducing his band and noting that the album version of the opening track from Indigo, “Yun,” features R&B legend Erykah Badu, who, unfortunately, could not make it to Seoul for the session. RM also explained that it was inspired by Korean painter Yun Hyong-keun, who, “was always saying that you should firstly be a human before you do some art or do something, so this song is inspired by his lifelong message,” he said, adding that one of the artist’s images is on the Indigo cover.
While the band played the slow-rolling soul rap tune, Badu’s recorded vocals floated above the chorus as RM dropped his mashed-up English/Korean bars over the loungey arrangement. “F–k the trendsetter/ I’mma turn back the time/ Back the time, far to when I was nine,” he rapped before seamlessly slipping into Korean for the rest of the first verse.
RM said that though he’s been doing music for 15 years — 10 of them with BTS — Indigo is his first official full-length solo album. “I went all the way just to release these 10 tracks and 10 colors out of my soul and out of my ego,” he said of the album that dropped on Friday (Dec. 2) in the midst of BTS’ open-ended group hiatus.
“This time I finally could show the world what’s really inside me and what I wanted to do,” he added of the collection he’s been working on since 2019 with the band, which also featured Jaeshin Park on bass and DOCSKIM on keyboards.
For the final track, RM slid into Indigo‘s funky second track, “Still Life,” which he said was inspired by a visit to a “random” museum where he saw lots of paintings from the 19th century with that title, giving him the idea to write a song about his life being like a canvas on which he exhibits himself to the whole world. The soul clap tune was the perfect excuse to bust out some of BTS’ signature coordinated dance moves, but given the setting, RM had to make do with dropping his emphatic verses from an office chair as the band swirled up some sinuous grooves behind him.
Watch RM’s Tiny Desk concert below.
The new year will bring a bounty of BTS material for ARMY. In the midst of the group’s ongoing hiatus and flurry of solo activity, Disney+ has announced that it will air a documentary series about the K-pop icons in 2023 that promises to feature plenty of unseen footage from throughout their rise to global stardom.
BTS Monuments: Beyond the Star is described as a “music docu-series” focusing on the seven-member group that will stream exclusively on Disney+ that will “chart the incredible journey of 21st century pop icons BTS,” according to NME. Promising “unprecedented access,” the series will feature music and video footage shot over the band’s nine-year career, as well as a look at their daily lives and thoughts as they plan for their “second chapter.”
In a preview video unveiled on Wednesday (Nov. 30) on the Disney+ Singapore Twitter feed, the band promise that the series will feature the timeline of their growth and music from the beginning through today via “candid stories that have never been told.” Spokespeople for BTS and Disney+ could not be reached for comment at press time about the air date of the show in the United States.
Disney+ hasn’t yet announced when the shows will air in the U.S. “I hope you find new sides of us that are previously unseen,” Jungkook says at the end of the clip. BTS announced in July that they were going on hiatus, later promising to reunite at some point. In the meantime, they are all working on solo projects and the members are expected to begin signing up for their mandatory military service.
In the meantime, Jungkook recently performed at the opening ceremony for the World Cup in Qatar and RM is preparing the release of his debut solo album, Indigo, due out on Friday (Dec. 2).
Check out a preview of Beyond the Star below.
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.
Selena Gomez and BLACKPINK are together at last.
After collaborating on their sweet pop tune “Ice Cream” in 2020 — but filming the music video for the song separately, to be safe during the pandemic — Gomez and BLACKPINK have now crossed paths in person.
On Saturday (Nov. 26), Gomez shared a slideshow of photos of herself posing with Jisoo, Rosé, Jennie and Lisa, with everyone looking happy to be in each other’s company.
“Selpink chillin,” Gomez captioned her pictures with BLACKPINK.
Gomez wore jeans with a black to and coat, while the girls of BLACKPINK — who have been on tour — dressed in cute, coordinating band merch.
See their photos together on Instagram.
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.
Jisoo shared the stage with special guest Camila Cabello at BLACKPINK‘s concert in Los Angeles Saturday night (Nov. 19).
Jisoo and Camila sang “Liar,” a song off of Cabello’s Romance album that peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart in 2019. Cabello wore a custom BLACKPINK outfit for the occasion at Banc of California Stadium.
On BLACKPINK’s Born Pink World Tour, Jisoo has been performing “Liar” for her part of the solo act of the show.
Jisoo shared a snapshot of the two together on Saturday in an Instagram Story, tagging Cabello and writing, “Love youuuuuu.”
Watch a fan-filmed clip of the pair singing “Liar” below.
Let the games begin! BTS‘ Jung Kook helped launch the 2022 FIFA World Cup with a show-stopping performance of his new song “Dreamers.”
The K-pop superstar took the stage at Qatar’s Al Bayt Stadium on Sunday (Nov. 20), shortly after the official release of the uplifting anthem, which features Qatari singer and producer Fahad Al Kubaisi.
Dressed in all black and surrounded by a group of dancers, Jung Kook gave the first live performance of “Dreamers” during the event. He was later joined onstage by Al Kubaisi.
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The track is part of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 soundtrack that includes contributions from artists like Nicki Minaj, Maluma, Davido, Myriam Fares, and others. A music video for “Dreamers” will drop on Wednesday (Nov. 23).
“Dreamers,” Jung Kook’s third solo track this year, follows February’s “Stay Alive” (produced by his bandmate Suga) and “Left & Right” (his Billboard Hot 100 summer hit with Charlie Puth).
The new song features production from RedOne, the pop-dance producer who joined FIFA in late 2021 as Creative Entertainment Executive and has helped helm signature hits for superstars like Minaj, Lady Gaga, and Enrique Iglesias.
Watch Jung Kook’s performance at the 2022 World Cup opening ceremony here.
Wonho is officially bound to enlist in the South Korean military next month, but that doesn’t mean you’ve heard the last of him. In Wednesday (Nov. 16) statements from his agency and the K-Pop soloist himself, it was confirmed that he’ll be carrying out his mandatory eighteen months minimum as a public service worker starting Dec. 5 — but not before he prepares a few projects for his fans to enjoy while he’s away.
“Wonho will enlist as a public service worker on December 5th 2022 to fulfill his duty as a Korean citizen,” read the statement from Wonho’s reps at Highline Entertainment, posted to his Daum Café page. “We ask for your warm love and support until the day he finished his service and returns in good health.”
The 29-year-old performer posted a letter of his own on the website, addressed to his fanbase WENEE.
“Each and every day that I’ve spent together with WENEE up until now, we’ve made so many memories together that if I just spent one day thinking back on each one of those days, it would already be time for us to meet again,” it reads, translated from Korean to English, according to Soompi.
Wonho first found stardom as a member of the boy band Monsta X, with whom he released several albums and EPs before departing the group in late 2019. Since then, he’s released four EPs as a solo artist and dropped a two-song project titled Bittersweet just over a month ago.
“I’ll prepare lots of things so that WENEE won’t get bored,” his letter continues. “And I hope WENEE will spend that time happily, freely catching up on the things that you haven’t been able to do up until now while waiting for the day that we’ll meet again!”
Lisa Simpson is officially a BlackPink fan — and according to one of the band’s members, the feeling is mutual. After the famed spiky-headed eternal pre-tween revealed she’s a hardcore Blink on Sunday’s (Nov. 13) episode of The Simpsons, Jisoo took to Instagram stories to share her excitement.
The BlackPink tribute came during a scene where Homer Simpson and his daughter sit in the car and he tries to guess what kind of music his jazz-loving daughter wants to listen to. “I like K-pop, dad,” Lisa says. Homer then cues up BlackPink’s “Lovesick Girls” and joins the rest of the characters in the car in singing the lyrics, nailing even the Korean-language parts.
After the episode aired, Jisoo posted a clip of the scene on her story and wrote: “Gahhh! Is this real? Oh yeah!”
The 27-year-old singer is currently touring North America with the other three ladies of BlackPink — Lisa, Rosé and Jennie — in support of their September sophomore record, Born Pink. The Billboard 200 No. 1 album came two years after the band’s full-length debut, The Album, on which Lisa Simpson’s jam, “Lovesick Girls,” was a single along with “How You Like That” and “Ice Cream” feat. Selena Gomez.
BlackPink is just the latest in a long history of artists to receive a shoutout from the longest running primetime scripted show ever, now in its 34th season. Though only time will tell if the girl group gets to make a cameo on the show in the future, The Simpsons is famous for inviting big name musicians to guest on an episode and lend their voices to animated versions of themselves; recent appearances include The Weeknd, who starred in a season 33 storyline, and Billie Eilish and Finneas, who bonded with Lisa over music in a Disney + standalone special.
See the Simpsons scene Jisoo reacted to below: