BTS teaser kicks off month of big releases
Scenes from a trailer video for the upcoming BTS album “Map of the Soul: Persona” that was released on Wednesday at midnight features only the group’s leader RM. The three-minute video features the rapper performing a song that uses the melody from the group’s upcoming track “Persona.” [SCREEN CAPTURE]
The trailer video, featuring the group’s leader, RM, features a three-minute rap track over the melody of the group’s upcoming song, titled “Persona,” on the subject of expressing one’s true identity. RM starts his performance with the question, “Who am I?” hinting to the overall theme of the upcoming album of soul searching and finding one’s true identity. The song’s beat comes from the group’s title track off of the band’s 2014 album, “Skool Luv Affair.”
“The robot in the video has been made with a 3-D scanning technology, which was used to make a digital humanoid to express RM’s ‘persona,’” the group’s agency, Big Hit Entertainment, explained. Motion capturing technology was added with computer graphics to make the humanoid character, as well as other scenes of the video, according to the agency.
The septet announced that it will drop its latest album on April 12, followed by a live performance on the U.S. comedy program “Saturday Night Live” the next day, but BTS fans are not the only ones looking forward to April, as some of the biggest names in the K-pop scene have announced their latest releases to come in the near days.
Girl group IZ*ONE will start the month with its second EP, “HEART*IZ,” on April 1, its first release since the group’s debut EP “COLOR*IZ” came out in October. The 12-member project girl group made its official debut last autumn after it won its slots through the third season of cable channel Mnet’s audition program “Produce 48,” which aired in the spring.
Chen of boy band Exo will also drop his first solo EP “April, and A Flower” on the same day. The six-track EP comes as Chen’s official solo debut, after he has proved his vocal skills through various singles such as “Everytime” (2016) and “Best Luck” (2014).
The next day will see a release from perhaps Korea’s biggest and most loved female folk duo, Bolbbalgan4 (BOL4) and their new EP “Puberty Book1 Bom.” The duo made its debut in 2016, and had a hit with “Galaxy” (2016), which displayed a perfect harmony between main vocalist An Ji-yeong’s unique voice and guitarist Woo Ji-yun’s exquisite songwriting. The duo will also hold a series of concerts on May 4 and 5 at the Blue Square iMarket Hall, central Seoul.
Girl group Blackpink, which recently became the first K-pop group to accumulate 20 million subscribers to its YouTube channel, announced that it will drop its new EP, “Kill This Love,” on April 5, just nine months after its hit song “Ddu-du Ddu-du” was released. The group shared the news this week with multiple posters featuring each of the members.
Though the release date has not yet been finalized, girl group Twice will drop new music in April after it return from its first-ever Japanese dome tour. Having began its journey on March 21 at the Kyocera Dome, the group will perform at the Tokyo Dome both today and tomorrow, and finish off with a concert at Nagoya Dome on April 6.
BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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