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Wings is the second full-length album by BTS. It was released on October 10, 2016 with "Blood Sweat & Tears" serving as the album's title track. The physical release has four versions: W, I, N, and G. A repackage titled You Never Walk Alone was released on February 13, 2017.

Background[]

Prior to the release of Wings on October 10, BTS held a press conference to discuss the concepts behind the album. Group leader RM explained: "The harder a temptation is to resist, the more you think about it and vacillate. That uncertainty is part of the process of growing. ["Blood Sweat & Tears"] is a song that shows how one thinks, chooses, and grows."

In addition to "Blood Sweat & Tears", most of the songs on Wings were co-written by BTS members, with all members aside from Jungkook receiving production credit on the 15-track album.[1]

Themes and excerpts from Demian by Hermann Hesse were scattered throughout the concept for Wings, including RM reading a short passage from the novel as a voiceover in the "Blood Sweat & Tears" music video. This music video is the first released by BTS to include an interlude that is not found in the original track. In an interview with Music Bank on October 15, RM explained that their album was inspired in many ways by Hesse’s novel because there were many similarities between the themes of the novel and what the group wanted to say with their new music. All members of the band read the novel to better understand its themes in preparation for the Wings release.[2] Minumsa Publishing Group confirmed on their official Facebook page that sales of Demian had increased immediately following the release of Blood Sweat & Tears.[3]

In an interview with Entertainment Relay on November 5, Suga revealed that he didn't believe that "Blood Sweat & Tears" would do well because he thought the song was "dirty" for its reference to bodily secretions.[4]

Pre-release[]

On September 4, to the surprise of fans around the world, Big Hit Entertainment released a mysterious video on their official YouTube channel titled “WINGS Short Film #1 BEGIN,” featuring Jungkook.

The following day, a second short film was released titled "WINGS Short Film #2 LIE", featuring Jimin. On September 7, another short film was released titled "WINGS Short Film #3 STIGMA", featuring V. A fourth film titled "WINGS Short Film #4 FIRST LOVE" featuring Suga followed on September 8, and a fifth video on September 9 titled "WINGS Short Film #5 REFLECTION" featured RM. "WINGS Short Film #6 MAMA" featuring J-Hope was released on September 10, with the seventh and final film "WINGS Short Film #7 AWAKE" featuring Jin was released on September 12. All of the films included voice-overs from RM reading from the novel Demian.

On September 25, Big Hit Entertainment announced the next BTS comeback would take place October 10, 2016. Along with this announcement, the first trailer for the groups return was released, titled "Boy Meets Evil" and featuring J-Hope.[5]

Wings was put out for pre-sale on September 28 and amassed more than 500,000 copies within a week, tripling the pre-sale count of The Most Beautiful Moment In Life, Pt. 2 and breaking the record set by The Most Beautiful Moment In Life: Young Forever with 300,000 pre-sale copies.[6]

The same day, Big Hit Entertainment released the first concept photos for the album, featuring Jungkook and RM. On September 29, the next concept photos were released, featuring Suga and Jimin, followed by photos featuring J-Hope and V on September 30. The final concept photos featuring Jin and group photos were released on October 3.[7][8][9][10]

On October 5, Big Hit Entertainment shared the track list for the album, announcing "Blood Sweat & Tears" as the title track for the album. The announcement also revealed that the songs sampled on the previously released short films would be among the 15 tracks, and that each member of the group would have solo tracks on the album – a first for the group and a rare choice for a K-pop group.[11]

The physical release of the album was announced to include four versions: L, O, V, and E. Each version would include a different photobook, a note that references The Most Beautiful Moment In Life, a random photocard and stickers.[12]

Release[]

The album was released on October 10, 2016 with "Blood Sweat & Tears" as its title track, and the music video for the track was simultaneously released on the BTS official YouTube Channel.

"Blood Sweat & Tears" achieved an all-kill for BTS, with the song ranking No. 1 on all eight Korean music charts on the day of its debut. In addition, the 15 tracks on the album took over the top 15 spots on four of the Korean music charts on the same day.[13]

Wings debuted at No. 26 on the Billboard 200 chart, marking the best week ever for a K-pop chart to date. With the album entering the Billboard 200, BTS became the first K-pop act to log three entries on the chart, having previously seen The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Pt. 2 chart in December 2015 and The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever chart in May 2016.

The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard World Albums chart, the second No. 1 for the group. "Blood Sweat & Tears" debuted No. 1 on the Billboard World Digital Songs chart, the second No. 1 song on the chart for the group. Wings debuted at No. 19 on the Billboard Canadian Albums chart, breaking the previous record for highest K-pop debut on the chart set by their previous album Young Forever at No. 99.[14]

Upon its debut, Wings reached the No. 1 spot on the iTunes charts in 26 countries. "Blood Sweat & Tears" topped the real-time popularity chart on China's largest music site QQMusic, and Wings also charted at No. 1 on the site's daily and weekly album sales charts.[15]

On November 19, Big Hit Entertainment released a teaser video for the group's new concert series, titled "2017 BTS Live Trilogy Episode III: The Wings Tour".[16]

On June 13, 2017, BTS released a parody video of their original "Blood Sweat & Tears" video as part of their "2017 BTS Home Party" event in Seoul.

Commercial success[]

The video for "Blood Sweat & Tears" became the fastest K-pop group video to reach 30 million views, reaching the milestone in only 13 days and 20 hours as of October 23, 2016.[17] The music video also became the third BTS video to reach 100 million views on February 20, 2017. This achievement made the video the second fastest music video by a K-pop group to reach 100 million views, taking only 134 days. The music video also broke the record for the most likes received by a K-pop group music video, with 1.7 million likes as of the same date.[18]

As of July 11, "Blood Sweat & Tears" reached 50 million streams on the Spotify streaming service, making it the first K-pop song to have ever reached the milestone.[19]

On October 15, 2016, BTS became the first Korean artist to chart on the United Kingdom Official Charts (the UK equivalent of the Billboard charts), ranking No. 62 on the album chart and No. 16 on the Indie album chart.[20]

The music video for "Blood Sweat & Tears" became the third BTS video to reach 200 million views on October 29, following "Dope" in August and "Fire" in September of the same year.[21]

On November 10, Wings ranked No. 1 on the Gaon Chart October Album Chart with 710,000 copies sold, and became the highest-selling album on Gaon Chart of all time.[22] The album broke its own record again on the January Album Charts by selling 773, 356 copies.[23]

For the week of November 24, Wings remained on the Billboard 200 chart at No. 106, making BTS the first K-pop band to have an entry on the chart for more than one week. This also marked four overall weeks BTS had spent on the chart between multiple albums, breaking the record for weeks spent on the chart by a K-pop group.

"Blood Sweat & Tears" also debuted on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 at No. 86 for the week of November 24, the highest any K-pop group had ranked on the chart.[24]

As of February 14, 2017, Wings set the record for longest a K-pop group has been in the top 10 of the Billboard World Albums chart, remaining in the Top 10 for 18 consecutive weeks after its release. BTS also became the first Korean group to appear on the Billboard Top 200 chart for three weeks in a row with Wings.[25]

Awards and nominations[]

Mnet Asian Music Awards[]

Year Award Result
2016 HotelsCombined Album of the Year Nominated

Soompi Awards[]

Year Award Result
2017 Album of the Year Won

Hanteo Awards[]

Year Award Result
2016 Album Award Won

Gold Disk Awards[]

Year Award Result
2017 Disk Bonsang Won

Seoul Music Awards[]

Year Award Result
2017 Record of the Year (Album) Won

Gaon Chart Music Awards[]

Year Award Result
2017 Album of the Year - 4th Quarter Won

Nickelodeon Brazil Kid's Choice Award[]

Year Award Result
2017 International Show of the Year in Brazil Won

Records set and broken[]

  •      – Currently held record
  •      – Broke own record
Record title Record set Record holder Record date Previous record Previous record holder Previous record date
Highest pre-sale for a Korean album 500,000 copies Wings September 28, 2016 300,000 copies The Most Beautiful Moment In Life: Young Forever April 27, 2016
Highest K-pop debut on Billboard Canadian Albums Chart No. 19 Wings October 29, 2016 No. 99 The Most Beautiful Moment In Life: Young Forever May 21, 2016
Highest-charting K-pop album on the Billboard 200 No. 26 Wings October 26, 2016 No. 61 Crush - 2NE1 March 15, 2014
Highest debut by a Korean artist on the Billboard 200 No. 26 Wings October 26, 2016 No. 61 Crush - 2NE1 March 15, 2014
Highest-charting K-pop group album of all time No. 26 Wings October 26, 2016 No. 61 Crush - 2NE1 March 15, 2014
Highest-charting album on Gaon Chart 710,000 copies Wings November 10, 2016 - - -
Most weeks spent on the Billboard 200 by a K-pop group 4 weeks overall BTS (Wings) November 24, 2016 - - -
Most weeks on Billboard 200 for K-pop group album 2 weeks (tie) Wings October 2016 2 weeks You Never Walk Alone March 2017
You Never Walk Alone
Longest run in Top 10 of Billboard World Albums Chart by a K-pop group 18 weeks Wings February 14, 2017 - - -
Longest consecutive weeks by K-pop album on the Billboard World Albums Chart 20 weeks (tie) The Most Beautiful Moment In Life: Young Forever March 4, 2017 20 weeks The Most Beautiful Moment In Life: Young Forever April 30, 2016
Wings
Longest consecutive weeks by K-pop album on the Billboard World Albums Chart 20 weeks (tie) The Most Beautiful Moment In Life: Young Forever February 3, 2018 20 weeks (tie) The Most Beautiful Moment In Life: Young Forever March 4, 2017
Wings Wings
Love Yourself: Her
Longest-charting K-pop album on Billboard World Albums Chart 37 weeks (tie) Wings March 6, 2018 - - -
You Never Walk Alone

Track list[]

  1. "Intro: Boy Meets Evil" - 2:02
  2. "Blood Sweat & Tears (피 땀 눈물)" - 3:33
  3. "Begin" (Jungkook Solo) - 3:51
  4. "Lie" (Jimin Solo) - 3:37
  5. "Stigma" (V Solo) - 3:39
  6. "First Love" (Suga Solo) - 3:04
  7. "Reflection" (Rap Monster Solo) - 3:56
  8. "Mama" (J-Hope Solo) - 3:35
  9. "Awake" (Jin Solo) - 3:35
  10. "Lost" - 4:01
  11. "BTS Cypher 4" - 4:52
  12. "Am I Wrong" - 3:33
  13. "21st Century Girl (21세기 소녀)" - 3:15
  14. "2! 3! (둘!셋! (그래도 좋은 날이더 많기를))" - 4:38
  15. "Interlude: Wings" - 2:23

DVD (Japan edition only)

  1. "Blood Sweat & Tears (피 땀 눈물)" music video

Gallery[]

Video links[]

References[]

  1. BTS Talks Meaning Of “WINGS” And What They Hope To Achieve With Their 2nd Album
  2. BTS Talks About Using “Demian” In “WINGS” Concept And Names Variety Show They’d Like To Appear On
  3. 민음사 @MinumsaBooks September 5, 2016
  4. Suga says he didn't think 'Blood, Sweat, Tears' would do well because it's 'dirty'
  5. BTS Drops Comeback Trailer Entitled “Boy Meets Evil,” Starring J-Hope
  6. BTS Sells A Whopping 500,000 Copies Of “WINGS” In 1st Week Of Pre-Sale
  7. BTS Shares Concept Photos Of Jungkook And Rap Monster For Return With “WINGS”
  8. BTS’s Jimin And Suga Feature In New “WINGS” Concept Photos
  9. BTS’s V And J-Hope Feature In Gorgeous New Concept Photos For “WINGS”
  10. BTS Unveils Concept Photos For Jin And Group (And They Were Worth The Wait)
  11. BTS Reveals Track List For 2nd Full Album “WINGS”
  12. What to Know About BTS' 'Love Yourself: Her' Before It Drops
  13. BTS Achieves All Kill With “Blood Sweat & Tears,” Takes Over Charts With “WINGS”
  14. BTS' 'Wings' Sets New U.S. Record for Highest-Charting, Best-Selling K-Pop Album
  15. BTS Sweeps Worldwide iTunes Charts With “WINGS,” MV Hits 3 Million Views In Less Than 10 Hours
  16. Watch - BTS Teases New Concert Series “The Wings Tour” With Gorgeous Video
  17. BTS’s “Blood Sweat & Tears” MV Breaks Another Record As Views Continue To Soar
  18. BTS’s “Blood, Sweat & Tears” MV Hits 100 Million Views
  19. BTS are the first K-Pop group to be listened to more than 50 million times on Spotify!
  20. BTS’s “WINGS” Makes History As First Korean Album On UK’s Official Charts
  21. BTS’s “Blood Sweat & Tears” Becomes Their 3rd MV To Hit 200 Million Views
  22. BTS Creates New Record On Gaon Chart With “WINGS”
  23. BTS’s “WINGS” Breaks Own Record On Gaon Chart
  24. BTS Extend Chart Dominance: 'Wings' Spends 2nd Week on Billboard 200, 'Blood Sweat & Tears' Debuts on Canadian Hot 100
  25. BTS’ ‘Wings’ sets new Billboard ‘World Albums’ Chart record!
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