Maps of Music

Be (2020)

Where the lyrics of Be take you, and where it was really made.

Be was recorded across several studios rather than one, with locations in Seoul and the Los Angeles area.

Key places

Big Hit studio, Seoul (2020)

Recording site Big Hit Studios, Seoul — Big Hit is credited as a studio used to record the album. The point is placed at city-centre level. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: Private company studio, not open to visitors.

Echo Bar, North Hollywood (2020)

Recording site Schnee Studio — Echo Bar in North Hollywood is credited as a studio used for the album. The point is placed at city-centre level. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Henson Recording Studios, Los Angeles (2020)

Recording site Henson Recording Studios — Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles is credited as a studio used to record the album. The point is placed at the building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Be: the fifth Korean-language and ninth overall studio album by BTS
• Released November 20, 2020 through Big Hit Entertainment
• Released nine months after the predecessor Map of the Soul: 7 (2020)
• Eight songs, 28 minutes 30 seconds long
• Primarily a pop record with hip hop, EDM, disco, synth-pop, funk and R&B elements

Background

• Created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, drawing on BTS's perspective of life during it
• Title 'Be' stands for 'being' and reflects on the present times
• Map of the Soul Tour, slated for April 2020, was postponed after the pandemic began
• RM revealed during a YouTube broadcast that a new album was in progress
• Members wrote songs and took part in concepts, themes and visual design
• Jimin handled A&R as the link between the group and the label
• Jungkook also directed the music video

Recording

• Suga, V, J-Hope, Jin and Jungkook handled production
• V and RM supervised the graphics and design of the album
• Studios credited for the album include Analog Lab, Big Hit, Dogg Bounce, Echo Bar, Genius Lab, Henson, Hope World, RKive and Schmuzik
• The lead single Life Goes On was released with a music video on the release day

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• BTS is a South Korean boy band formed in 2010
• Big Hit Entertainment CEO Bang Si-hyuk wanted to form a hip hop group around the underground rapper RM
• Name is the Korean phrase Bangtan Sonyeondan, literally Bulletproof Boy Scouts
• Debuted in 2013 under Big Hit Entertainment with single album 2 Cool 4 Skool

Members

• Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V and Jung Kook
• Members co-write or co-produce much of their material

Career

• Started out as a hip hop act and expanded into a wide range of genres
• Lyrics cover mental health, troubles of school-age youth, coming of age, loss and the journey toward self-love
• Wings (2016) was their first album to sell one million copies in South Korea
• 2018: first South Korean act to top Billboard 200 with Love Yourself: Tear
• 2020: first all-South Korean act to reach number one on Billboard Hot 100 with Dynamite
• Best-selling musical act in South Korean history
• First Asian act to sell out Wembley Stadium

Around this album

• Crossed into the global market by 2017
• February 2017: repackaged Wings as You Never Walk Alone and began the Wings Tour
• May 2017: won Top Social Artist at the Billboard Music Awards, the first K-pop group to win a Billboard award
• September 2017: released Love Yourself: Her, opening the Love Yourself series

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Critics hailed the album's pop sound and its eclectic experimentation with musical styles
• Many reviewers praised the album for its authenticity and simplicity
• Vox called it 'a loudly retro mix of pop sounds ranging from frothy to funky, melancholic to mellow'
• NME's Rhian Daly described it as the 'most accurate musical encapsulation of the roller coaster that is pandemic life so far'
• AllMusic's Neil Z. Yeung praised the openness and intimacy of the lyrics
• Rolling Stone's Jeff Benjamin called it BTS's 'most on-brand album'
• Pitchfork's Dani Blum said it 'fixates on the frustration and grief of life in quarantine'
• Metacritic gave it a weighted average of 80 out of 100 from 12 critic scores
• A few reviewers found the album unadventurous; Clash's Malvika Padin called it 'far simpler' than past releases
• Slant Magazine's Sophia Ordaz traded 'overstimulating spectacle for low-key introspection' in a mixed review

Reappraisal

• Stereogum, Time and The Quietus found the album soothing and praised its introspective lyrics on isolation and quarantine
• Exclaim! writer Eva Zhu felt its more laidback sound appealed to newer audiences

Records

• Debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with 242,000 album-equivalent units
• Fifth US chart-topper for BTS
• Debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart with 19,562 first-week copies
• Topped the Irish Albums Chart, New Zealand, Norway, Denmark, Poland and Portugal
• Debuted at number one on South Korea's Gaon Album Chart with over 2.2 million first-week copies
• Certified triple million by the Korea Music Content Association (KMCA) in March 2021
• Reached number one on the Oricon Albums Chart and was certified platinum by the RIAJ

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The album was BTS's fifth US Billboard 200 number one, making the group the fastest to earn five such albums since the Beatles.
• Lead single Life Goes On debuted atop the Hot 100, the first song not sung in English to do so.
• Seven tracks charted on the Hot 100 at the same time, the most simultaneous entries by a Korean act.
• An Essential Edition with the same eight-song tracklist was announced on January 24, 2021, and released on February 19.
• At the MTV Unplugged special on February 23, 2021, the group gave the live premiere of Telepathy and Blue & Grey, two B-sides not performed since release.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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