Maps of Music

You Never Walk Alone (2017)

Where the lyrics of You Never Walk Alone take you, and where it was really made.

The bus stop on this cover does not run any buses: it is a photo spot the city of Gangneung built on the beach where the cover was shot.

Key places

A bus stop where no bus stops (2017)

Album cover BTS Bus Stop, Jumunjin Beach (Hyangho) — The album photos were shot on Jumunjin Beach in Gangneung. The city of Gangneung built a replica of the cover's bus stop on the beach, and it serves as a photo spot rather than a real stop for local buses. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: Take an intercity bus or KTX to Gangneung, then a local bus toward Jumunjin; the stop is on the coast at Hyangho Beach.

Spring Day, recorded in Seoul (2017)

Recording site Big Hit Studios, Seoul — BTS recorded the vocals for the lead single Spring Day at Big Hit Studios in Seoul. The pin marks the city only, because the studio's street address is not confirmed in the sources. Google Maps · Apple Maps

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

Album story

Overview

• You Never Walk Alone is the repackaged version of Wings
• Wings is the second Korean studio album and fourth overall studio album by BTS
• Continuation of Wings with stories not included in the previous album
• Messages of hope and consolation meant to heal the youth of the generation
• Adds four new tracks, including lead single Spring Day and second single Not Today
• The other two new tracks are Outro: Wings, a remake of a track from the previous album, and A Supplementary Story: You Never Walk Alone

Background

• Wings was released on 10 October 2016 through Big Hit Entertainment
• 18 November 2016: Big Hit released a teaser for a Wings concert tour
• Big Hit announced return on 13 February 2017 with part two of Wings
• 2 and 3 February 2017: concept photos showed the physical album in two versions, Left and Right
• 7 February 2017: track list revealed Outro: Wings as a remake from the previous album
• Teasers on 10 and 11 February pointed to Spring Day and Not Today as the singles
• Physical release came with photobook, photocard, mini standee and poster
• Spring Day video released on 12 February 2017, the same day as a comeback preview show on Naver V LIVE
• Wings Tour followed from 18 February 2017
• Group set record for shortest gap between consecutive concerts at Gocheok Sky Dome

Recording

• Spring Day vocals recorded at Big Hit's studio in Seoul
• Main melody of Spring Day written by RM
• Spring Day video directed by Lumpens (YongSeok Choi) and GDW

Cover

• Cover photos taken at Jumunjin Beach in Gangneung on Korea's east coast
• In 2018 the city of Gangneung built a replica of the cover's bus stop on the beach as a photo spot, not a stop for local buses

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · m.koreaherald.com

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 · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Critics wrote about the repackage mainly through its two singles
• Billboard's Tamar Herman described Spring Day as an alt hip hop song infused with rock instrumentals and EDM synths
• Spring Day mixes BTS's known rap elements with dreamy vocals and yearning lyrics
• Herman called Not Today the dual single counterpart to Spring Day, a power anthem for all the underdogs in the world

Reappraisal

• Dazed Digital placed Spring Day at number 1 on its list of 20 best K-pop songs of 2017
• Dazed Digital described Spring Day as an intelligent, compelling and elegantly restrained study of loss and longing
• Dazed Digital wrote that the song marked the closing of a formative chapter in BTS history

Records

• Drew more than 700,000 physical pre-orders, highest for the first half of 2017 (up from 500,000 for Wings)
• Sold 373,750 copies in first week on Gaon weekly chart, breaking the record set by Wings
• Reached 1.49 million copies in its first month, a South Korean monthly record
• Total Gaon sales listed at more than one million copies
• Debuted at number 61 on Billboard 200 and number 1 on Billboard World Albums
• All four new songs took the top four places on Billboard World Digital Songs, a first for a K-pop act
• Spring Day debuted at number 15 on Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 and reached the US iTunes top 10, a first for a K-pop group
• Sold 144,400 copies in first week on QQ Music in China
• Won Hanteo Album Award
• Won Gaon Chart Music Awards album of the year for the first quarter
• Nominated for Album of the Year at the 2017 Melon Music Awards; Spring Day won Best Song of the Year there

Sources: web.archive.org · web.archive.org · web.archive.org · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Jumunjin Beach, where the cover was shot, became a popular tourist spot after it appeared in the tvN series Guardian: The Lonely and Great God, which aired from December 2016 to January 2017
• KBS deemed Outro: Wings unfit for broadcast
• The Spring Day video reached nearly 10 million views within 24 hours and broke the K-pop record for the fastest video to 10 million views, a record the Not Today video then broke
• Within an hour of release Spring Day topped eight online music sites, and the demand briefly made Melon inaccessible
• A second Not Today video, released a week after the first, featured choreography by Keone Madrid
• All four new songs held the top four slots on the Billboard World Digital Songs chart, making BTS the first act to do so

Sources: m.koreaherald.com · en.wikipedia.org · web.archive.org · en.wikipedia.org · web.archive.org

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