The EP debuted at number one on the USBillboard 200, making BTS the first band sincethe Beatles to have three number-one albums in less than a year. The album also topped the UK, Scottish, New Zealand and Australian charts, making BTS the first Korean act to achieve a number-one album in each of these countries. Moreover, the album sold 3.2 million copies in one month, making itthe best-selling album in South Korea, replacing the previous record-holder of 24 years.
BTS first announcedMap of the Soul: Persona on March 11, 2019, pre-orders began on March 13.[8] The EP marked a "new era" in the band's discography, after the completion of itsLove Yourself series in 2018 with the release of theLove Yourself: Tear andLove Yourself: Answer albums.[9] It was set for release before the band embarked on the stadium extension of itsLove Yourself world tour, namedLove Yourself: Speak Yourself.[10]
On March 27, the group released the official "comebacktrailer" for their album, named "Persona" which would later become the introduction to the extended play. The solo featuredRM, the leader of BTS, and was described byRefinery29's Natalie Morin as "a colorful, dynamic song" and "nodding to the band's coming-of-age and self-discovery themes," which lyrics such as "Who am I? The question I had my whole life..." and "The flaws of mine that I know... The regrets that I don't even get sick of anymore."[11]
On March 31, Big Hit released the first two of four sets of concept photos labelled as Versions 1–4. "Version 1" showed "BTS playing around in a photo booth", with solo shots "show[ing] off each member in a variety of poses". "Version 2" highlighted "different sides, or personas, of each BTS member", as described byBillboard.[12] The final two versions were released on April 3. "Version 3" showed the band members posing withroses in rose-toned rooms. "Version 4" featured them posing with eithergrapes orstrawberries while wearing elegant clothing and jewelry.[13]
On April 7, the band released the first music video teaser, revealing that American singerHalsey would be on the track and that the name of the title track would be named "Boy with Luv."[14] One day later, on April 8, the group released the tracklist and album cover of the album, unveiling the seven tracks of the EP.[15] On April 10, BTS released the final, second teaser of the song which featured a longer sample of the track. A new version of theB-side track "Make It Right", featuring American singerLauv, was released on October 18 as the second single from the album.[16]
Map of the Soul: Persona has influences from various places. The album itself is based on theMurray Stein bookJung's Map of the Soul, about the theoriesCarl Jung created for psychology.[17]
The lead single, theHalsey collaboration "Boy with Luv," has been described as a funk pop song about happiness and love.[18] It serves as a parallel track to their earlier song "Boy in Luv".[19] In the video for "Persona" words such as "persona", "shadow", and "ego" were in it which directly references Carl Jung's theories.[20] It has been described as a song that is trying to answer the question of "Who am I?"[18]
"Mikrokosmos" and "Home" are songs dedicated to the fans, as they are the home that comforts BTS when they are tired and lonely.[18] The track "Mikrokosmos" is named after theGreek word for "microcosm", and the song's Korean name, 소우주 (romanized as so-u-ju), means the same.[21] BTS stated that "Mikrokosmos" would "paint the world through human interest".[19] "Mikrokosmos" co-writer Ryan Lawrie, who releases music as KOOLKID, has explained he wrote the song's signatureguitarriff in his bedroom at 3 in the morning, and says that working with BTS "literally changed [his] life."[22]
"Make It Right" is a collaboration between BTS andEd Sheeran,[19] and "Jamais Vu" is a unit song consisting of the membersJ-Hope,Jin, andJungkook.[18] The EP also features references toGreek mythology, with a track called "Dionysus",the Greek god of grapes and wine, and their concept photos depicting a few of the members holding grapes.[17] It was described as a strong hip hop track with an intense beat, significant rock influence, vocoder effects and features Jin's rockingadlibs throughout the song.[18]
The introductory video played before the band's performance at the2018 Mnet Asian Music Awards in Hong Kong had hinted at the title before its official announcement.[8] The album is reportedly the "beginning of a new chapter" for the band,[23] and the first in a new series of albums.[24]
On March 27, the trailer for the album was released named "Persona".[25] The solo featured RM, the leader of BTS. The trailer for the song "Boy with Luv" featuring American singerHalsey was released on April 7, 2019.[26] The second teaser trailer was released on April 10 and featured a longer sample of "Boy with Luv".[27]
BTS made several appearances on television and in live shows to promoteMap of the Soul: Persona. The group performed "Boy with Luv" for the first time on April 13, 2019, onSaturday Night Live[28] as the first Asian act to perform live on the show.[29][30] BTS also performed "Boy with Luv" with Halsey for the first time at the2019 Billboard Music Awards.[31] On May 15, BTS kicked offGood Morning America's 'Summer Concert Series' as headliners atCentral Park inManhattan with performances of "Boy with Luv" and "Fire".[32] On May 16, BTS recreatedThe Beatles' iconic 1964 U.S. television debut in their black-and-white performance of "Boy with Luv" atThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert.[33] They also sang "Make it Right" in the same show on May 18.[34] On May 21, BTS appeared on the finale ofThe Voice to perform "Boy with Luv".[35] They also performed the song atBritain Got Talent's fourth semi-final on May 30.[36]
On November 30, BTS performed "Intro: Persona", "Boy with Luv", "Mikrokosmos", and "Dionysus" at the2019 Melon Music Awards with throwbacks to "Boy in Luv" and "N.O" from their earlier works.[37] BTS then traveled to Japan to perform early singles "N.O" and "We are Bulletproof Pt. 2" before wrapping the set with "Boy with Luv", "Mikrokosmos", and "Dionysus" at the2019 Mnet Asian Music Awards.[38] Two days later, BTS appeared as a headliner at theKIIS-FM Jingle Ball in Los Angeles, performing earlier track "Mic Drop" along with "Boy with Luv" and "Make it Right". BTS performed in South Korea at theSBS Gayo Daejun andKBS Song Festival on December 25 and 27, respectively,[39][40] before traveling to New York'sTimes Square to usher in the new year with performances of "Make it Right" and "Boy with Luv" atDick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve.[41]
Map of the Soul: Persona received generally favorable reviews from critics. AtMetacritic, which assigns aweighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics,Map of the Soul: Persona received an average score of 74 based on 11 reviews.[42]
Neil Z. Young ofAllMusic gave the album a positive review, stating, "Although it's only the first piece of the puzzle, on its own,Map of the Soul: Persona is a fitting celebration for a group at the top of their game."[45] Rhian Daly ofNME wrote that "Map Of The Soul: Persona impressively and cohesively flies from genre to genre, but sounds more confident than ever."[50]
Douglas Greenwood ofThe Independent, however, gave the album a mixed review, pointing out that, "When they stand on their own two feet without the major co-stars, BTS are still fully confident of their own sound" but "the music, production-wise, falls a little by the wayside when it comes to breaking new ground."[48]
According toiriver Inc, the distributor for theMap of the Soul: Persona, stock preorders for the EP surpassed 2.68 million copies over the first five days of the preorder period.[52] The number was later updated to 3.07 million on April 11, the day before the EP's release.[18]
In South Korea, the EP recorded 2.13 million first-week sales, the highest number for an artist in the country since the Hanteo Chart began tracking weekly sales at its inception.[53]Map of the Soul: Persona debuted at number one on theGaon Album Chart with all tracks debuting on theGaon Digital Chart, including the lead single "Boy With Luv", which debuted at 17 and reached number one the following week.[54][55][56] The songs "Mikrokosmos" and "Make It Right" also reached the top ten in their second charting week, debuting at 31 and 39 before peaking at number eight and ten respectively.[56][57]Map of the Soul: Persona sold 3,229,032 copies in its first month the country, making it the highest-selling release on theGaon Music Chart since its inception in 2011.[58] The EP also became thebest-selling album of all time in South Korea, surpassingKim Gun-mo's 1995 albumWrongful Encounter.[c][63] In May 2019, the album received 3x Million certification from Gaon for surpassing three million total sales. BTS are the first group to be awarded the certification.[64]
In the United Kingdom,Persona's midweek sales were higher than the first week sales of BTS' three previous Top 20 releases combined, includingLove Yourself: Tear, the only BTS album to hit the UK top ten.[65]Map of the Soul: Persona eventually became BTS' first number one album in the United Kingdom, as well as the first Korean musical act to reach number one, with 26,500album-equivalent units, 68% of which (roughly 18,020 albums) came from pure sales.[66] The EP's lead single "Boy with Luv" debuted at number 13 on theUK singles chart, becoming BTS' first top-15 track in the United Kingdom.[67] Two other tracks fromPersona, "Mikrokosmos" and "Make It Right", debuted on the singles chart at number 71 and 74 respectively.[68]
The EP debuted at number one on Australia'sARIA Albums Chart, becoming the first chart-topping album sung in an Asian language. The album became BTS' fourth top-ten album in Australia, following their threeLove Yourself series albums:Love Yourself: Her,Love Yourself: Tear, andLove Yourself: Answer, released in 2017 and 2018. "Boy with Luv" debuted at number 10 on the ARIA Singles Chart, becoming BTS' first top-ten single in the country.[69]
In the United States,Map of the Soul: Persona debuted at number one on theBillboard 200 with 230,000album-equivalent units, including 196,000 pure album sales, becoming the band's biggest week in terms of units.[70] It is BTS' third number-one album in roughly 11 months, making them the first band to achieve three number-ones in a year sincethe Beatles in 1995 through 1996. BTS also became the band with the second-fastest accumulation of three number-one albums since theBillboard 200's inception.[d][71] The EP's lead single "Boy With Luv" debuted at number eight on theBillboard Hot 100 with 31,000 pure sales and 19.5 million streams.[72] The track was at the time BTS' highest-charting song and second top-ten song following "Fake Love", which peaked at number 10, and made them the first K-Pop group with multiple top-tens as well as the second Korean artist, followingPsy.[73] "Make It Right" also charted on the Hot 100, debuting at number 95 with 11,600 pure sales and making BTS the first Korean artist to have two simultaneous songs appear on the chart.[72][74] All songs from the EP appeared on theBillboard Digital Songs chart with a cumulative 82,100 purchases across all seven tracks.[72] It was certified Gold by theRIAA on August 22, for selling over half a million units, and is their second album after 2018'sLove Yourself: Answer to achieve this.[75]
With strong – yet underreported – global sales of 2.5 million pure album units,[76]Map of the Soul: Persona was named as the third best-selling album of 2019 by theInternational Federation of the Phonographic Industry.[77]Map of the Soul: Persona was also the second best-selling global album by a band only behindArashi's5x20 All the Best!! 1999–2019.[78] Attributing to the album's critical and commercial success worldwide, theIFPI named BTS as one of the best-selling artists of 2019 for a second consecutive year, making them the first Korean artist to achieve this.[79][80]
^BTS members and the Big Hit production team have individual "studios" within the greater Big Hit Entertainment building.[1] These are credited separately in the liner notes.[2]
^In South Korea, the album is distributed by Dreamus, an iriver subsidiary.[5]
^The total sales forWrongful Encounter are 2.86 million, however, when including illegal sales, the album is estimated have sold 3.3 million total copies.[59][60] This estimate has been acknowledged byGuinness World Records.[61] In May 2019, the sales forMap of the Soul: Persona reached 3,399,302 sales,[62] surpassing Kim's estimate.
^BTS is second to the Americanpop rock bandthe Monkees, who had three number-one albums in nine months and three weeks in 1967. The former second place holder wasthe Beatles, whose 1995 and 1996 compilation albums all peaked at number one in 11 months and one week.[71]
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