Overview
Wings is the second Korean and fourth overall studio album by South Korean boy band BTS. The album was released on October 10, 2016, by Big Hit Entertainment. It is available in four versions and contains fifteen tracks, with "Blood Sweat & Tears" serving as its lead single. Heavily influenced by Hermann Hesse's coming of age novel, Demian, the concept album thematically deals with temptation and growth. It was later reissued as a repackage album, titled You Never Walk Alone, on February 13, 2017, a continuation of the canon for Wings. Three new songs were added to the track listing, with "Spring Day" and "Not Today" promoted as the lead singles.
Both albums received positive reviews from critics. They sold a combined 1.8 million physical copies worldwide, the group's highest record sales at the time. This earned BTS the title of "million sellers" due to the outstanding financial reception. According to Gaon Chart, Wings was the best-selling album of 2016 in Korea.
Background and release
On August 31, 2016 Big Hit Entertainment released a statement announcing BTS's third global official fan club concert where they would perform new material for the first time. From September 4 to 13 Big Hit Entertainment released a series of short films for each member to promote the upcoming album. The short films started with Jungkook's "Begin", followed by Jimin's "Lie", V's "Stigma", Suga's "First Love", RM's "Reflection", J-Hope's "Mama", and ended with Jin's "Awake".
Wings
On September 25, BTS released a comeback trailer on YouTube, featuring member J-Hope rapping solo. The video depicted a boy's mind meeting a devil called 'temptation'. From September 28 to October 4 Big Hit Entertainment released concept photos of the album on official Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook pages revealing the album will be available in four physical versions designated: W, I, N and G. The album's track list was then released on October 5 on the official website and Twitter account. A music video teaser was also released on October 7 on YouTube, indicating "Blood Sweat & Tears" would be the lead single. Big Hit Entertainment lastly revealed the design and details of the physical album which would include a photobook, polaroid, mini standee and poster.
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