Yesterday, BTS ~finally~ announced the title and release date for their highly anticipated next album. It's called Map of the Soul: 7 and will be released on Feb. 21.
The album will be a continuation of the band's Map of the Soul series, which began in April 2019 with Persona.
In February, it'll be 10 months since Persona was released — the longest BTS fans have had to wait for a new album since their debut in 2013 — and it's safe to say fans kind of freaked out at the news.
today a series of events:
So without further ado, here's everything we know — and are theorising — about Map of the Soul: 7 so far.
According to an announcement on BTS Weverse, 7 — like Persona — will have four different versions. Each version comes with a photo book, lyric book, postcard, sticker, poster, one of a possible eight photocards, colouring paper, and a book of notes. Oh, and a CD, obviously.
Of course, fans immediately began analysing the information we were given in the announcement — most importantly, the physical size of the album itself. It's...huge.
HELP WHY IS IT SO BIG
The lyric book is 52 pages long and the photo book is 36 pages. That length falls between the 7-track Persona, whose photo and lyric book was a combined 76 pages, and 2016's Wings, which consisted of 15 tracks and was 96 pages long.
ly tear had 11 tracks and the lyrics section (including the thanks to and full credits) was 35 pages..... ma’am..... https://t.co/FagbgyqRAG
OK but the lyric book is 52 pages. Wings had 48 pages of lyrics and credits so we can assume the new album will have about 15-16 songs!!
There's also a lot of excitement about the colour of the album, which matches the pattern from the band's The Most Beautiful Moment in Life series that was released in 2015–16.
Wait a damn minute @BTS_twt
And is it a coincidence that both Persona and 7 have matched Pantone's colour of the year? Like, almost certainly yes. But also it might just be BTS's power.
big hit labels your mind it amazes me
And of course, people are theorising about the album's title. For the last 10 months, the ARMY has pretty much assumed the next album in the series would be called Shadow or Ego, thanks to the scribbles on a blackboard in the Persona comeback trailer.
But, uh...it's not. It's called 7, as in the number of BTS members and the anniversary they'll be celebrating in June this year — and the result you get when you add up the numbers in the date 21/02/20.
2/21/2020 2+1+2+2=7 for a group with 7 members in their 7th year since debut yes my brain is fried rn
According to the comeback map posted by BigHit today, "Shadow" and "Ego" are, in fact, the titles of the songs we'll be getting as trailers in the lead-up to the album release.
We'll also be getting the lead single from 7 on Jan. 17, the full tracklist a month later on Feb. 17, and the music video for the single a week after the album drops.
