2020 is looking up for BTS fans: The Korean pop juggernaut is set to release its second studio album of the year.
“BE,” is scheduled for release Nov. 20 just after midnight ET, Big Hit Entertainment announced Sunday via Twitter. Pre-orders begin Sunday night in the U.S. USA TODAY has reached out to representatives for BTS for more information.
BTS, comprised of members RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook, launched in 2013 with the song “No More Dream” from debut album “2 Cool 4 Skool” and were the first K-pop group to debut at No. 1 on Billboard’s album chart in 2018. BTS’ 2019 album “Map of the Soul: Persona” topped the Nielsen charts in physical sales for the year and the group performed at the 2020 Grammys with Lil Nas X. In seven years together, BTS has put out more than a dozen albums and EPs.
The group’s last album, “Map of the Soul: 7,” came out Feb. 21 to rave reviews from fans and critics alike. “BE” follows BTS’s most recent single, “Dynamite,” BTS’ first song performed completely in English.
RM told USA TODAY last month via an interpreter that creating the song while working on the album was “like destiny.”
“Who would ever think of this pandemic?” he added. “No meeting, no karaoke, no concerts? Even no walking in the park. So we never expected this song would come fully in English. During the process of making our album … it just came to us.”
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The album news comes a day before BTS begins a five-day residency on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” during which the group plans to perform a new song each episode.
“All next week, we have the biggest band in the world on this show: BTS,” Fallon said in a video announcement last week. “We’re going to be talking to them, we’ve got some fun games planned.”
Fallon also teased a possible performance of “Dynamite” featuring himself and The Roots: “Let’s just say it’s going to be big. It’s going to be explosive. It’s going to be like TNT. It’s going to be – I can’t think of any other words,” he joked.
Contributing: Rasha Ali
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