The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever (Korean: 화양연화 Young Forever; Hanja: 花樣年華 Young Forever; RR: Hwayangyeonhwa Young Forever) is the first Korean-language compilation album by South Korean boy bandBTS. The album was released on May 2, 2016 in two physical configurations, a day version and a night version.[2] The album contains twenty-three tracks, including three new singles ("Epilogue: Young Forever", "Fire" and "Save Me"), and most tracks from The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Pt. 1 and The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Pt. 2, as well as several remixes.
Background and release
On March 21, 2016, Big Hit Entertainment announced BTS' upcoming return and a concert scheduled for May.[3] BTS released concert teasers on April 7 on their official Twitter account as "Motion Posters".[4] They later released concept photos on April 21 and 24,[5][6][7][8] indicating that the physical album would be available in two cover designs, Day and Night. Both versions include a photobook, polaroid, mini photocard and poster.[9] The video teaser[10] for the concert was released on April 25. The track list was released on April 27, revealing that it would be a compilation album with a total of twenty-three tracks.[11][12] They also released the design and details of the physical album.[9] On April 29, Big Hit Entertainment released a preview for BTS’ "Fire" music video, featuring the members dancing.[13]
Music videos
The "Epilogue: Young Forever" music video was released on April 19,[14][15] picturing the members running in a maze full of fences as well as flashbacks to scenes from the "I Need U", "On Stage: Prologue" and "Run" videos. It was produced and directed by GDW.[16] The music video for "Fire," the lead single from the album, was released on May 2.[17] It featured the members dancing and partying in an abandoned place in flames.[18] The video was produced and directed by Lumpens[19] and GDW.[16]Fuse stated that, "The cut feels like an upgraded version of "Dope," a standout single from The Most Beautiful Moment In Life, Part 1. The accompanying music video also sees the guys whipping out their most intense choreography to date".[20] On May 9, BTS released the dance version of the "Fire" video ahead of their promotion on music programs.[21] The dance was choreographed by Keone Madrid.[22] The "Save Me" music video was released on May 15, which was notably filmed in a one-shot take.[23][24] The dance was choreographed by The Quick Style Crew[25] and the music video was also produced and directed by GDW.[16]
Promotion
On May 1, BTS held a comeback show on V Live,[26] which received over 100 million likes during broadcast on the night of the release.[27] They held a press conference for their tour, 2016 BTS LIVE The Most Beautiful Moment in Life On Stage: Epilogue, on May 7.[28] The first shows were held on May 7 and 8 at Olympic Gymnastics Arena in South Korea, where BTS performed songs from the album.[29] In total, the tour was held in nine cities abroad and ended in Japan.[30][31] BTS decided to promote on music shows only for a week,[32][33][34] performing on Mnet, KBS, MBC and SBS as planned to allow for individual activities, performances and overseas schedules, starting with M! Countdown on May 12.[35][36]
Commercial performance
Tickets for BTS' first solo concert in 2016, BTS LIVE The Most Beautiful Moment in Life On Stage: Epilogue, sold out immediately, causing connection errors on Interpark Ticket's PC and mobile sites due to high traffic. Search keywords related to the concert topped at portal sites, as both fans and the public showed high interest.[37] After the album and the "Fire" music video were released on May 2, "Fire" became the fastest BTS music video to reach one million views at the time in just 6 hours.[38] The video hit 10 million views in 75 hours.[39][40] The videos for "Fire" and "Save Me" ranked first and second respectively on Most Viewed K-Pop Videos in America, Around the World: May 2016 list revealed by Billboard.[41] BTS also rose to number 15 in the artist category on YouTube Music Global Top 100.[42]
BTS topped Billboard World Digital Songs with lead single "Fire," "Save Me," and "Epilogue: Young Forever" lining up the top three ranks of the chart, which had never been achieved by a K-pop act.[43] "Fire" achieved an 'all-kill' on the South Korean music charts (simultaneous #1's on all charts)[44] and received three number-one trophies on music programs while performing on M! Countdown,[45]Music Bank[46] and Inkigayo.[47]
The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever album became BTS' second consecutive release to chart on the Billboard 200, peaking at number 107, the second K-pop act to do so. It debuted at number 2 on Billboard World Albums and number 10 on Billboard Top Heatseekers.[43]The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever was reported to have sold over 300,000 copies in pre-sales after less than a week.[48] According to the Hanteo Chart, 100,000 copies of the album were sold within the first three days of release, and 164,868 copies were sold within the first week. The album topped Gaon Weekly Chart for two consecutive weeks.[49][50] It also topped the Gaon Monthly Chart in May with just over 310,000 albums sold[51] and became the fourth best selling album on the yearly Gaon Album Chart of 2016.[52] BTS received their first daesang, or "grand award", with this album—Album of The Year at the 8th Melon Music Awards in 2016.[53] Big Hit Entertainment also shared that the unofficial combined sales of all albums from The Most Beautiful Moment in Life series would soon reach its million mark as it had already sold a total of 930,000 copies at the time.[54]
^Kim Dasom (May 12, 2016). "방탄소년단, 컴백 동시 '엠카' 1위 "아미 곁에 있겠다"" [Bulletproof Boy Scouts, Comeback at the same time 'MKA' 1st place]. Newsen (in Korean). Retrieved January 14, 2019.
^Kang Seo Jung Jang (May 15, 2016). "방탄소년단, '인기가요'도 1위..'컴백주 벌써 3관왕'[종합]" [Bulletproof Boy Scouts, 'Popular Song' also ranked # 1 ..]. OSEN (in Korean). Retrieved January 14, 2019.
^Song, Cho-rong (December 7, 2016). 트와이스 'CHEER UP', 가온차트 2016년 가요 결산서 1위 기록 [Twice 'Cheer Up', ranked No. 1 in Gaon Chart 2016 year end report]. News Inside (in Korean). Archived from the original on July 12, 2019. Retrieved August 5, 2019.
^月間 CDアルバムランキング 2016年05月度 [Monthly CD album ranking May 2016]. www.oricon.co.jp (in Japanese). Archived from the original on June 9, 2016. Retrieved January 7, 2022.
^2016년 05월 Album Chart [May 2016 Album Chart]. Gaon Music Chart (in Korean). Archived from the original on July 1, 2016. Retrieved January 7, 2022.
