BTS Announced They're Dropping Their First English-Language Song Very Soon

While BTS was forced to postpone their highly-anticipated Map of the Soul tour and promotion of their new album due to the coronavirus pandemic, the popular K-pop group is about to gift ARMYs some brand new material. According to their management group Big Hit Entertainment, the boys of BTS will be switching things up by dropping a track that'll sound quite a bit different than their previous songs. Fans can expect BTS’ first English single to be released in August ahead of an upcoming album.

On July 27, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook revealed during an OT7 VLIVE livestream that they'd be putting out the special single as a way to "share some positive energy" with their ARMYs. While the group previously collaborated with Steve Aoki for the English "Waste It On Me" and have separately done English tracks, this is the first time that they will be releasing a song completely sung in English as a group.

In a press release, the boys of BTS said they'd chosen the upbeat track, which will be digitally released on Aug. 21, to bring some positivity to fans ahead of the drop of a new album in the second half of this year.

"The song is upbeat and sung in English, just like 'MIC Drop' and 'Waste It On Me,'" they said. "We thought that the song sounded perfect as it is in English. We recorded the guide version and felt that the result was something totally new and fresh."

While BTS has previously said they weren't planning on releasing songs entirely in English, they said that they'd enjoyed the challenge of putting together the track.

"We also needed a breakthrough during these unforeseen times, so we worked on this new song," they said. "This is a new challenge for us as well. When we first heard and recorded the song, we were energized and our spirits were lifted up. We can’t wait to share this song with you all and enjoy it together."

The group previously said that they didn't plan to sing any songs entirely in English as a way to preserve their identity. While they've occasionally added English words and phrases to their Korean songs, RM is the only one of the group who speaks English fluently. The 2018 Steve Aoki collaboration "Waste It On Me" was primarily sung by RM and Jungkook.

"We don’t want to change our identity or our genuineness to get the number one," RM said in a March 2019 interview with Entertainment Weekly. "If we sing suddenly in full English, and change all these other things, then that’s not BTS. We’ll do everything, we’ll try. But if we couldn’t get number one or number five, that’s okay."

From the sounds of things, the group is continuing to push themselves and evolve as artists. Considering their track record of putting out chart-topping bops, it sounds like ARMYs can expect a new summer anthem when the track drops in August.