BTS's American profile has just reached another level. While the South Korean boy band has unprecedented fame across the globe, the BTS and Halsey video "Boy with Luv" is going to garner Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook even more fans in the U.S. The single, from BTS's new EP entitled Map of the Soul: Persona, dropped Friday, along with a brand new pastel-colored music-video, also featuring Halsey. The "Without Me" singer has proven she can move before, but Halsey dancing in the "Boy with Luv" music video shows she's gone full-fledged boy band member with her BTS-inspired moves.
BTS has been together since 2013, but 2018 marked the first time the band released a song entirely in English — "Waste It On Me" — and they've been slowly gaining footing on the Billboard charts in recent years. With their new album, it seems the band has realized they don't have to sing in English for American fans to grasp their star power.
"Boy with Luv" blends together lyrics in both Korean and English, and the music video also seems to embrace multiple cultures, giving off some major Singin' in the Rain and La La Land vibes. Halsey even gets in on the dancing when she joins the seven BTS members in some K-Pop choreography in front of a movie theater marquee that has the word "Persona," in honor of the EP's title.
As Billboard reported, "Boy with Luv" is a sequel of sorts to BTS's 2014 song "Boy in Luv." But interestingly enough, the Korean title, "작은 것들을 위한 시," translates to "A Poem for the Small Things." Still, love is a major theme of the lyrics and music video with the word "Love" appearing in big lights.
Halsey shared on Twitter that there's a "slightly different" version of the song on the album as well. But whichever version you're bopping to, she noted that you won't be able to stop singing along. "The chorus is soooo addicting!" Halsey wrote on Twitter in response to a fan. "It was stuck in my head for weeks after I left the studio!"
The fun goes beyond the lyrics, since it looks like Halsey had a blast filming the music video as well. "I went all the way to Korea to make this dream a reality!" Halsey wrote on Instagram of her BTS experience. "For years these guys have impressed me. They have always been so creative and so concise. But this time they impressed me by how welcomed and at home I felt working on this collab. They are truly great artists and even better friends." She also wrote on Twitter how she was nervous to do choreography in a music video, but the guys made her feel comfortable.
Halsey's not the only Western artist to work with BTS on their latest EP. Just the day before it dropped, it was revealed that Ed Sheeran wrote a song for Map of the Soul called "Make It Right." You won't hear the British singer-songwriter's voice on the new tune, but Sheeran wrote on Instagram, "This is the first K pop song I've had the honour of helping write. Check out the rest of the project too. Well done @bts.bighitofficial."
Billboard reported that BTS will premiere "Boy with Luv" during their appearance on Saturday Night Live on April 13. So you'll get to see a live performance of the song just one day after its release. (Plus, see Emma Stone hosting.) There's been no word if Halsey will pop in on the party on Saturday. But considering she recently slayed as the host and musical guest on SNL, Halsey joining BTS live would be the perfect way to celebrate her boy band debut with the release of "Boy with Luv."
