You Never Walk Alone is the repackage of BTS full-length album Wings, it is reissued on February 13, 2017, a continuation of the canon for Wings. Three new songs were added to the track listing, with "Spring Day" and "Not Today" promoted as the lead singles.
You Never Walk Alone
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Released: February 13,2017 Recorded: 2016 Genre: Hip Hop EDM R&B Dance-Pop K-pop Length: 1:06:18 Language: Korean Label: Big Hit Entertainment Producer: Pdogg
Background and Release On November 18, 2016, Big Hit Entertainment released a teaser trailer for an upcoming concert tour of Wings while revealing the ticketing schedule with ticket sales starting on December 21. They later announced BTS would be back on February 13, 2017 with part two of Wings. On February 2 and 3 concept photos were released on the group's official Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter accounts, indicating that the physical album would be available in two versions, designated 'Left' and 'Right'. The track list was then released on BTS' official homepage and Twitter account on February 7, revealing the track "Outro: Wings" as a remake from their previous album. A music video teaser was released on YouTube on February 10 hinting at the new lead single, "Spring Day". They also released the design and details of the physical album, accompanied by a photobook, photocard, mini standee, and poster. On February 11, the second music video teaser was released on YouTube, which indicated that "Not Today" was another single from the album.
You Never Walk Alone is a continuation of Wings and contains stories that were not included in the previous album. The album also contains messages of hope and consolation meant to heal the youth of the generation.
Music Video On February 13, 2017, the official music video for "Spring Day" was released. The song delivers a message about never losing hope while waiting to be reunited with an estranged friend. "Spring Day" is an alternative hip-hop song with the essence of British rock and electronic music. The main melody was written by RM. The video was produced and directed by frequent BTS collaborator Lumpens (YongSeok Choi) and GDW. On February 20 the official music video for "Not Today" was released on YouTube. "Not Today" is an addictive moombahton track and the music video features a powerful moombahton dance performance. The video was produced and directed by GDW. A week later BTS released a second music video for "Not Today", with a dance choreographed by Keone Madrid.
Promotions On February 12, 2017 BTS held a comeback preview show on Naver V LIVE. Starting February 18 BTS held 2017 BTS Live Trilogy Episode III: The Wings Tour in support of their album, having shows in South Korea, the Americas, and various Asian countries. A week of broadcast promotion began on February 23 with singles "Spring Day" and "Not Today" performed on Mnet's M! Countdown. "Outro: Wings" had been deemed unfit for broadcast by KBS.
Commercial Performance You Never Walk Alone received a record-breaking pre-order of over 700,000 physical copies, the highest pre-order record for the first half of 2017. The "Spring Day" music video broke the record set by "Blood Sweat & Tears" for the fastest K-pop music video to reach 10 million views, which was then broken by the music video for "Not Today". BTS also set a record for shortest time between consecutive concerts at the large Gocheok Sky Dome venue for 2017 BTS Live Trilogy Episode III: The Wings Tour in Seoul. Tickets for both domestic and international concerts on the tour sold out within minutes.
Within an hour of its midnight release, lead single "Spring Day" reached the top spot on eight online music streaming sites, including Melon, Mnet, Genie and Naver Music. The high demand caused an error on Melon where it temporarily became inaccessible. It earned BTS four first-place trophies on local music program awards. "Spring Day" debuted at No. 15 on Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 and No. 1 on the Billboard World Digital Songs, selling 14,000 digital downloads. The four new songs held the top four slots making BTS the first K-pop act to do so. The single "Not Today" then shot up to No. 1 on Billboard World Digital Songs the next week, recording BTS' fourth entry as chart-topper on the ranking.
The album You Never Walk Alone debuted at No. 61 on the Billboard 200, extending BTS' record as the K-pop act with the most entries on the chart. This eventually led to their 6th entry on the chart, unique for a Korean artist at the time. The album debuted at No. 1 on Billboard World Albums, giving BTS their third chart-topper album on that ranking. Upon its release in China, the album sold 144,400 in the first week on QQ Music, and charted at No. 1 on the best-selling albums of the week. In South Korea, the album charted at No. 1 on Gaon Weekly Chart with 373,750 albums sold in one week, earning the band their 7th weekly chart-topper and breaking the record set by Wings. It also topped February Gaon Monthly Chart, the highest physical sales for the first half of 2017.
Reception Billboard's Tamar Herman wrote an article on the repackaged album You Never Walk Alone, in which he described the single "Spring Day" as an "alt hip-hop song infused with rock instrumentals and EDM synths" combining the rap elements for which BTS has become known with "dreamy vocals and yearning lyrics." Herman called "Not Today" the dual single counterpart to "Spring Day", a power anthem for "all the underdogs in the world." "Spring Day" ranked No. 1 on Dazed Digital's "20 Best K-Pop Songs of 2017" list, and the magazine described the song as "an intelligent, compelling and elegantly restrained study of loss and longing" that "deliberately avoids cliché pomp and drama".
Charts Weekly Charts (2017) Canadian Albums(Billboard): 35 Japan Albums (Oricon Albums Chart): 7 Japan Hot Albums (Billboard): 38 New Zealand Heatseekers Albums (RMNZ): 3 South Korean Albums (Gaon Chart): 1 Taiwan Albums (G-Music): 1 US Billboard 200: 61 US Independent Albums(Billboard): 19 US World Albums (Billboard): 1
Monthly Charts (2017) South Korea Gaon Album Chart: 1
Yearly Charts (2017) US Billboard World Albums: 11
Sales and Certifications South Korea (Gaon): 872,036+ Japan (Oricon): 57,421 China: 267,925+
Music Awards Ceremonies Year: 2017 Ceremony: 19th Mnet Asian Music Awards Award: Best Music Video Nominated Work: Spring Day Result: Won
Year: 2017 Ceremony: 9th Melon Music Awards Award: Album Of The Year Nominated Work: You Never Walk Alone Result: Nominated
Year: 2017 Ceremony: 9th Melon Music Awards Award: Song Of The Year Nominated Work: Spring Day Result: Won
Year: 2018 Ceremony: 32nd Golden Disc Awards Award: Disk Bonsang/Album Division Nominated Work: Spring Day Result: Won
