BTS And Halsey’s 'Boy With Luv' Is The Future Of Artist Collaborations

On Wednesday (April 17), BTS scored another major accomplishment as soon as the Korean order made Time's list of the 100 most influential people of 2019. Singer Halsey — who is featured on the group's latest single, "Boy With Love" — penned a heartfelt note for the septet in honor of their latest career milestone. In it, she captures BTS and their global appeal in one simple sentence: in back of those three letters are seven astounding young males who believe that music is stronger than the barriers of language."


It's a statement that was furthered echoed by the sheer enormity of the group's global press conference the night before. Over 150 media outlets from around the world submitted over 500 questions for the press conference — including MTV News — which was both attended by Korean media and live streamed on YouTube for international press and fans. Topics included their most recent album (Map of the Soul: Persona), networking with with Ed Sheeran on "Make It Right," whether they find their unprecedented success to be invigorating or intimidating, and, needless to say, Halsey.


According to rapper Suga, in conceptualizing Persona around the themes of "love and interest about you [the fans], joy of the small things," it was critical for them to collaborate with "an artist who was able to express an assortment of emotions, and we considered Halsey was suitable for this."


"We first met two years prior, and we felt that our passion in music connected," he added for the categorize.


also it was a mutual thing. In a separate video screened for press, Halsey noted how BTS' passion for their music and their fans made her aspire to work with them, crossing oceans and timezones to film the music video in Korea alongside the sort. (She even learned segment of the choreography — a first for the pop star.) "They are an absolutely astonishing order who put so much love and thus much dedication into everything they do," she mentioned. And that admiration extended in back of the scenes as soon as BTS, specifically dancers Jimin and J-Hope, helped Halsey work via choreography on set. "They were so nice encouraging and so they made me feel like I could really do it if I put my mind to it."


There's also the fact that Halsey and BTS both have a unique relationship with their dedicated fans, who have seen them rise from industry underdogs to reigning pop royalty without losing the components of these — their candor, humor, passion for social issues, and ability to speak to the anxieties of their generation through music — that make them special. Or, as Halsey mentioned of the key to BTS' success: as soon as an artist loves their art, it makes it last forever."


That respect for one another and their art is what makes a teamwork like "Boy With Luv" so effortlessly seamless. A feature is a transaction between artists — a play for more radio spins and also a higher chance at chart success. For BTS, networking with with a Western artist like Halsey — who has two No. 1 singles under her belt — makes a lot of sense as they attempt to break into the only thing that has eluded them on their journey thus far: U.S. Radio. For a self-described BTS fan like Halsey, the possibility to collaborate with the largest categorize in the world is a no-brainer. (Just ask Troye Sivan.) Still, I'd hardly call Halsey's contribution to "Boy With Luv" a feature; it's a teamwork in the truest sense of the word — a prosperous cultural exchange between artists that finds Halsey harmonizing in Korean on the hook and BTS adapting her fizzy pop to their own fluid fashion.


A lot of that has to do with how they approached the song as a collaborative effort. Halsey brings her own perspective to the track — which finds the seven young boys of BTS waxing poetic over minutiae of someone's day — with her signature airy vocals and punchy ad-libs like "I want it!"


"Working with BTS was really special because it's a lot different that what it's like as soon as I'm making music alone," Halsey described. "There are so several individuals in an audience, and also you've got to take each of their personalized styles into account.


It was really cool to come with each other and do something that reflects all of us. It's a really special marriage of music In the United States and music in Korea that's right now music for the world."


because the musical landscape becomes more culturally diverse, a song like "Boy With Luv" sets a precedent for the future of artist collaborations — a future in which hearing BTS and Halsey sing in Korean or Bad Bunny and Drake croon in Spanish won't seem so novel. Because music is its own universal language, a mellifluous form of communication. To truly understand it one needs only to open up their mind.