BTS Defy Expectations With Anthemic New Single 'IDOL' — And A Nicki Minaj Collab

What do you do any time you're at the peak of your creative power? Once you've broken streaming records worldwide, scored the highest Hot 100 debut ever for a K-pop categorize, and become the initial Korean artists to ever top the Billboard 200 albums chart? As soon as you've sold out your first U.S. Stadium venue in 20 minutes?


As soon as you're the seven members of BTS, you turn the fuck up.


The global phenoms dropped their rather anticipated new album, Love Yourself: Answer, on Friday (August 24), and a loud, exuberant visual for their lead single "IDOL." The release of Answer concludes the group's critically acclaimed Love Yourself trilogy, which started last year with the release of Love Yourself: Her and continued with the chart-topping full album, Love Yourself: Tear, earlier this year.


With "IDOL," the Love Yourself era has culminated into a dizzying display of self-love and celebration bolstered by pounding South African beats, customary Korean instrumentation, plus a boisterous residence flow. It's a confident single, one that turns a positive affirmation like "You can’t stop me loving myself" into an anthemic banger fit for a stadium.


Despite their success in the States — rapper Nicki Minaj even features on an alternate version of "IDOL," undoubtedly intended for U.S. Radio play — the vibrant visual proves that BTS hasn't abandoned their roots. They are Korean artists first and foremost.


Behind the production, which features Korean chants and instrumentation often connected with gugak, "IDOL" is riddled with symbolic imagery. From Korean folklore like the moon rabbit and the sacred tiger to the established hanboks that Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook wear during the video, BTS is celebrating Korean culture on a world scale. More so, they're celebrating themselves.


"IDOL" makes it clear: BTS are not phenomenons. That's an ephemeral concept we often tack onto things we find hard to explain. Yet BTS, driven by their undeniable creativity, passion, and ARMY of fans, is a movement, and "IDOL" is a thundering call to action — to get up, dance, and to love yourself.