BTS Release “Black Swan” Music Video, Surprising Their Fans

Published on March 4, 2020

BTS recently finished promoting their latest comeback for Map of the Soul: 7 earlier this week, or at least we thought they were finished.

Coming as a surprise to their fans, the group released the official music video for their previously released song, “Black Swan,” out of nowhere; I say that since the music video for the song was not originally part of their comeback schedule.

“Black Swan” made its mark as the first official single released from MOTS: 7, but when BTS dropped their comeback schedule in January, it only featured three videos: the “Black Swan” art film and the two music videos for “ON,” MOTS: 7‘s lead single. So when Big Hit Entertainment dropped the link for this music video, ARMYs were very surprised to say the least.

https://twitter.com/seoksfilter/status/1235218879112187905?s=20

As I mentioned in my first “Black Swan” piece, BTS use the track to describe the fear of them falling out of love with their passion for music; they describe how being burnt out makes it feel like they are drowning, but they work to not let the feeling consume them.

We now get to see them perform their own choreography for the song as opposed to the Slovenian MN Dance Company—who did an incredible job in bringing the lyrics to life in the art film. Although this is not the first time we have seen them perform this choreography as they debuted it during their January appearance of The Late Late Show with James Corden.

BTS: From White Swans to Black Swans

The music video itself starts outs in a dark, theater setting, with BTS dressed in all-white attire; soon after, they switch to all-black clothing, which mirror what they wore in versions one and two of their album.

Both RM and Suga’s shadows have minds of their own, moving in a swan-like manner to represent the dark feeling that surrounds them. The remainder of the group play with their shadows as well, with Jimin being the most notable as he performs his haunting solo choreography within the video.

A Continuation of Jungian Psychology

Where the Map of the Soul album series references the ideas of psychologist Carl Jung, the “Black Swan” video helps in representing the Jungian process of “realization of the shadow,” which involves “the growing awareness of the inferior part of the personality” within one’s self. Suga also references this in “Interlude: Shadow,” where he describes how he must learn to live with his shadow—fame and success—although it may cause destruction in his life.

BTS Continue to Shock the World

Along with the release of the official “Black Swan” music video, BTS have continued their quest in breaking records and making chart history.

Last week, “ON” debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart—their highest placement to date—becoming the highest Korean song debut in Hot 100 history. In addition to “ON”, Jungkook and Jimin’s solo songs, “My Time” and “Filter” also debuted on the Hot 100 Chart at No. 84 and No. 87 respectively.

But that’s not all. MOTS: 7 debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 200 chart, marking their fourth No. 1 album in less than two years; the album also reached No. 1 in the top 10 largest music markets around the world: United States, Japan, United Kingdom, Germany, France, South Korea, China, Australia, Canada and Brazil.

Finally, as I’m writing this, I’m finding out that the “Black Swan” official music video is now the fastest video in history to reach one million likes, reaching the milestone in just 28 minutes; the video broke “Interlude: Shadow’s” record of 30 minutes.

If there is anything that can be said about all of this, it is that BTS are truly dominating the music scene right now, and they will continue to do so going into the future.

Lexi Jones is an award-winning journalist and Staff Writer at Grit Daily. Based in Las Vegas, she covers startup brands in entertainment, internet and LGBTQ+ startup news. She is also an editor of Grit Daily's "Top 100" entrepreneur lists.

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