Getty K-Pop group BTS
BTS is set to release their sixth extended play tonight. Map of the Soul: Persona follows up their 2018 releases Love Yourself: Tear and Love Yourself: Answer, and was preceded by the lead single “Boy with Luv.”
Map of the Soul: Persona will be released at 9 p.m. PT on Thursday (April 11) or midnight ET on Friday (April 12) depending on your time zone. We’ve listed all the different platforms that the album will be released on, and the ways in which you can listen below.
Apple Music
You will be able to stream BTS’ new album on iTunes and Apple Music. If you have an Apple Music account, you can go into the app on your phone or tablet and set the notifications to alert you when the album is out. Click here to learn how.
If you don’t have an Apple Music account and want to try it out, you can click here to start a free 30-day trial. If you cancel during your trial period, you’ll continue to have access to the entire Apple Music catalog until the date that you would have been billed for the full price. The album is also available for pre-order on iTunes, which you can check out here.
Spotify
Based on the standard release schedule for Spotify, BTS’ Map of the Soul: Persona will also be available to stream on the platform. If you don’t have a Spotify account, you can sign up for one here and pay only $0.99 for the first three months.
Tidal
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BTS’ new album will also be available to listen to on Tidal. The streaming service offers a free 30-day trial with Tidal Premium, which provides access to music videos and curated playlists.
Preview
There haven’t been a lot of details about Map of the Soul: Persona, but the K-pop group has previously teased singles like “Persona,” “Mikrokosmos” and the anticipated closing track “Dionysus.” The group have also teased huge collaborations with stars like Halsey on “Boy with Luv” and Ed Sheeran on “Make It Right.” The music video for the Halsey track will be dropping in conjunction with the EP.
Hypebeast reports that the release was named after the work of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung. BTS is even selling copies of Jung’s book through their online store. The group talked about their new release and the doors they’ve had to break down to crossover into the American market. “You know, Latin pop has its own Grammys in America, and it’s quite different,” said member RM. “I don’t want to compare, but I think it’s even harder as an Asian group. A Hot 100 and a Grammy nomination, these are our goals.”
“But they’re just goals — we don’t want to change our identity or our genuineness to get the number one,” he added. “Like if we sing suddenly in full English, and change all these other things, then that’s not BTS. We’ll do everything, we’ll try. But if we couldn’t get number one or number five, that’s okay.” The group also addressed the comparisons between them and the Beatles.
“Sometimes it feels really embarrassing when someone calls us a 21st-century Beatles or something like that,” RM explained. “But if they want to call us a boy band, then we’re a boy band. If they want to call us a boy group, we’re a boy group. If they want to call us K-pop, then we’re cool with K-pop.”