K-pop update: GFriend to drop new album next month while BTS already has 3.42 million album preorders
South Korean girl group GFriend will be making their anticipated return to the K-pop scene next month with the release of their new album, 'Labyrinth' on February 3, 2020. The release of the album will come two weeks after the six-member GFriend celebrates their fifth anniversary together on January 16. GFriend's previous releases were 'Fever Season' in July 2019 and their first Japanese album, 'Fallin' Light' in November 2019. You can watch the music video for their single 'Fever' below.
The new 'Labyrinth' album will be GFriend’s first release after their label, Source Music, joined the powerhouse conglomerate Big Hit Entertainment last year. Big Hit Entertainment also houses the popular K-pop bands BTS and TXT on its roster.
And in other exciting K-pop news, GFriend's new labelmates, BTS, who recently announced their new 'Map of the Soul: 7' album, are already set to have one of the best-selling albums of 2020. On January 15, BTS's label Big Hit Entertainment revealed that BTS' forthcoming release on February 21 has already sold more than 3.42 million copies since pre-orders were made available last week.
BTS' previous 2019 EP, 'Map of the Soul: Persona' sold 3.2 million copies in one month, so these new figures already look set to overhaul it and make 'Map of the Soul: 7' the best-selling South Korean album of all time - a title that was previously held by 'Map of the Soul: Persona'.
One of the BTS members, Suga recently appeared in a solo single, 'Interlude: Shadow' this past week. Released along with a comeback trailer video on January 9, 'Interlude: Shadow' is a well-produced, well-rapped performance from Suga. The BTS star talks about his aspirations, the realities of grappling with fame, and how he seeks to continue being his true self while simultaneously wanting to climb higher and higher and become the king of the entertainment world.
And the arrival of 'Interlude: Shadow' is just the start! There will be a series of releases that lead up to BTS's new album, 'Map of the Soul: 7' on February 21, the first of which will be the first single from the forthcoming record on Friday, January 17. You can watch the 'Interlude: Shadow' comeback trailer featuring Suga below.