It is another win for BTS and the BTS Army upon the release of BTS Jin’s solo song, ‘The Astronaut’. This is the second collaboration of BTS with Coldplay. The Astronaut was released on 28 October through Youtube and other digital platforms, at 1:00 PM KST.
A single album with two versions is also being sold through Weverse and other affiliates. The album contains a CD and Jin’s photocards, among others.
#theastronaut came home. It has a lot!! Let's give it all to Jin! #KimSeokjin pic.twitter.com/v8DK7U4B0E
— Bangtan-gueña⁷ | JIN | TRUST BTS (@livelovedelight) November 4, 2022
The Astronaut is pop-rock with lyrics co-written by Coldplay and Jin. A cinematic music video made the BTS ARMY very emotional. Expressions of love to Kim Seokjin exploded on Twitter, telling him that they will be waiting for their return in 2025.
sobs not only did chris give armys the emotional and beautifully worded reassurance during his intro for jin, he also gave jin what armys wanted to give jin: pure adoration, love, and reassurance as well, that we will wait 😭
— k s j g⁷ ♐️ (slow) (@kimseokjingifs) October 31, 2022
https://twitter.com/Hobisgirluvsbts/status/1586866103199875072
Collaboration with Coldplay
Jin also performed the song in Coldplay’s concert in Buenos Aires, Argentina also on 28 October. Before introducing Jin, Chris Martin told his story about meeting and working with BTS. He further shared the amazing experience he had while producing My Universe them. Chris also shared how ‘The Astronaut’ came about. Jin reached out to him to produce a love song for the ARMY. This song would have to be released before his military enlistment because he will be gone for two years (just for a bit).
Here is the official video of Jin’s performance with Coldplay:
Jin and his own Voldemort
After the release of the video, Jin appeared on Weverse Live while in Argentina. He admitted he had not seen the final music video, specifically the CG parts. Jin said live that he thought the album BE will be their last. However, they released Dynamite which had good results, and then Butter and Permission to Dance which also did great. Until all things followed through, like the PTD Concert, and then eventually the Busan Yet To Come concert.
He planned to enter the military in June but postponed until the Busan Yet to Come concert. Shortly after the concert, Big Hit announced his plans for enlistment and then also to anticipate the release of his solo song. He also said that saying “enlistment” was a Voldermort-like word (he who shall not be named), but was glad that it is now out in the open. Jin had received criticisms from the public and media as to why he has not enlisted yet (Source: translations from Twitter: miiniyoongs)
Milestones and records
To date, The Astronaut reached the following milestones as of 09 November
- #1 in iTunes in 100 Countries so far (BTS Chart)
- Debuts at #51 on Billboard’s Top 100 (Billboard Chart)
- 38 million views (as of 09 Nov) since its release on YouTube; number 3 in Youtube Trending in Music in the Philippines
- According to Allkpop, The Astronaut “debuts at #17 on Spotify Global Chart with more than 4.1 million filtered streams. It now holds the biggest debut for a K-pop solo song on Spotify Korea. And it’s also the 5th biggest K-pop solo debut on the USA chart. Overall, it debuted on the Spotify charts of 55 different countries”.
- Here are the other achievements from Billboard as listed by Jin stans
- Kim Seokjin also is the fifth trending topic based from Blueprint.PH’s top topics for the second half of October
How to be a superstar?
BTS evolves overtime from the time of their debut until this second chapter where they seek and explore their individual projects. With the inevitability of enlisting for the military despite the unsurmountable contributions to Korean soft power and economy, Jin was able to convert this disruption to an opportunity to collaborate with Coldplay. And creating the most sincere love song dedicated to his home and family, BTS and the BTS ARMY. Along with this, his company, Big Hit, and he himself were the main source of information on the touchy subject of military enlistment, hence would not be subjected to any misinterpretation.
The Astronaut is also Jin of BTS’s launch as a solo artist, together with world’s biggest rock band and 70,000 of their fans in Buenos Aires, Argentina. All things global and inclusive. Jin is truly a global superstar — Kim Seokjin of BTS.
