Boy With Luv
by BTS (featuring Halsey)

Album: Map of the Soul: Persona (2019)
Charted: 13 8
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • "Boy With Luv" is a funky, upbeat cut in which BTS celebrate the act of falling in love. The song serves as a parallel track to the group's 2014 teen anthem "Boy in Luv."

    While that single found the members seducing a girl in an aggressive way, "Boy With Luv" is according to the press release "about how true strength and love come from finding joy in the smallest things in life." (The track's Korean title roughly translates to "A Poem for the Small Things.")
  • The song is a collaboration with American pop star Halsey, who portrays the love interest and is a longtime friend and supporter of the Korean group.

    The track is broken down into three parts, with the first third focusing on BTS' vocalists Jimin, V, Jin and Jungkoo expressing their curiosity about their love interest. We then hear the chorus for the first time, a mixture of Korean and English that features Halsey K-pop-esque ad-libs. The third part comprises Suga, J-Hope, and RM rapping about how special this girl is and how they're going to keep her safe.
  • During the pre-chorus, BTS talk about how their love for this girl will help them to reach greater heights. They sing (translated into English):

    Listen my my baby
    I'm flying high in the sky
    (With the two wings you gave me back then)
    Now, it's so high up here


    The wings are a nod to BTS' 2016 album of the same name, which found the K-Pop group exploring the idea of spreading their wings in order to grow.
  • BTS performed "Boy With Luv" live for the very first on the April 13, 2019 episode of Saturday Night Live.
  • The retro-feeling, colorful video finds Halsey demonstrating her dancing chops alongside BTS. Like the song, the video emphasizes BTS' past. At one stage we see them surrounded by neon signs with names that span their entire career.
  • "Boy With Luv" set a new record for fastest viewed video on YouTube, reaching 74.6 million views within 24 hours of its release on April 12, 2019. Furthermore, it became the fastest music clip to garner 100 million views on YouTube, doing so in approximately one day and 10 hours.

    Both records had been previously been held by Korean girl group Blackpink with their video for "Kill This Love" which was released just a week earlier.

    Blackpink took the YouTube 24-hour viewing record back when their clip for "How You Like That" clocked 86.3 million views on June 26, 2020.
  • This won the MTV Video Music Award for Best K-Pop in 2019, the first year the award was given out.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Which Songs are About Drugs?

Which Songs are About Drugs?Fact or Fiction

"25 or 6 to 4" to "Semi-Charmed Life" - see if you can spot the songs that are really about drugs.

Dwight Twilley

Dwight TwilleySongwriter Interviews

Since his debut single "I'm On Fire" in 1975, Dwight has been providing Spinal-Tap moments and misadventure.

Al Kooper

Al KooperSongwriter Interviews

Kooper produced Lynyrd Skynyrd, played with Dylan and the Stones, and formed BS&T.

Randy Newman

Randy NewmanSongwriting Legends

Newman makes it look easy these days, but in this 1974 interview, he reveals the paranoia and pressures that made him yearn for his old 9-5 job.

John Lee Hooker

John Lee HookerSongwriter Interviews

Into the vaults for Bruce Pollock's 1984 conversation with the esteemed bluesman. Hooker talks about transforming a Tony Bennett classic and why you don't have to be sad and lonely to write the blues.

Song Cities

Song CitiesMusic Quiz

Nirvana, Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen are among those who wrote songs with cities that show up in this quiz.