Thread by @LadyNuala

BE, the story - Part 2
The Promotion

I found BTS just 2 days before their new album was officially announced. I wasn't on twitter yet, so I didn't know of it immediately... But on September 28th, 2020, we learned that #BTS_BE was coming.

-a long thread

It was announced on @BIGHIT_MUSIC with the picture in the tweet above, and on @bts_bighit in the form of a Weverse announcement.

https://twitter.com/bts_bighit/status/1310232772066177026?t=hvTtQ-UXkhERQs-h1Pknaw&s=19

Pre-orders were to begin the VERY NEXT DAY- this was go-time! Vague yet detailed listing, media articles were shared on the official socials.

And then.. Silence.

For three weeks, we heard nothing. They were very busy, granted, with a little thing called MotS ON:E.

October 20th, midnight KST, one month out, finally, something new. A concept photo, and layout changes on all the socials. The concept - partial undress, from formal to casual lounge, as if just come home from a concert?

https://twitter.com/BIGHIT_MUSIC/status/1318205275690598402?s=20&t=WQF6KQ-_FtjiBhD8f41wmg

It's not entirely accurate to say there was no promo in the intervening period though. They continued the Behind vlogs and streams, all the way up to Nov 13th! For more on the planning and production, please see Part 1 of this thread, which I wrote last year.

The next part is a bit personal to me, as I remember it as the first piece of promo I was actually here for, on this bird app. I even tried to join with my own tweets 😅

We got a string of postcard letters from the members, for three days, 28th, 29th and 30th of Oct.

I didn't have a timeline that worked at all back then, but I can only imagine how filled it must have been with replies to these lovely letters.

https://twitter.com/bts_bighit/status/1321104459867385856?s=20&t=WQF6KQ-_FtjiBhD8f41wmg

These translations were all provided by Weverse, but after the restructuring of how galleries work, I cant seem to find the link to the translations any more.

https://twitter.com/bts_bighit/status/1321466819039817728?s=20&t=WQF6KQ-_FtjiBhD8f41wmg

I really enjoyed this quiet reflection before the storm.

On November 1st, midnight KST, we finally learned the name of the single. Life Goes On.

https://twitter.com/BIGHIT_MUSIC/status/1322191546175819776?s=20&t=3JrThRDf40xCWqGgrcIyag

But WE ALSO GOT MUSIC that day!

2 Concept Clips!

Concept Clip (Mirror ver.)
Fly To My Room

Concept Clip (Reflection ver.)
Dis-ease

We would later get a third concept clip too.

I remember, standing in that shop, playing these 2 clips over and over. Especially this one I found ridiculously groovy!

Then, the next day, we got the first curated room. This would become the main promotion concept, and came directly out of the discussion Taehyung had with Namjun and Hoseok.

Here's the section on that vlog from my thread last year:

https://twitter.com/LadyNuala/status/1461559055944765440?t=O5rullvqXgbuS_QrcCE98A&s=19

The first room out is by Taehyung. They were shared via the BigHit / bts website, as interactive pictures you could click. You can still access them all via this link: ibighit.com/bts/eng/discog…

All room video credits to @BTSdailyinfo

https://twitter.com/BIGHIT_MUSIC/status/1322916382141345793?t=6XfM1ENW8YCxh2OH8xqKjg&s=19

#curated_by_bts #v twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

I have a particular fondness for the way they all say "curator". They all lay quite a bit of emphasis on it, and I love how the vision was to give each the reigns for their own rooms.

https://twitter.com/BIGHIT_MUSIC/status/1323278724180004864?t=6XfM1ENW8YCxh2OH8xqKjg&s=19

#curated_by_bts #jimin twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

These all came out midnight KST one day in between. Theorycrafting sprang up around each one. Did the different colours on Tae's violins mean something? Why was the order the way it was? Haha we find patterns in everything 😅

https://twitter.com/BIGHIT_MUSIC/status/1323641119440134145?t=6XfM1ENW8YCxh2OH8xqKjg&s=19

#curated_by_bts #rm twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

It was also really fantastic how THEM each room clearly was.

(altho, note the badly photo shopped hand. These photos were to be used for promotion in real life as well, so tattoos are still taboo)

https://twitter.com/BIGHIT_MUSIC/status/1324003503526694914?t=6XfM1ENW8YCxh2OH8xqKjg&s=19

#curated_by_bts #jungkook twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Even to me, now 5 weeks into this world, it felt true.

https://twitter.com/BIGHIT_MUSIC/status/1324365921452912640?t=fRGLrU1Fpz7q37WaDNBLQw&s=19

#curated_by_bts #jin twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

All the different colours of BTS 🥹

https://twitter.com/BIGHIT_MUSIC/status/1324728283972337669?t=fRGLrU1Fpz7q37WaDNBLQw&s=19

#curated_by_bts #suga twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

And finally, on November 8th, we got the last room, j-hope.

https://twitter.com/BIGHIT_MUSIC/status/1325090670172762112?t=fRGLrU1Fpz7q37WaDNBLQw&s=19

#curated_by_bts #jhope twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

To close this part out, we also got the third Concept Clip, Room version.

Or, hah, cowbell version.

I still fucking love this groove. The looped Telepathy instrumental is brilliant, and I spent ages just looking at the individual rooms!

On November 9th, the BTS Rolling Stone India Interview came out. This whole Collector's Edition is a celebration of BTS, and I happily recommend reading all the features available!

rollingstoneindia.com/bts-the-rollin…

Here is my previous thread on the magazine.

https://twitter.com/LadyNuala/status/1434416313376595973?t=zZqIQoeAbB9CIMCKstjgIA&s=19

And, on November 11th - the tracklist! This also included the final cover of the album, with readable lyrics from Life Goes On!

The handwritten tracklist was gorgeous, and of course, a preview of how the album would look.

https://twitter.com/BIGHIT_MUSIC/status/1326177837552816128?t=YqOfIAhoMdJ_R2cB7Mn-Hw&s=19

(we were so inundated with content, because that same day we also got a lot of preview cuts from Season's Greetings 2021 🫣)

On November 12th, another article, another interview! This time with a full on photo shoot tied to it. The 2020 Wall Street Journal "Why BTS Runs The World"

(behind paywall but I'm sure you can figure it out 😁)

2 amazing interviews in a row? Wow! wsj.com/articles/bts-c…

We were told - tho we had suspected for a while - that the comeback stage for Life Goes On would indeed be The AMAs. @bts_bighit even linked to the VOTING PAGE for AMAs that year 😱 I can't recall if our officials have encouraged voting this directly since that 🤔

November 14th - one week out -
Life Goes On graphic insert with abbreviated credits.

I love these little extra graphic stuff. We didn't get the others until after the release, but when they came, they were great 💜

https://twitter.com/BIGHIT_MUSIC/status/1327113968192679936?t=xysrQBnRt6CIaQMI9KPvxA&s=19

In a shocking move, we got the UNBOXING OF BE this day too. We got to see all the contents before release? Whatttt!

https://twitter.com/LadyNuala/status/1461720639019102217?t=KLfYdvYiREJgpgbKPbIkTg&s=19

I will include this Dynamite as part of the BE-promos since the tweet gives a link to the pre-order site. And, Dyna was still going strong, and would be included on BE, so this was still part of it. A Big Hit Label lipsync Dynamite video.

https://twitter.com/bts_bighit/status/1328457847605055489?t=ObDHHd-x4t9Ww0y33J54uA&s=19

ARMY were vibrating. We had no comeback map to cling to, but some things remain constant - MV teasers.

November 18th (they enjoyed keeping us perched on the edges of our seats), we got teaser #1

I don't think ARMY had realised whose room they were in?

November 19th, we got teaser #2, with still photos and vocals

Also on November 19th, we were told BTS would be having a comeback show for half an hour prior to the release of Life Goes On. There would also be a press conference on the 20th before release, which we would be able to watch live on YouTube!

The Press Conference was uploaded as a permanent video to the Big Hit YT acc (now Hybe Labels) on the 21st, but since it happens "now" in the timeline of this thread, let me add this here.

Here, Jimin explains the reasoning of the Album title.

It was happening. For real. 30 minutes before the music video would be released, we got the live streamed event of the comeback show. This was pre recorded, and when it ended, the music video premiered.

It is really sweet and funny!

They did a relay interview! Hobi ➡️ Taehyung ➡️ Jimin ➡️ Namjun ➡️ JK ➡️ Jin ➡️ Suga ➡️ Hobi.

Then they had a group section where they talked about the Dear. ARMY postcard project, and went thru some of the replies they had gotten To_BTS!

Watching them read these warm words from ARMY is so beautiful. 🥹💜

We got a Today's Bangtan from the Press Conference, ten minutes before release, and I remember scrambling to keep up with everything. 😂

https://twitter.com/bts_bighit/status/1329633405001105409?t=7OXaTUWOFLrQMDy0kRFgKA&s=19

And then. Release. People recognised fairly instantly that this must have been shot partially in their dorm. It was so intimate!

Lots of things dropped that first day.

✨Fanchant for Life Goes On
weverse.io/bts/notice/882

✨A comeback V-Live
Weverse.io/bts/live/0-105…

✨Today's Bangtan from the live

https://twitter.com/bts_bighit/status/1329721040415539201?t=F6y3u2Kau9LMzN8FipX_Bw&s=19

✨BE Lucky Draw info

I really recommend watching the live!

Sigh. The link to the Comeback Show is wrong. Here is the correct link.

I am ending this thread here, as I've spent roughly 9 hours on this now. I still have post-release promotional activity to go, and the gorgeous release of BE Essential edition in 2021.

I won't say "stay tuned", as it took me a whole year to follow Part 1

https://twitter.com/LadyNuala/status/1461558962097115137?t=i46kDYMh8utQEhhhjN3MhQ&s=19

There were a few people back then who asked to be tagged..

@dutchie_noona71
@hotchoco875
@samannff
@YoongiListenBoi
@purplew7ngs
@saz_army
@purplew7ngs
@aslysafstrand
@rina_db09