Proof

The record

Proof is the anthology album BTS released on 10 June 2022. BIGHIT MUSIC’s album introduction on Bugs says it holds 48 songs across three CDs — the title tracks of every album so far, unit and solo tracks the seven members chose themselves, unreleased songs and special versions. The same text says each disc carries one new song: ‘Yet To Come (The Most Beautiful Moment)’, ‘Run BTS’ and ‘For Youth’. The first disc opens with a remastered ‘Born Singer’, which had only ever appeared as a free file in July 2013, then runs the title tracks in order from the debut single ‘No More Dream’ to Butter, and closes on ‘Yet To Come’.

Reviews

Rolling Stone’s Natalie Morin took the record up in a review on the day of release, writing that “Proof, the group’s latest release, is its most ambitious yet, but not necessarily in the way many would expect”. She wrote that “over a three-volume anthology, BTS not only chronicle their tireless, ultra-successful journey thus far, but also give listeners an intimate look into the hard work that has gone behind it”, and that “it would be too simplistic (and frankly, inaccurate) to call Proof a greatest-hits compilation”.

Clash’s Abbie Aitken gave the record 7 out of 10 and wrote that “with a mighty 48 tracks included, the album is split into three discs”. She wrote that “disc one is a chronological journey of BTS. From their debut single ‘No More Dream’ up until the chart-topping ‘Butter’, disc one really displays the group’s development, both in terms of their sound but also their maturity and willingness to experiment”, and closed that “‘Proof’ provides context to K-pop’s infiltration into the Western industry and gives reasoning to BTS’ dominance”.

NME’s Rhian Daly gave the title track five stars out of five in a track review and wrote that “‘Proof’ – which largely contains the tracks that have propelled BTS to the dizzy heights they now occupy (or demos and alternatives of those songs) – is a moment to take stock and reflect, and ‘Yet To Come’ dives right in to that mode”. She called the song “a poignant piece of alternative hip-hop” and wrote that “across the track … the seven members weigh up everything from the accolades that have been bestowed on them over the years, their purpose and their future”.

Among the tracks

‘Yet To Come’ is the song with a music video here, and the official channel’s upload is dated 10 June 2022, the day of release. The album introduction calls it a mid-tempo alternative hip-hop track built with the chipmunk-soul sampling method that was current in the early to mid-2000s, and says RM, Suga and J-Hope took part in the writing. IZM’s Im Dong-yeop wrote in a single review dated June 2022 that “the title song ‘Yet to come’ gathers and condenses all of this. It remembers the glory of the past while promising its best for the finest moment still to come.” NME’s Daly wrote that the song “bears the same emotional atmosphere as 2017’s ‘Spring Day’” and pointed to the faint, high-pitched sound between its layers that nods to that same sampling style.

Of the other new songs, one to a disc, Daly wrote that “previously unreleased tracks ‘Quotation Mark’ and ‘Young Love’ carve smooth grooves and drip with soul respectively, while ‘Run BTS’ returns to the septet’s hip-hop roots in its infectious, revving rhythms”, and that “‘For Youth’ caps these gems in emotional form”. Clash’s Aitken wrote that “a highlight of the album comes from new track ‘Run BTS’”.

Numbers

The label’s own distribution metadata prints the record as Proof, dated 10 June 2022. The album introduction says the opening ‘Born Singer’ set what BTS felt a month into their career over a J. Cole track, appeared in July 2013 as a free file only, and was remastered for this album. The Korean title of the new song ‘Run BTS’ is ‘달려라 방탄’.

What came after

Before it came the single CD Permission to Dance, eleven months earlier, and before that Butter. The group’s next release under its own name was Take Two, out the following year for their tenth anniversary.