''Layover'' (stylized as ''Layo(v)er'') is the debut studio album by South Korean singer V of

BTS BTS (), also known as the Bangtan Boys, is a South Korean boy band formed in 2010 and debuting in 2013 under Big Hit Entertainment. The septet—consisting of members Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook—co-writes and co-produ ...

. It was released on September 8, 2023, by Big Hit Music. The record has been described as a

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

, R&B and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

album "led by soulful tones of V's voice". ''Layover'' consists of 6 songs, including an additional piano version of the track "

Slow Dancing A slow dance is a type of partner dance in which a couple dance slowly. Slow Dance or Slow Dancing may also refer to: Albums * ''Slow Dance'' (Anthony Phillips album), 1990 * ''Slow Dance'' (Jeremy Jay album), 2009 * Slow Dance (Southside Johnny ...

". All tracks from the album were accompanied with a music video. The official music videos of " Love Me Again" and " Rainy Days" were released prior, while the music video for the main track "Slow Dancing" was released on September 13, alongside the album. According to Hanteo Chart, ''Layover'' sold over 1.67 million copies on its opening day, setting a new record for the highest first-day sales by any solo K-pop artist in chart history. It topped the component Download Albums chart and the component Digital Albums Chart . The album debuted at number two on the

Billboard Japan ''Billboard Japan'' is a sister organization of the U.S.-based music magazine ''Billboard''. It is operated by the Japanese Osaka-based company Hanshin Contents Link (a subsidiary of Hanshin Electric Railway), holding an exclusive licence from ''Bi ...

Hot Albums chart and on the corresponding issue of the

Oricon Albums Chart The Oricon Albums Chart is the Japanese music industry standard albums popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Oricon originally published LP, CT, Cartridge and CD charts prior to the establishment of the Oricon Albu ...

. Layover debuted at number two on the

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of art ...

in the United States, with 100,000 equivalent album units earned in its first week, making him the highest-charting Korean solo artist in Billboard chart history, alongside with his bandmates Jimin and

Suga Suga may refer to: * Suga, Iran, a village in Qazvin Province, Iran * Suga language, a language of Cameroon * Suga (rapper) (born 1993), South Korean rapper, songwriter, and record producer * ''Suga'' (EP), 2020 EP by Megan Thee Stallion * ''Sug ...

Background and release

On August 2, 2023, it was reported that V started collaborating with NewJeans creative director

Min Hee-jin Min Hee-jin (; born 1979) is a South Korean art director and graphic designer. She is the current CEO of ADOR, a subsidiary of entertainment company Hybe Corporation, where she previously served as chief brand officer. She was formerly a creati ...

for his upcoming studio project. Big Hit Music announced the album on their social media on August 7. The post was accompanied by a visualizer that included the album title and revealed the six tracks featured on the record. According to hints dropped by Big Hit, the album will largely focus on an "R&B sound" with "elements of pop". Song descriptions range from R&B ("Blue", " Love Me Again" and "For Us") to "'70s romantic soul style" on the focus track "

". All of the tracks are set to arrive with their own music video. In an accompanying press release, Big Hit stated that V is set to "showcase amazing new performances" and will make several appearances alongside the album release. Upon the announcement, the singer mentioned that he wishes to "deliver" box sets of the album to his fans with "lots of love".

Music and lyrics

''Layover'' comprises six songs, including the single "

" and B-sides " Love Me Again", " Rainy Days", "

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obs ...

", "

For Us ''For Us'' is an album by bassist Mike Richmond and pianist Andy LaVerne recorded in 1978 and released on the Danish label, SteepleChase.

Songs

The album opens with "Rainy Days", an alternative pop and R&B track. Abbie Aitken of ''Clash'' described it as a

lo-fi Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate choice. The ...

mix founded on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

, writing, "the

realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...

of the artificial rain, the soft jazz, and a curious phone alert swiftly followed by the sound of typing all add to a feeling of coziness and familiarity." The second track "Blue" is an old school R&B song that starts out with a simple guitar, then quickly transgresses into a combination of a drum and "gliding vocals." Third track, "Love Me Again" is another R&B song, revolves around discussing the feeling of missing loved ones and the struggles of letting them go after a heartbreak. Followed with "Slow Dancing", a 1970s romantic

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

sound with a simple jazz rhythm. Its lyrics were described as a "typical

love story Love Story or A Love Story may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres * Romance (love) ** Romance film ** Romance novel Films * ''Love Story'' (1925 film), German silent film * ''Love Story'' (1942 film), Italian drama film * ''Love ...

" where "one lover pining over another singing words such as 'it shouldn’t feel like this, hurts too much already." The closing track, "For Us" was picked as the most interesting track on the EP by Rhian Daly of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'', praising its production and " pitched-up vocal" writing, "its synth pads and bright piano immediately reminiscent of soft-focus ’70s live performances."

Critical reception

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalized score out of 100 to ratings from publications, ''Layover'' received an average score of 82 based on four reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Rhian Daly of ''

'' wrote that "V’s compatibility with his chosen palette makes magic, the record instantly oozing sophistication." while highlighting the tracks "For Us" and "Love Me Again". Consequence's Mary Siroky called the album "a perfect addition to the autumn album canon, particularly for anyone else out there who loves to turn on a sad album and just ''yearn''." Clash's Abbie Aitken said that ''Layover'' "truly showcase his personal identity, his natural being, and his unique tastes", while appreciating the cohesiveness of the album.

Promotion

On August 10, 2023, the official music video for the track "Love Me Again" was released. The official music video for the track "Rainy Days" was released the following day. The music video for the focus track "Slow Dancing" was released along with the album on 8 September. The music video for "Blue" was released on September 13. "For Us" was the last video released on 15 September. V later promoted the album on numerous music shows.

Commercial performance

According to Hanteo Chart, one of the biggest music sales trackers in South Korea, ''Layover'' sold over 1.67 million copies on its opening day, setting a new record for the highest first-day sales by any solo K-pop artist in chart history. By the end of its first week, the album's sales tallied 2,101,974 copies, marking the first time that any solo artist's album surpassed the 2-million-sales milestone in its opening week. ''Layover'' earned the highest debut-week sales by a solo K-pop album, breaking the record previously set by bandmate Jimin with '' Face'' (1.45 million copies), and the 10th highest first week total among all Korean albums, making it the bestselling solo debut in South Korean history. In Japan, ''Layover'' debuted at number two on the ''

'' Hot Albums chart issue dated September 13, 2023, with 238,057 physical copies and 6,773 digital copies sold during the period dated September 4–10. It was the best-selling digital album and second best-selling physical album of its release week on the component Download Albums and Top Album Sales charts respectively. ''Layover'' also debuted at number two on the corresponding issue of the

, for the same tracking period, topping the component Digital Albums Chart as well. ''Layover'' debuted at number two on the ''Billboard'' 200 in the United States, with 100,000 equivalent album units earned in its first week (ending September 14, 2023). This figure comprised 88,000 pure sales; 9,000 streaming equivalent albums (12.95 million on-demand official streams); and 3,000 track equivalent albums. With this, V tied with bandmates Jimin and

as the highest-charting Korean solo artists in ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' chart history.

Accolades

''Layover'' was nominated for

Album of the Year Album of the Year, often abbreviated to AOTY, may refer to: Awards * ARIA Award for Album of the Year, Australia * Brit Award for British Album of the Year, UK * Grammy Award for Album of the Year, US * Juno Award for Album of the Year, CA * Lati ...

at the

2023 MAMA Awards The 2023 MAMA Awards was an awards ceremony held on November 28 and 29, 2023 at the Tokyo Dome in Japan. It was organized by CJ ENM, and broadcast through its music channel Mnet. Background On September 21, 2023, CJ ENM announced that the event ...

while "Love Me Again" was nominated in the Best Vocal Performance – Male Solo and

Song of the Year Song of the Year may refer to: * Country Music Association Award for Song of the Year * Dove Award for Song of the Year * Golden Melody Award for Song of the Year * Grammis Song of the Year * Grammy Award for Song of the Year * Latin Grammy Awa ...

categories. The album was also nominated for the Million Top 10 award at the 2023 Melon Music Awards. In December, ''Layover'' was nominated in the Album category at the upcoming Circle Chart Music Awards.

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Notes

References

{{V (singer) 2023 debut albums Hybe Corporation albums V (singer) albums Pop albums by South Korean artists Contemporary R&B albums by South Korean artists Jazz albums by South Korean artists