''Skool Luv Affair'' is the second
extended play
An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record. by South Korean boy band
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 ...
. The ten-track album was released by
Big Hit Entertainment
Big Hit Music (; formerly Big Hit Entertainment) is a South Korean music label established in 2005 by Bang Si-hyuk. It was re-branded and re-structured into an independent label under Hybe Corporation (formerly Big Hit Entertainment Co., Ltd.) ...
on February 12, 2014, with "Boy in Luv" as its lead single. Two music videos, including a choreography only version, accompanied the single's release. A second single, "Just One Day", was promoted in April. Four different music videos were subsequently released in support of the song.
A limited edition repackage of the album, ''Skool Luv Affair Special Addition'', was released on May 14, 2014. The physical copy of the repackage contained eighteen tracks, including two new songs: "Miss Right" and "I Like It (Slow Jam Remix)", and six instrumentals. After its initial release sold out, the repackage remained out of print for six years. Big Hit made the album available for purchase once again in October 2020, due to popular demand.
Background and release
On January 26, 2014,
Big Hit Entertainment
Big Hit Music (; formerly Big Hit Entertainment) is a South Korean music label established in 2005 by Bang Si-hyuk. It was re-branded and re-structured into an independent label under Hybe Corporation (formerly Big Hit Entertainment Co., Ltd.) ...
released a countdown clock on BTS's official website and uploaded a comeback trailer on February 2 on YouTube in preparations for this album and comeback promotions. It featured a colorful array of animations flashing on the screen, accompanied by
RM's rap. Three days later, Big Hit Entertainment released the track list and concept photo for BTS's upcoming album on their official
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
account and
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
page. They also released the design and details of the physical album which would be accompanied with its
photobook
A photo book or photobook is a book in which photographs make a significant contribution to the overall content. A photo book is related to and also often used as a coffee table book.
Early
Early photo books are characterized by their use of ...
and photocard. They released an album preview a day later, revealing that "Boy in Luv" would be their lead single. Big Hit Entertainment released one track, "Just One Day," on February 6, 2014 for free pre-streaming ahead of BTS's comeback. They released an MV teaser of the song much later on April 2.
Promotion
BTS held a press conference and comeback showcase on February 11, 2014, and performed "Boy in Luv" and "Jump" for the first time. The band began
music show promotions on February 13. "Boy In Luv" received a first place nomination on the February 23 episode of ''
SBS's
Inkigayo
''Inkigayo'' ( ko, 인기가요; English title: ''The Music Trend'', previously ''Popular Song'') is a South Korean music program broadcast by SBS. It airs live every Sunday. The show features some of the latest and most popular artists who p ...
''.
They held their first fan meeting,
BTS Global Official Fanclub A.R.M.Y 1ST Muster, on March 29, and performed songs from the new album before 3,000 fans.
In April, BTS resumed music show promotions following the release of "Just One Day" on April 9.
Music videos
The music video for "Boy in Luv" was released on February 11, 2014. It features the members as students, acting out various scenes that showed their interest in the female lead character (Go So-hyun). On February 20, BTS released the dance version of "Boy in Luv" in the middle of promoting on music programs.
The music video for "Just One Day (하루만)" was then released on April 6 in preparation for the group's follow-up promotions. The music video showed a lighter contrast from "Boy in Luv"; it featured the members sitting in the light and shadows as well as dancing with chairs on a white background. Various version's of the 'Just One Day' MV were released after the original version, such as the choreography version, the facial expressions version, etc.
The choreography of "Boy In Luv" was created by GRV Crew, David Lim. Both "Boy in Luv" and "Just One Day" music videos were produced and directed by Lumpens and GDW.
Composition
While ''Skool Luv Affair'' musically retained much of their hip-hop influences with the incorporation of R&B and hard rock, the album coincided with a thematic shift from dreams and happiness to love, focusing on school-age and youthful love.
Commercial performance
''Skool Luv Affair'' debuted at number three on the
Gaon Album Chart
The Circle Album Chart, previously known as the Gaon Album Chart, is a record chart ranking the 100 most popular albums, extended plays and single albums in South Korea based on their Record sales, pure sales. It is a part of the Circle Chart, pr ...
in South Korea, for the week ending February 8, and rose to number one two months later during "Just One Day" promotions, on the week 18 issue for the period ending April 26.
The album was the 20th best-selling of 2014 on Gaon's year-end chart, with 86,004 copies sold.
[ (See #20 for ''SLA'', see #98 for ''SLA SA'')]
In the United States, the album peaked at number three on the
''Billboard'' World Albums Chart,
marking the first time a BTS album appeared on international charts. The band entered the
''Billboard'' World Digital Songs chart for the second time, with three songs from the album making it on the ranking: "Boy In Luv" and "Tomorrow" charted at numbers 5 and 24 respectively on the issue dated March 1, while secondary single "Just One Day" charted at number 25 during its promotional period the following month, on the issue dated April 26.
Track listing
All song credits are adapted from the
Korea Music Copyright Association
The Korea Music Copyright Association (KOMCA) is a South Korean non-profit copyright collective for musical works, administering public performance and broadcasting rights, and mechanical recording and reproduction rights. Founded in 1964, it i ...
's database, unless otherwise noted.
Charts
Weekly charts
Yearly charts
''Skool Luv Affair Special Addition''
A limited edition repackage of the album, titled ''Skool Luv Affair Special Addition'', was announced by Big Hit on May 7, 2014. Pre-orders began the same day and the album was released on May 14.
This 3-disc version contained an 18-track CD with two new songs, "Miss Right" and "I Like It (Slow Jam Remix)",
[ followed by the original 10-song tracklist and six additional instrumentals found only on the physical album, as well as two DVDs featuring footage from BTS' showcase held in February that year and making of content.][ The album debuted at number one on the Week 21 issue of the Gaon Album Chart, for the period dated May 11–17,] and went on to sell 14,852 cumulative copies, ending 2014 as the 98th best-selling album of the year.
After its initial pressing sold out, the album remained out of print for six years. On September 7, 2020, Big Hit announced that the repackage would be reprinted and re-released on October 13 due to the overwhelming response from the band's fandom in a survey conducted by the label in August through Weverse
Weverse (also stylized as WeVerse; : romanized: ''wibeoseu'') is a Korean mobile app and web platform created by South Korean entertainment company Hybe Corporation. The app specializes in hosting multimedia content and artist-to-fan communicat ...
—data collected indicated that the Special Addition album was the number one piece of out-of-stock merchandise fans wanted made available again. Pre-orders took place from September 8 until the previously announced October release date. The album reentered Gaon's monthly album chart, ranking fourth for October, and sold 670,500 copies by the end of the year, making it the tenth best-selling album of 2020. In Japan, the album debuted at number three on the weekly 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 ...
issue post-dated October 26, with 37,689 copies sold for the period dated October 12–18. It sold 40,829 copies by the end of October and entered the monthly Albums Chart at number 10. The album ranked 89th on Oricon's annual year-end chart. In the US, the reissue debuted at number 12 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart issue dated October 31 with 28,000 equivalent album units sold. Of this number, 26,000 were pure copies, which landed the album at number four on the Top Album Sales chart. "Boy in Luv", "Just One Day", and "Tomorrow" re-entered the World Digital Songs chart, for the same issue date, and achieved new peaks at numbers three, five, and seven respectively.
Release history
See also
* List of K-pop songs on the Billboard charts
List of K-pop songs on the ''Billboard'' charts is a compilation of weekly chart information for K-pop music published by the ''Billboard'' charts, and reported on by ''Billboard K-Town'', an online ''Billboard'' column. This is a list of K-p ...
* List of K-pop albums on the Billboard charts
List of K-pop albums on the ''Billboard'' charts is a compilation of weekly chart information for K-pop music published by the ''Billboard'' charts, and reported on by ''Billboard K-Town'', an online ''Billboard'' column. This is a list of ...
* List of Gaon Album Chart number ones of 2014
The Gaon Album Chart is a record chart that ranks the best-selling albums and EPs in South Korea. It is part of the Gaon Music Chart which launched in February 2010. The data for the chart is compiled by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Touris ...
References
External links
Big Hit Labels "Boy in Luv" Music Video
1theK "Boy in Luv" Music Video
Big Hit Labels "Boy in Luv Dance Version" Music Video
1theK "Boy in Luv Dance Version" Music Video
Big Hit Labels "Just One Day" Music Video
1theK "Just One Day" Music Video
{{Authority control
BTS EPs
2014 EPs
Korean-language EPs
Hybe Corporation EPs