''The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Pt. 1'' () is the third

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

by South Korean

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BTS BTS (), also known as the Bangtan Boys, is a South Korean boy band formed in 2010. The band consists of Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook, who co-write or co-produce much of their material. Originally a hip hop group, they ...

. Released on April 29, 2015, by

Big Hit Entertainment Big Hit Music (, stylized in all caps), formerly Big Hit Entertainment (), is a South Korean record 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 ...

, the nine-track album was made available in two versions, with " I Need U" as its

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and "Dope (It's awesome )" as a promoted follow-up single.

Background and release

Shifting their sound and image from solely aggressive, masculine hip hop to more diverse styles, BTS wanted to express the beauty and anxiousness of "youth" and settled on the title of "花樣年華" (Korean: 화양연화; RR: ''Hwayangyeonhwa''), loosely interpreted to define "youth" as "the most beautiful moment in life." On April 6, 2015,

announced their comeback date for April 29, and revealed that all members participated in writing songs for the album. On April 17, an animated comeback trailer was uploaded on Big Hit Entertainment's official

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel, which featured the album's intro track performed by Suga. On April 19, Big Hit Entertainment announced the title of the album, and the first set of member concept photos was posted on their official

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account. Along with the reveal of the second set of concept photos, it was stated that two different cover design versions of the album would be released, Pink and White. The album would also include a 120-page photobook and a random photo card. Big Hit Entertainment released the first music video teaser for the album's lead single "I Need U" on April 23. On April 26, the album's track list was revealed, and an album preview was uploaded on Big Hit Entertainment's YouTube channel. Two of the album's tracks, "Boyz with Fun" and "Converse High," had previously been previewed at the 2015 BTS Live Trilogy Episode I: BTS Begins concert held in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

on March 29. On June 14, BTS posted concept photos for the follow-up promotion track "Dope (쩔어)" through their official

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page, captioned with the opening line of the song: “Welcome, first time with BTS?"

Promotion

Two tracks from the album, "Boyz with Fun" and "Converse High", were deemed unfit for broadcast by KBS due to lyrics containing swears and brand names, such as Converse,

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, and

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. The latter track was also deemed unfit for broadcast by MBC. " I Need U" was approved for broadcast and BTS held their first comeback stage performance on ''

M Countdown ''M Countdown'' () is a South Korean music program broadcast by Mnet from the CJ E&M Center Studio in Sangam-dong, Mapo District, Seoul. It features appearances by popular music artists who also perform live on stage. First hosted by Leeteuk ...

'' on April 30. A music video for the song was released that same day. On April 29, prior to the release of the music video at midnight, BTS broadcast a live comeback special, ''I NEED U, BTS ON AIR'', through Naver Starcast. The group went on to successfully promote across multiple channels and various programs, including on KBS, MBC, SBS, and

Arirang TV Arirang TV () is a South Korean international broadcaster owned and operated by Korea International Broadcasting Foundation. It broadcasts current news and programs offering political, economic, and cultural content from a Korean perspective t ...

. BTS wrapped up promotions for "I Need U" with a final performance on the May 31 broadcast of ''

Inkigayo ''Inkigayo'' (; 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 perform on stage. ...

''. On June 13, BTS announced plans to hold follow-up music show promotions with the track "Dope (쩔어)". A music video for the song was released on YouTube on June 24. It features each of the members dressed up to represent various occupations, such as a

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, while dancing fast-paced choreography. The dance was choreographed by Keone Madrid, and the music video was produced and directed by GDW. BTS held their first performance of the song on the June 25 broadcast of ''M Countdown'', and concluded promotions on July 5 with a final performance on ''Inkigayo''. "Dope" gained considerable attention internationally as it became the subject of numerous reaction videos on YouTube, the most noteworthy being from the

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channel, and went on to become BTS' first music video to surpass 100 million views on the platform. This made BTS the first K-pop group outside of the "big three" Korean entertainment agencies— SM, YG, and JYP—to achieve the feat.

Commercial performance

''The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Part 1'' debuted at number two on the Gaon Weekly Album Chart in South Korea and rose to number one the following week. It peaked at number two on the Monthly Album Chart in May. In China, BTS ranked number one for two consecutive weeks on the Gaon Weibo Chart, a weekly rank of the top 10 most popular Korean artists based on data gathered from China's most popular social media platform,

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. In Japan, the EP debuted at number 24 on the Oricon Weekly Album Chart and number 45 on the Oricon Monthly Album Chart. The EP ended 2015 as the sixth best-selling album of the year in South Korea, with 274,135 copies sold. In the United States, the album debuted at number two on the ''Billboard'' World Albums Chart, peaked at number six on the Heatseekers Chart, and entered the

Independent Albums Chart The Independent Albums chart (previously titled Top Independent Albums) ranks the highest-selling independent music albums and extended plays (EPs) in the United States, as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published weekly by ''Billboard'' maga ...

for the first time at number 20, all of which were the highest for any BTS album at the time. Six of the EP's songs debuted on the

World Digital Songs The World Digital Song Sales chart (formerly World Digital Songs) is a weekly record chart compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. Established in 2010—its first issue was dated January 23—as ...

chart, with "I Need U" ranking the highest at number four, followed by "Dope" at number 11, "Hold Me Tight" at number 12, "Boyz with Fun" at number 13, "Converse High" at number 15, and "Outro: Love is Not Over" at number 25. "Dope" peaked at number three in July after BTS completed promotions for the single.

Accolades

The EP was nominated for Album of the Year at the

2015 Mnet Asian Music Awards The 2015 Mnet Asian Music Awards ceremony, organized by CJ E&M through its music channel Mnet, took place on December 2, 2015, at AsiaWorld-Expo in Hong Kong. The ceremony was the sixth consecutive Mnet Asian Music Awards to be hosted outside ...

but did not win. In 2016, it won two Bonsang awards for physical album sales, at the 25th Seoul Music Awards and the 30th Golden Disc Awards held on January 14 and 21 respectively.

Track listing

Credits adapted from the liner notes of the physical album and from registered songs in KOMCA.

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Sales

Release history

References

External links

Big Hit Labels "The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Pt. 1" 'The Most Beautiful Moment in Life' Comeback Trailer

1thek "The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Pt. 1" 'The Most Beautiful Moment in Life' Comeback Trailer

Big Hit Labels "The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Pt. 1" Preview

1theK "The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Pt. 1" Preview

Big Hit Labels "I Need U" Music Video

1theK "I Need U" Music Video

Big Hit Labels "I Need U 19+" Music Video

1theK "I Need U 19+" Music Video

Big Hit Labels "Dope" Music Video

1theK "Dope" Music Video
{{DEFAULTSORT:Most Beautiful Moment In Life, Part One BTS EPs Korean-language EPs 2015 EPs Hybe Corporation EPs Hip-hop albums by South Korean artists Pop albums by South Korean artists Dance-pop albums by South Korean artists Contemporary R&B albums by South Korean artists Albums produced by Pdogg