Spring Day (song)

On February 12, 2017, BTS held a comeback preview show[5] on Naver V LIVE.[6] Starting on February 18, they held the 2017 BTS Live Trilogy Episode III: The Wings Tour in support of their album, having shows in South Korea, the Americas, and various Asian countries performing songs from the new release in front of fans for the first time.[7][8][9][10] Weeklong promotions on broadcasting networks started on February 23, with both singles "Spring Day" and "Not Today" being performed on Mnet's M! Countdown[11] even though one of the new songs, "Outro: Wings" was deemed unfit for broadcast by KBS.[12]

"Spring Day" earned BTS four first-place trophies on local music programs.[13] It debuted at number 15 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 and number 1 on the Billboard World Digital Songs chart, selling 14,000 digital downloads; moreover, all four new songs held down the first four slots[14] making BTS the first K-pop act to do so.

"Spring Day" is in the key of E♭ major and the main vocal range is between Bb3-Bb5. It mixes various styles, such as pop, rap, world, and K-pop, and features backing vocals from singer-songwriter Arlissa.[15] It is 107 beats per minute.[16]

The music video for "Spring Day" was uploaded onto the video sharing website YouTube on February 12, 2017,[17] surpassing 9 million views within 24 hours,[18] breaking the record of BTS's previous single "Blood, Sweat, & Tears". A week later, the music video for their follow up single "Not Today" overtook the record from "Spring Day" with 10 million views.[19] Similarly, "Spring Day" became the fastest K-pop group music video to reach 20 million views, achieving the feat in less than four days; "Not Today" bested it in less than three.[20] Many fans and media outlets rumored the music video was inspired by the Sewol Ferry tragedy.[21] It currently has over 300 million views on YouTube. Kultscene described the music video as "aesthetically pleasing,... beautifully shot and well thought out", with references made to movies and books, like Snowpiercer and Omelas, which "added layers to the video".[22] Similarities to the 1974 Ursula K. Le Guin novella The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas are discussed widely among fans. The novella tells the story of a utopian city called Omelas, whose citizens’ happiness depends on the ongoing suffering of a single child. The video suggests through imagery including the name Omelas, that the members are among those who, once enlightened to the suffering, walk away from Omelas.[23]

Similar to the song’s lyrics and theme, the MV is set in a snowy landscape, in order to express the idea of waiting through a long harsh winter and longing for the eventual spring day. And like the reference to the movie Snowpiercer, the MV features a train that moves through the snowy landscape.

Throughout the video, the members are seen inhabiting different places on their own but come together frequently as well. We see Jungkook at an abandoned carousel in the middle of nowhere, sometimes on his own, but in some scenes just standing while the other members move around him fast enough to just be blurs of colors. Jimin is on his own at an empty beach, Suga is stuck on a clothes mountain within a laundry machine, RM is seen walking through the train that Jungkook is sitting on, while V is walking along the train tracks. J-Hope is shown sitting on top of the moving train, and Jin is gazing up a staircase where the others are ascending, eventually leaving him alone at the bottom.

Then there are the sets of the hotel and the Laundromat being the places where the members are seen enjoying themselves and spending time together. Nearing the end of the video we see Jungkook running through these locations, now empty of everyone but him, searching for the other members. Eventually uniting with them, they move forward and come across the train that carries another version of Jungkook sitting on his own, their eyes meet and both are surprised at the appearance of the other. But near the end of the MV, we see the Jungkook that is sitting on the train look around and he (and the viewer) finds that the other members are sitting by him. The train stops and the members disembark, making their way through the barren landscape where the train has stopped. Jimin leaves the pair of sneakers, which he’s been carrying around the whole MV (on the beach 2:18, at the Laundromat 2:27), on a branch of a single tree they come across. In some cultures, shoes that belong to someone who has recently died are tied together and tossed onto tree branches to signify their passing.

The music video was directed by Choi YongSeok of Lumpens.[24] Other key personnel working on staff are Lee Wonju serving as the assistant director, Nam Hyunwoo the director of photography, Song Hyunsuk working the gaffer, Emma Sungeun Kim as the producer, and Park Jinsil the art director.[25]

Billboard's Tamar Herman wrote an article on the repackaged album You Never Walk Alone, describing the single "Spring Day" as an "alt hip-hop song infused with rock instrumentals and EDM synths" combining the rap elements for which BTS has become known with "dreamy vocals and yearning lyrics." Herman calls "Not Today" the dual single counterpart to "Spring Day", a power anthem for "all the underdogs in the world."[27] "Spring Day" ranked number one on Dazed's "20 Best K-Pop Songs of 2017" list, which described the song as "an intelligent, compelling and elegantly restrained study of loss and longing" that "deliberately avoids cliché pomp and drama".[28] "Spring Day" was included in Billboard's list of "The 100 Greatest K-Pop Songs of the 2010s: Staff List".[26]

"Spring Day" is the longest-charting song on Melon, charting for over 168 weeks. The prior song that charted the longest was Sam Smith's "I'm Not the Only One".[29] Upon release the song in South Korea became BTS' first "roof hit" and remained number one in real time on MelOn for twenty-four hours. It also ranked number one on eight other South Korean portals.[30]

The song is the sixth most watched K-pop video of 2017.[31]