The reaction to the latest release from K-pop superstars BTS is as explosive as the song's title would suggest.
The seven-piece boy band unveiled their newest single, Dynamite, on Friday, August 21, dropping a pastel-hued music video to accompany the track at the same time.
The English-language song, which had been teased extensively ahead of its release, comes ahead of the band's new album, which is scheduled to drop later this year.
The video for Dynamite, which features BTS performing a signature energised dance routine, was viewed more than 17 million times within an hour of its upload.
The vivid video shows the band – comprised of RM, Jungkook, V, J-Hope, Jimin, Suga and Jin – in a number of locations, including a record store, basketball court and doughnut shop.
"I'm in the stars tonight / so watch me bring the fire and set the night alight," the accompanying lyrics croon. "Shining through the city with a little funk and soul / so I'ma light it up like dynamite."
The band revealed earlier this month that they made the decision to release Dynamite ahead of their new album.
“We are preparing an album for the second half of this year, but decided to first release a single because we wanted to reach our fans as soon as possible,” the group said on Korean broadcasting app V Live.
“Due to Covid-19, people around the world have been going through tough times and we wanted to share some positive energy with our fans.”
The K-pop stars are also due to host a concert called Map of the Soul ON:E later this year, a live performance that will be streamed simultaneously on Saturday and Sunday, October 10 and 11.
It will be the first in-person gig for BTS since they announced the postponement of their entire Map of the Soul world tour back in April because of the pandemic. No other details have yet to be released about the event including location, time or ticket pricing, although it's highly likely it will be in South Korea.
The band will be coming out with their own variety show next month called In the Soop, BTS.
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
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