Entertainment

Prepare To Freak Out, ARMYs: BTS Just Announced The Title & Release Date Of Their New Album

by Hollee Actman Becker
Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Stop whatever you're doing, ARMYs, because this is big, you guys. BIG. BTS just announced their upcoming new album. It's called Map Of The Soul: Persona, and it's dropping sooner than any ARMY ever expected. So when does BTS' Map Of The Soul: Persona album come out? It will be released on April 12, but it will be available for pre-order on March 12 (March 13 in Korea). As in, just one day from now. Which means the countdown is officially on!

After media outlets first started speculating that BTS — comprised of Jimin, V, RM, J-Hope, Jungkook, Suga, and Jin — would drop a new album in May, fans were alerted to the April 12 album drop in a post on BTS' Fan Cafe, and the news was confirmed in a press release sent to Elite Daily.

"Map Of The Soul: Persona marks the beginning of a new chapter, eight months after the release of Love Yourself: Answer’ – the final in the band's storied Love Yourself series," the statement read. "The album is scheduled for release globally on April 12, with pre-orders opening tomorrow. The band will also play two sold out Wembley Stadium shows this June 1st and 2nd."

The comeback is real, you guys! Who. Is. Ready????

Persona will be BTS' first release since they completed their Love Yourself album trilogy last summer, which they topped the Billboard 200 with not once, but twice, with the album Love Yourself: Tear in May, and then Love Yourself: Answer in August.

Twenty bucks say this new album ends up doing the exact same thing.

Meanwhile, fans on Twitter are convinced that BTS has been planning Map Of The Soul: Persona for a while now, since they noticed that Jin was actually wearing a shirt with the word "persona" on it during the "DNA" era.

Pretty cool, right? Other fans noticed that the boys dropped a hint about Map Of The Soul during an introductory video from the group's performance at the 2018 Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) in Hong Kong.

Amazing.

The rumors of the 2019 comeback album first started after a report by the Korean newspaper Donga was translated by fans into English.

According to Allkpop, the report said:

BTS is currently preparing for a new transformation... They are very busy with preparations for their new album, set for release in early 2019... After finishing up their 'Love Yourself' series, BTS are in the midst of drawing up a new series concept. The framework of the next series has been set, and there's only intricate details remaining. They have also already completed recording some of their B-sides.

Looks like the rumors were spot on, because we now know that Map of the Soul: Persona will be released ahead of BTS' upcoming Love Yourself: Speak Yourself world tour, which will take the guys to stadiums throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia.

Can't. WAIT.

Just please tell me there's gonna be a "Jolene" cover.