Love Yourself: Her

In September 2017, BTS released Love Yourself: Her, opening a chapter that would carry them into worldwide fame. This mini-album was the first part of a grand, carefully conceived story about love told in four stages, and Her represented its brightest, happiest part, the thrill and flutter of falling in love, that moment when anything seems possible.

The whole album radiated that fresh, joyful energy. The title track DNA, bright and infectious, sings of the feeling that two people are destined for each other, written into one another like a code. It was a turning point in something very concrete too, since with it BTS stepped onto the American Billboard Hot 100 chart for the first time, foreshadowing the breakthrough still to come. Alongside it, the album brought the cheerful Go Go, the energetic Mic Drop, and the tender Serendipity, a solo introduction in which Jimin sings about the wonder of falling in love.

The album came out at a moment of rapid rise for the group. Not long before, BTS had won their first major American award, and part of the speech RM gave at the time was even included on the album itself, as a trace of that pivotal period. Her became their first album to break into the top ten on the American chart and the best-selling Korean album of that year, a clear sign that their story was crossing borders.

What makes Her special is that it laid the foundation for the entire Love Yourself story. It was the beginning, joyful and full of hope, before the story moved into deeper, harder waters. Running through it is the thought that love for another begins as something bright and exciting, but also a hint that this isn't the whole truth, that behind the shine comes a reckoning with oneself as well.

For fans, Love Yourself: Her has remained dear as the bright beginning of the most important chapter in the group's career, the moment when the joy of falling in love merged with their rapid rise toward the world stage. It was the first step of a journey that would end with the most beautiful message possible, that true love begins with loving yourself.