Fiction and Fact is the first studio album by South Korean boy band Beast. It was released on May 17, 2011 by Cube Entertainment and contains 10 songs, including the singles "On Rainy Days" and "Fiction". The album peaked at number one on the Gaon Album Chart and was the fifth best-selling album of 2011 in South Korea, selling over 142,000 copies by the end of the year.
The album garnered Beast a win for Artist of the Year for the 2nd Quarter at the 2011 Gaon Chart Music Awards, while "Fiction" won Song of the Year at the 2011 KBS Music Festival.
Background
On May 9, 2011, Cube Entertainment announced on its website that Beast would release their first studio album on May 17, 2011. The label said the album had the dramatic structure of a novel and would showcase "luxurious" musical arrangements.
Composition
Fiction and Fact includes 10 songs which range from emotional ballads to fast dance tracks.
The album's pre-release single, “On Rainy Days", is a guitar-backed ballad about heartbreak that the group reportedly actually recorded on a rainy day. A company representative said, "While Beast was singing this song, all the members were emotional and shed tears", adding, "The recording was stopped several times due to continuous tears". The song was written and produced by Choi Gyu-seong of Black Eyed Pilseung.
The lead single "Fiction" was written and produced by Choi Gyu-seong and Shinsadong Tiger, the latter of whom previously wrote the Beast singles "Bad Girl" and "Shock". "Fiction" is a dance song that combines "addictive piano riffs" with the melody of a ballad. It tells the story of a man who can't accept a break-up so he writes a novel to continue his love story alone.
Album track "Freeze" was co-written and co-arranged by Beast member Yong Jun-hyung alongside Shinsadong Tiger.
Release and promotion
On May 12, 2011, “On Rainy Days" was released as a digital single. On May 17, Fiction and Fact was released in physical and digital forms, followed by a music video for the album's lead single "Fiction". The video, which was dubbed a "music drama", features actress Park Bo-young playing the former lover of Beast member Yong Jun-hyung.
Beast began promotions for Fiction and Fact on May 19 on Mnet‘s M Countdown, where they performed "On Rainy Days" and "Fiction". In order to capture the feelings of these two very different songs, the M Countdown staff prepared two different stage sets. For the performance of "On Rainy Days", they built an atmosphere simulating rain, while they created an unrealistic, dreamlike stage for "Fiction".
A week later, on May 26, Beast won their first first-place award for "Fiction" on M Countdown and subsequently won first place for the show's June 2 and June 9 episodes. They also won first place on KBS Music Bank's May 27 episode for "On Rainy Days", while "Fiction" won first place on the show's June 3 and June 10 episodes. Their title track also won first place on SBS Inkigayo's June 5 and June 12 episodes.
Beast ended their Korean promotions for Fiction or Fact on June 19 on SBS Inkigayo in order to promote their second Japanese single, "Bad Girl", in Japan.
Commercial performance
Fiction and Fact entered the Gaon Album Chart at the number four spot, peaking two weeks later at number one. It was the chart's number one album of May 2011, with 90,000 copies sold, and the fifth best-selling album of 2011 in South Korea. As of the end of 2013, Fiction and Fact has sold 164,264 copies.
Singles "On Rainy Days" and Fiction" peaked at number three and number five, respectively, on the Gaon Digital Chart. Both songs have sold more than 3 million digital copies, placing them among the best-selling singles in South Korea.
Controversy
On July 14, 2011, Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (MOGEF) placed a ban on "On Rainy Days" because it “contained content that’s harmful to youth”. The agency cited the line "I think I'm drunk, I should stop drinking" as possibly encouraging young listeners to drink. In response to the ban, member Yang Yoseob posted on his Twitter, "I think I'm going to start singing children songs. I need Tylenol" then added, "This is just too much. Sigh... we can't perform with this song, agh".