"Blood Sweat & Tears" (; Japanese: ; Hepburn: Chi, ase, namida) is a song recorded in two languages (Korean and Japanese) by South Korean boy band BTS. It was written by "Hitman" Bang, Kim Do-hoon, RM, Suga, J-Hope, and Pdogg, with the latter of the six solely handling production. The Korean version was released on October 10, 2016, as the lead single from the band's second studio album, Wings (2016), by Big Hit Entertainment. The Japanese version of the song was released on May 10, 2017, through Universal Music Japan, as a single album that included the B-side tracks "Spring Day" and "Not Today", both also in Japanese. It is a moombahton, trap, and tropical house song with influences of dancehall and reggaeton. The song's lyrics address the pain of addictive love.
The song received generally positive reviews from music critics, who were favourable towards its production, the refreshing sound, and BTS' vocal delivery. It was also likened to the musical styles of Major Lazer and Justin Bieber. It was nominated for the Song of the Year at the 2016 Mnet Asian Music Awards and appeared on the decade-end lists of the best K-pop songs by Billboard and GQ. Commercially, the Korean version of the song debuted at number one on South Korea's Gaon Digital Chart, becoming the band's first number one on the chart. As of May 2019, the song has sold over 2.5 million copies in South Korea. The Japanese version peaked at number one on the Oricon Singles Chart, becoming the 22nd best-selling single of 2017 in Japan. It received a platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for shipments of 250,000 copies in the country.
Two music videos were filmed for "Blood Sweat & Tears", one for the Korean version and another for the Japanese version; the first video was directed by YongSeok Choi and premiered via Big Hit's YouTube channel on October 10, 2016. Inspired by Hermann Hesse's coming of age novel, Demian (1919), the symbolism-heavy video depicts BTS exploring a museum and performing choreography. The video was awarded the Best Music Video at the 2017 Seoul Music Awards. The second video, featuring psychedelic and neon colours, was uploaded to Universal Japan's YouTube channel on May 10, 2017. BTS promoted the song with televised live performances on various South Korean music programs, including M! Countdown, Music Bank, and Inkigayo. It was also included on the set list of their second worldwide concert tour, The Wings Tour (2017).
Background and release
Following the conclusion of their three-part narrative "Youth" series, which presented the theme of the beauty of youth and its uncertainties, BTS announced the release of their second Korean-language studio album Wings in 2016. "Blood Sweat & Tears" was confirmed to be included on Wings when the band shared the track-listing of the album. On October 7, 2016, the song was announced as the lead single from the album. The song was written by "Hitman" Bang, Kim Do-hoon, RM, Suga, J-Hope, and its producer Pdogg. The track was engineered by the producer, while mixing was handled by James F. Reynolds at Schmuzik Studios.
"Blood Sweat & Tears" was released for digital download and streaming by Big Hit Entertainment on October 10, 2016, as the lead single from Wings. A Japanese version of the song was recorded, and issued digitally for purchase on May 10, 2017 by Universal Music Japan as the band's seventh Japanese-language single album, together with the Japanese versions of previously released 2017 Korean singles, "Spring Day" and "Not Today". The single album was also released as a four-version CD single in Japan on the same day, with a regular edition and three different limited editions; A, B and C. All four editions contain Japanese versions of "Blood, Sweat & Tears" as the A-side and "Not Today" as B-side track, while the Japanese version of "Spring Day" is included exclusively on the regular edition. In addition, edition A includes a DVD that contains the music videos for both the Korean and Japanese versions of "Blood, Sweat & Tears". Edition B also comes with a DVD, which contains behind the scenes footage of the music video for the Japanese version of the song and the making of the album jacket photos, while C contains a 36-page photobook. The lyrics for the Japanese version were written by KM-MARKIT. It was subsequently included as the third track on BTS' third Japanese-language studio album Face Yourself (2018).