By Dong Sun-hwa K-pop giants BTS are poised to release a new digital single in English on August 21. “We were initially set to drop an album later this year, but decided to release a single in advance for you,” BTS frontman RM told fans during BTS’ radio broadcast on Naver’s V Live last Sunday. “We wanted to invigorate you, as you have been going through tough times due to the Covid-19 pandemic.” His bandmate Jimin said: “I think the new song is energy boosting. Just like many other people, all of our plans have practically fallen apart because of unforeseen circumstances, and this made us feel helpless for a while. So we looked for a way to create a breakthrough and came to work on this song, tackling a fresh challenge.” The seven-piece boy band were set to embark on a world tour in April, but called off or postponed all the concerts following the outbreak of the virus. Instead, BTS played a paid online gig, “Bang Bang Con: The Live”, on June 14, attracting more than 756,000 people in over 107 countries. It is not clear whether the new single will be included on BTS’ next album, according to Jin. Although further details about the track – such as its title and genre – are being kept under wraps, the members hinted that it is “very uplifting”. Big Hit Entertainment, BTS’ agency, confirmed the release and said on the group’s fan community Weverse that it would provide more details soon. BTS, comprising RM, Jin , Suga , J-Hope , Jimin, V and Jungkook , debuted in 2013 with the album 2 Cool 4 Skool . The septet previously released English-language tracks such as Mic Drop (2017) and Waste It On Me (2018). Their latest album Map of the Soul: 7 hit shelves in February, with the first single off the album debuting at No 4 on the Billboard 100 singles chart. Read the full story at the Korea Times