On 30 December, 2018, K-pop group BTS member Jimin surprised his fans with the release of his solo ‘Promise’, and the reactions on social media made it clear that its an official hit. The three-minute-21-second track broke a major record on SoundCloud. It achieved 8.5 million streams within 24 hours of being made available. SoundCloud also mentioned that the single has surpassed the record set by Drake’s ‘Duppy Freestyle’ last May by 3.6 million streams.
This feat enabled ‘Promise’ to hold the No 1 spot on both SoundCloud’s Top 50 and New & Hot charts for 48 hours. As of 3 January, it has over 15 million plays on the music sharing platform. According to Forbes , the top five countries driving the most streams are South Korea, the United States, Vietnam, Indonesia and Japan.
“Everyone, you’ve waited a long time, right?” wrote Jimin on Twitter shortly after sharing a link to ‘Promise’. “I finally shared my own song with the public. This is a song for me, as it is a song for you. It’s the first time and it is still premature but please enjoy it. Thank you for waiting, ARMY,” as reported by Billboard.
#JIMIN#약속https://t.co/gMM86h6TRF
— 방탄소년단 (@BTS_twt) December 30, 2018
The song is sung in a mix of Korean and English, features a tender guitar backdrop, soft vocals and a sweet hook about “being the light.” Social media was quick to react to Jimin’s single with excitement, dubbing it as the best gift of 2018.
A Twitter user pledges to listen the track every single day.
Omg.Jiminssi..your song was really beautiful and your angelic voice..we love it..#wepurpleyou💜 pic.twitter.com/fbsyvcG0iu
— Lucia (@EllynxPraise) December 31, 2018
TV show host Jimmy Fallon also shared the single on his Twitter account:
Oooohhhhhhhh my man #JIMIN (@BTS_twt) with a solo jam!! I love it. Congrats!! 💜Your brother, Chimmy https://t.co/PW9swb0cJN
— Jimmy Fallon (@jimmyfallon) December 30, 2018