BTS Celebrate Post-Pandemic Joy in ‘Permission To Dance’

Just months after releasing their record-breaking hit “Butter,” BTS have dropped their latest single, “Permission To Dance.” A retro-pop track stemming from a string-percussion ensemble, “Permission To Dance” gives listeners a peek into the post-pandemic world filled with optimism and exhilaration. The single was written by English pop superstar Ed Sheeran with Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid and BTS’ long time collaborators Steve Mac and Jenna Andrews.

BTS ground their latest track in a vocal-only approach with the group’s rappers– RM, SUGA, and j-hope– unleashing their singing capabilities. Celebrating a hopeful tomorrow, “Permission To Dance” brings together people from different paths of life celebrating the end to the ordeals of yesterday. 

The music video opens with a waitress in a diner holding a stack of pancakes with a cube of butter resting on top–a visual found in the group’s promotional assets for “Butter.” The waitress then looks up at a cloudless sky with the camera panning out to land on vocalist Jung Kook, who releases a purple balloon in the air as he sings, “It’s the thought of being young / When your heart’s just like a drum/ Beating louder with no way to guard it.” The release of the purple balloon ties back to the teaser video, where SUGA is seen holding a newspaper with the headline, ‘Purple balloons signal the end of COVID-19.’ Dressed in cowboy-inspired outfits, the members perform the choreography for the track on colorful sets in the middle of a desert.

Reminiscing the feel-good composition of the Eighties, the track shifts from a synth-guitar ensemble, roping in the bass-drum in its chorus with the vocal line singing, “I wanna dance/ The music’s got me going/ Ain’t nothing that can stop how we move, yeah.” The music video ends with the members dancing to the track with their staff and crew right behind them, as the post-chorus echoes, “Don’t need to talk the talk, just walk the walk tonight (Ooh)/ ‘Cause we don’t need permission to dance.”

Earlier this week BTS made history again as “Butter” clocked in six weeks at Number One on the Billboard Hot 100, sealing the record for the longest-running debut streak for a single by a group. The septet are set to perform “Permission To Dance” for the first time on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon as part of a two-day take-over of the program on July 13th and 14th. The track is part of the group’s Butter single CD which also dropped earlier today.