Watch BTS’ Emotional Animated Video for ‘We Are Bulletproof: The Eternal’

South Korean pop juggernauts BTS have dropped a brand new video for “We Are Bulletproof: The Eternal,” a track off their latest award-winning studio album Map of the Soul: 7. The video was released as a gift for the group’s massive fandom ARMY to celebrate the septet’s seventh year together, and is part of their annual anniversary concert series FESTA.

The video features animated versions of the members of BTS facing various trials as they set off on their path to becoming artists. The clip begins with visual callbacks to the group’s debut with 2013’s “No More Dream” and moves through the years to feature the group’s different eras with animated clips from their music videos. It’s a visual cruise through their entire discography and evolution as artists, a highly emotional journey for both BTS and ARMY to experience together yet again. As the animated BTS run, they move through time from one music video landscape to another, facing many trials, before finally being united with small, purple lights that eventually come together to form the purple ocean that represents ARMY. At the end, the present-day BTS stand in a field of flowers dressed in their “Boy With Luv” avatars, confident, strong and thankful to their fans for giving them a platform.

As a track, “We Are Bulletproof: The Eternal” is an an instant tearjerker. The title itself is a direct callback to the group’s 2013 releases “We Are Bulletproof Pt. 1” and “We Are Bulletproof Pt.2,” continuing the story that builds the bricks of BTS’ formation and serves as a thank you and a promise to keep walking this path together; “We were only seven/But we have you all now/After seven winters and springs/At the tips of our entwined fingers/Yeah, we got to heaven…I will never stop again/For we are together here/Tell me your every story/Tell me why you don’t stop this/Tell me why you still walkin’/Walkin’ with us.”  The steady Eighties synth and running bass pack a firm punch, adding sonic depth to every string of soaring vocal harmonies and adlibs. The vocal line give it their all, hitting impossibly high notes that induce goosebumps. The best part of all is the clever use of  “we are bulletproof” in the refrain; ‘bulletproof’ translates to ‘bangtan’ in Korean–BTS’ Korean name is Bangtan Sonyeondan (Bulletproof Boyscouts.)

Earlier this month the group’s fandom ARMY displayed their dedication to BTS, positivity and teamwork by matching (and eventually eclipsing) the group’s $1 million donation to the #BlackLivesMatter movement.