BTS is back! The K-pop supergroup has announced a massive world tour with over 70 dates around the globe from 2026 to 2027. The sprawling run will begin with three nights at Goyang Stadium in South Korea, then head to Japan, the U.S., and Mexico. After a leg in Europe, they’ll return to North America and head into South America. The tail end of the tour will take them around Asia and Australia.
Live Nation says the outing is “set to be the biggest global K-pop tour of all time.” It will mark the first time the seven members – RM, Jin, SUGA, j-hope, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook – have headlined as a group since their 2021-2022 “Permission to Dance on Stage” tour. The band had to pause so each member could complete South Korea’s mandatory military service.
We’re celebrating the group’s return by getting into one of their most pivotal songs: “I Need U.”
Released in 2015 as the lead single from their third EP, “The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Pt. 1,” the track marked a turning point in their career. Billboard, which named it one of the songs that defined the 2010s, says “I Need U” was “less of a song and more of a revolution.”
“It signaled a shift towards more of an ambient electronic-pop sound than anything they had previously explored on singles, after spending their first few years since their debut in 2013 focusing on more classically hip-hop-oriented singles,” writer Tamar Herman explained.
Its music video also launched the “BU” or “Bangtan Universe,” a conceptual coming-of-age narrative that has continued through the band’s music, videos, liner notes, and more.
For musicians, the song has remained a popular choice from the BTS catalog. On MuseScore, the community’s scores have surpassed one million views.
“I Need U” is the perfect combination of a high-energy production juxtaposed against a melancholic harmonic foundation. It’s written in F minor, creating a somber soundscape that mirrors the desperation of the lyrics. The four-bar chord progression cycle also creates a sense of anticipation that is ultimately stunted.
“I Need U” begins with a bar of Db followed by a bar of Eb. On their own, this sounds like the IV and V chords of Ab major, leading the listener to expect a “happy” chord to come next. They avoid a perfect resolution by moving to Fmin. In music theory terms, when a V chord doesn’t resolve to the tonic, the movement is called a deceptive cadence, and that perfectly describes the feeling of the repetitive loop.
Pianists in particular love “I Need U” because it fits so well on the instrument. Played simply, the chords are all close together in the left hand, so you don’t need virtuosic skill to pull it off. The right hand also gets to play the melodic hook in octaves, making a fun and rewarding challenge.
Check out Dori Piano’s arrangement, submitted by svmoody, which is a great example of how to take a simple chord progression and build on it to give the song an arc, even without BTS’s wistful lyrics:
