7FATES: CHAKHO OST

"Stay Alive"
Artist	Jung Kook
Released	February 11, 2022
Format(s)	CD, download, streaming
Genre	Electropop, ballad, pop, R&B
Length	3:30
Label(s)	BigHit Music
Distributor(s)	YG PLUS
Credits
Writer(s)	Maria Marcus, Louise Frick Sveen, Suga, Gabriel Brandes, EL CAPITXN, Matt Thomson, Max Lynedoch Graham
Composer(s)	Suga, Maria Marcus, EL CAPITXN, Louise Frick Sveen, Matt Thomson, Gabriel Brandes, Max Lynedoch Graham
Producer(s)	Suga
Music services
Release chronology
Previous	"Still With You"
Next	"My You"

"Stay Alive" is the original soundtrack for the BTS webtoon series 7FATES: Chakho. It was released on February 11, 2022 and features Jung Kook.

Background

In November 2021, during a corporate briefing livestream, HYBE publicized plans to expand its IP through the publishing of "original stories" featuring three of its boy groups in collaboration with Naver Webtoon and Wattpad in January 2022. The BTS-based webtoon, titled 7FATES: Chakho, was slated for release on January 15. Various promotional content was released in the weeks leading up to the webtoon's premiere, beginning on January 2. On January 5, HYBE shared a teaser photo announcing the upcoming release of an unnamed official soundtrack for the webtoon, produced by Suga with vocals by Jung Kook, through the webtoon's official Twitter account.

A domestic promotional event was held from January 15 to February 5 for Korean subscribers of the webtoon who purchased early access to its first three episodes. Three hundred winners received a special, limited edition CD format of the single. A partial version of the song was released with the global premiere of the webtoon's fourth chapter on February 5, 2022, marking the first time that Webtoon used an OST as background music for all language releases of a comic. The single was released in full on February 11 as scheduled.

During a live stream on V Live in March 2022, Suga revealed that he had created the beat and melody for "Stay Alive" a long time ago. Unsure of when it would be released, he continuously worked on the song, editing and changing things.

Composition

"Stay Alive" is a "dramatic" slow-tempo, "sweeping" pop ballad. Produced by Suga, the track's instrumentation features trademark elements of his production style, mixing "subtle guitar pluckings with a suave string section" for the intro, followed by "softly muted percussive elements" as the song's momentum builds, leading into a "slightly more explosive" though still subdued chorus.

Commercial performance

“Stay Alive” is the fastest solo track to top iTunes Top Songs charts in 105 regions with a record of eight days and 20 hours. Within 10 days and five hours, “Stay Alive” topped the iTunes Top Songs chart in Guinea-Bissau and became the fastest solo track to place #1 in 106 regions. "Stay Alive" entered the week seven issue of South Korea's Gaon Digital Chart, for the period dated February 6–12, 2022, at #80. It also entered the corresponding Download Chart issue for the same period at #2. The following week, the single peaked at #68 on the Digital Chart, and made its debut on the Streaming Chart at #91. It also charted on the K-pop Hot 100 at #75.

In Japan, the single debuted at #1 on the Oricon's Daily Digital Single chart issue for February 11, with 8,617 copies sold on its first day. It sold a further 3,188 copies the following day. The single remained in the top five of the daily ranking for February 13, going on to debut at #3 on the Weekly Digital Single chart issue for the period dated February 7–13, with 12,990 copies in total sold during that time. It also debuted on the Billboard's Japan Hot 100 at #44, and the component Download Songs chart at #3, for the same period.

Jung Kook earned his first solo entry on the U.S. Billboard's Hot 100 chart with "Stay Alive". The single debuted at #95 on the chart issue postdated February 26, 2022, with 2.9 million cumulative streams and 14,900 downloads sold in its first week. He is the fourth member of BTS to chart as a solo artist on the Hot 100, while "Stay Alive" is the fifth solo song by a BTS member to enter the ranking. The single was the sixth best-selling in the country on the Digital Songs chart for the same period, and topped the World Digital Song Sales chart. Jung Kook additionally debuted on the Artist 100 at #82. The single also charted in the United Kingdom, debuting at #89 on the OCC's Official Singles Chart. It is the first Korean soundtrack in history to enter the ranking.

Globally, "Stay Alive" accumulated 25.7 million streams and sold 30,400 copies across various territories, earning Jung Kook his first solo top-ten entry on the Billboard's Global Excl. U.S. chart at #8. He is the fourth member of BTS to enter the global ranking and the highest-charting; bandmate V previously charted at #43 with "Christmas Tree" in January. Following its debut week records, the single went on to become the fastest by a Korean male solo artist, and the fastest Korean OST, to achieve 30–100 million streams on Spotify, reaching the former in 10 days and the latter in 73 days of release.

Video links

• Promotion video