'Permission to Dance': BTS and Ed Sheeran collaboration to be released on Friday

The song will come out as part of a CD version of the chart-topping hit 'Butter' by the K-pop band

BTS and Ed Sheeran have collaborated on a new single called 'Permission to Dance', which comes out on July 9.

Ed Sheeran may have spoilt the surprise, but BTS fans will still be excited to hear that the K-pop group and the Galway Girl hitmaker are unveiling their new single Permission to Dance on Friday.

The track will be released as part of a CD version of the BTS chart-topping English-language hit Butter, which was released in May. In addition to the singles, the CD also includes instrumental versions of both songs.

However, before the track was announced, Sheeran dropped hints the song was coming. In an interview with American radio show Most Requested Live, the British signer said he had written a song for the K-pop group’s new record.

“They’re like super, super-cool guys as well,” he said.

After Sheeran's comments, BTS's label Big Hit Music confirmed the news and told South Korean media: “It is true that Ed Sheeran is participating in BTS’s new song.”

Then, during a Q&A session on Instagram Stories, the Shape of You singer teased the title of the coming track when a fan asked him what his favourite BTS song was, by answering Permission to Dance, which, of course, was yet to be released to the public.

In June, the seven-member K-pop group held two virtual fan events called BTS 2021 Muster Sowoozoo to mark the eighth anniversary of their debut single.

BTS, short for Bangtan Boys, released their first track, 2 Cool 4 Skool, in 2013. Their debut Korean album, Dark & Wild, was released in 2014 along with a Japanese album, Wake Up.

BTS also have two English songs to their credits. The first, Dynamite, was released in August 2020 and became a global success, debuting at No 1 in the Billboard Top 100 chart. They also made history by becoming the first South Korean pop group to be nominated for a Grammy.

The follow-up to that track is Butter, which was released on May 21, and again went straight to the top of the Billboard Top 100 chart. The group also broke their own YouTube record of 108.2 million views within 24 hours. Dynamite received 101 million views in the same time period, which means BTS hold the No 1 and No 2 spots when it comes to the most-viewed music videos on YouTube in 24 hours.

But it was their 2018 album, Love Yourself: Tear, which first topped the US Billboard 200, and helped them find worldwide stardom. It made them the first Asian act to top the US chart.

A compilation record called Love Yourself: Answer, was released the same year, and became the first K-pop album to spend an entire year in the Billboard 200 chart in 2019.