Indigo is the debut studio album by South Korean rapper RM of BTS, released on December 2, 2022, through Big Hit Music. The album marks the rapper's first full-length body of work since Mono (2018) and serves as a documentation or archive of his late twenties. Comprising 10 tracks, it includes appearances by Erykah Badu, Anderson .Paak, Tablo of Epik High, Kim Sa-wol, Paul Blanco, Mahalia, Colde, Youjeen of Cherry Filter, and Park Ji-yoon. The ninth track, "Wild Flower", a collaboration with Youjeen, was released alongside the album as its lead single, together with an accompanying music video.
The album peaked at number two in South Korea; number three in Lithuania, Portugal, and the United States—the highest-charting album by a Korean soloist on the Billboard 200 at the time; and number four in Japan. Indigo was certified double platinum by the Korea Music Content Association in January 2023 and has sold over 800,000 copies domestically as of July 2023, and over 100,000 units in the US.
Background In June 2022, during BTS' ninth anniversary celebrations, after announcing that the band members would be devoting more attention to individual music projects going forward, RM spoke about dealing with creative burnout and losing his sense of direction following the release of the band's fourth studio album Map of the Soul: 7 (2020) and the single "Dynamite". He explained that the pressure from being part of the K-pop industry, to constantly produce music, had made it difficult for him to grow and mature as an artist, and that he needed time to think and rediscover his musical identity—it had become harder to balance his personal artistic works with the demands of his role in the band. RM additionally said he wanted audiences to get to know the band members, including himself, as separate entities, outside of the BTS collective, and revealed they all had solo music in the works that they were preparing to release.
During a personal livestream held on Weverse in July, he shared updates about the progress of his own album, stating that it was nearing completion, about "90 percent done", and all that was left was the filming of music videos and additional content to be released alongside the album. He also explained that the music would be very different to 2018's Mono: "If 'Mono' recorded my 2016 to '18, then I think this new album serves as my diary and archive for 2019 to '22."
Release On November 10, during Hybe Corporation's annual community briefing on YouTube, CEO Jiwon Park announced that RM would be the third member of BTS—after J-Hope and Jin—to release a solo project, his debut album. RM subsequently posted a series of Instagram stories containing the album's title and release date—Indigo, December 2, 2022—as well as the fact that he had begun working on the album since the beginning of 2019. In a follow-up post on Weverse, he mentioned "working hard on it for the past four years" and that "fun friends" were included, seemingly hinting at collaborations on the album. The official announcement notice from Big Hit Music, posted on the platform shortly afterwards, confirmed collaborations with various artists, but did not publish any names. The cover artwork for the album, "a photo of a blue fabric swatch with the album title bleached in white", was shared by Big Hit later in the day. Two days later, RM unveiled more photos hinting at the overall mood of the album via his social media, first posting a photo of a spacious room with wooden furniture bathed in warm-toned light, followed by an Instagram story of an image with the phrase "the last archive of my twenties" set against a painted blue background. He shared a preview of the album's external packaging via Instagram on November 14, several hours before preorders began.
RM's first official solo release, but third overall after his eponymous mixtape in 2015 and Mono in 2018, Indigo recounts "stories and experiences [he] has gone through, like a diary." The preorder period for the album opened on November 15. Big Hit released an "Identity Film" for the project on November 22. In line with the album's title, the blue-tinted visual featured "a rapidly paced montage of vague images" with the sound of static playing in the background. Descriptive text about the album appeared as the clip progressed: "Record of RM : Indigo. From the colors of nature, human, etc. Documentation of my youth in the moment of independent phase. Sun-bleached record faded like old jeans". The final line of text read: "the last archive of my twenties", before the video "gracefully faded out". Five teaser photos followed the next day and showed RM, dressed in blue denim and all-white outfits, standing and sitting in the same warm-toned, light-filled room from the previously shared mood images. The painting Blue, by the late Korean artist Yun Hyong-keun (whom RM is known to be an admirer of), featured in some of the photos. RM has said that with Indigo he created a collaboration that "transcends boundaries" between music and art. Big Hit revealed the tracklist on November 24. The album comprises 10 songs and includes appearances by Erykah Badu, Anderson .Paak, and Tablo, among others.
Format Two editions of the album were made available for purchase. The "Book Edition" was released in traditional CD format and includes a book, postcard, photocard, and poster. The Target and Weverse Shop USA exclusive versions of this edition contained an additional photocard each. The "Postcard Edition" comprises a lyric book, instant photo, User Guide, and scannable QR guide to access the digital version of the album on Hybe's music streaming app, Weverse Albums, and additional digital content exclusive to that platform.
Singles The album's ninth track, "Wild Flower", which features vocals by Youjeen of Cherry Filter, was announced as the album's lead single on November 25, 2022. A preview clip for the single's music video was shared via YouTube on November 30. The teaser was nature-based, first showing a "serene field of wheat", followed by "RM walking on a plain and admiring the sunrise", then cutting to an overhead view of the clouds lit up from below "with pockets of lighting", before ending with a wide angle shot of RM standing atop a mountain next to a lone tree as "atmospheric drum and synth beats" played in the background. The full music video premiered simultaneously on YouTube in conjunction with the single's global digital release on December 2—Youjeen does not appear in the video.
"Wild Flower" debuted at number 75 on the week 49 issue of the Circle Digital Chart in South Korea, for the period dated November 27–December 3, 2022, and numbers 4 and 193 on the corresponding issues of the component Download and Streaming charts respectively. It debuted at number 24 on Oricon's Weekly Digital Singles Chart in Japan with 3,046 downloads sold, for the period dated November 28–December 4, 2022. In the United States, the single accrued 4.1 million streams and sold 29,000 downloads in its first tracking week (period dated December 2–8), and went on to debut at number 83 on the Billboard Hot 100 issue dated December 17, earning both RM and Youjeen their first solo entries on the chart. It was also the best-selling song for that period and topped the corresponding issue of the Digital Songs chart. The single debuted at number one on the genre-specific World Digital Song Sales chart, earning RM his fourth number one overall on the ranking.
Dazed listed "Wild Flower" at number 17 on its year-end ranking of the 40 best K-pop songs released in 2022, with music writer Taylor Glasby stating that the song's position on the list was "a testament to [its] powerful and emotive immediacy". She described it as a "beautifully paced, produced and performed snapshot of a superstar's psyche, as fascinating as it is profoundly stirring." The single was later nominated in the Best Music (Winter) category at the 2023 Fact Music Awards.
Promotion RM discussed Indigo in in-depth interviews with NME, Variety, and The Atlantic published the day of the album's release. He made his solo performance debut on NPR's Tiny Desk Concert shortly afterwards. The rapper's 3-song set opened with "Seoul" from his Mono (2018) mixtape, followed by the first two tracks from the album: "Yun" and "Still Life". RM also guested on a two-part episode on the Melon Station radio series where he talked about producing the album, his collaborations, shared behind-the-scenes anecdotes, and participated in a Q&A. An exclusive "Ask Me Anything" video was also released.
A small, commemorative music event was held at Rolling Hall in Hongdae, Seoul on December 5. Two hundred fans were selected via lottery on Weverse—winners were announced on November 24—from among those who preordered the album, to participate in the event, which was recorded for subsequent promotional video content. RM performed eight of the album's 10 tracks in addition to two of his other previously released songs. Featuring guest appearances by Paul Blanco, Kim Sa-wol, Colde, and Youjeen, the show was uploaded to the official BTS YouTube channel for free viewing later that month.
In keeping with Indigos underlying theme of promoting "harmony between music and art", RM recorded a mini concert special at the Dia Beacon art museum in New York. The 12-minute-long video premiered on YouTube on December 8, 2022, and comprised four selections from the album: "Wild Flower", "Still Life", "Change Pt.2", and "No. 2". The opening performance took place in the venue's exterior garden before progressing through various interior art installation spaces for the remaining songs. RM first visited the museum while on vacation in December 2021 and the experience inspired him to broach the idea of filming there. Seen in the video are Robert Irwin's landscape architecture, John Chamberlain's crushed metal sculptures, Richard Serra's Torqued Ellipses, and Dan Flavin's 1973 light sculpture untitled (to you, Heiner, with admiration and affection). RM chose to showcase the aforementioned in his performances because of his admiration for the respective artists and his fascination with the conception and creation of their works.
Critical reception
On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, Indigo has received an average score of 87 based on six reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Consequences Mary Siroky wrote that Indigo "feels like a gift to [RM's] own creative spirit as much as it does a gift to the listeners" and that it "captures something about the human experience, which is that there's room for the kind of bone-deep heartache...alongside the joy." She summarized the album as "a record from a writer at the very top of his game who has proven that he still has so far to go and so much to share", with praise for the way RM expresses his frustrations about a "uniquely isolating chapter of life, the "creative catharsis" and experimentation evident on the album, and its "poignant unraveling of heartbreak and hope." Siroky pinpointed "Still Life", "All Day", and "Wild Flower" as essential tracks from the album.
Clash observed that “RM is at his kaleidoscopic best on new solo album Indigo.” Abbie Aitken highlighted the "sense of growth" and change in perspective present on Indigo in her review for Clash magazine. She described the record as "a more candid representation" of RM" that "presents a vivid accumulation of lessons learnt, artistic prowess and a mature outlook on ageing." She gave it an 8/10 rating, writing that "the inclusion of art combined with the presence of an interpretation of nature...feels calming, relatable and fresh". Aitken also commended RM's "meticulous" choice in collaborators, noting that "each track works within the featured artists confines." She concluded that the album "is a charming look into the mentality of a global superstar."