The Light is the debut studio album of Filipino boy bandBGYO. It was released by Star Music on 7 October 2021. The album contains twelve tracks, with "When I'm With You" as its key single, four new tracks "Kundiman," "Fly Away," "Sabay," and "Rocketman", which BGYO co-written, four versions of the band's debut single in Bahasa, Japanese, Spanish and Thai, along with the group's signature hits The Light, He's Into Her and The Baddest. The album's lyrical content transcends the spirit of resilience, empathy, and love.[1]
The album surpassed 5 million Spotify streams, 2 weeks since its release.[4]
Background and release
On 11 June 2021, ABS-CBN Entertainment head Laurenti Dyogi made a statement during the official debut of BGYO's sister group Bini on the upcoming projects of the sibling groupsโfull-length albums, merch and the "One Dream: The BINI x BGYO Concert".[5] On 28 September 2021, the group's official social media account announced the schedules and the release of the debut album.[6] Tracklist of the album was revealed on 29 September 2021[7] and audio sampler on 6 October 2021.[8]
Composition
We hope they'll [listeners] be inspired listening to the songs. We hope they'll [listeners] be able to feel their journey and not just hear or see their journey.
โ Lian Kyla, one of the songwriters of "Rocketman", Bandwagon Asia[9]
The Light embodies [BGYO's] journey, and itโs powerful, moving, and anthemic. The Bahasa, Thai, Japanese, and Spanish versions of the groupโs debut single (also called "The Light"), feels like it needs to impart a good lesson [that] can be very well used as a campaign song for change. "Fly Away", [is] an extremely relatable track [with] compelling encouragement [to deal with struggles in life]. "Sabay" seemingly echoes that sentiment [too] but uses more danceable beats. On the other hand, "Rocketman" is a proud anthem for Filipinos, our resilience, and our undying spirit to move forward. Radiating around matters of romance are "Kundiman", "He's Into Her", "The Baddest", and "When Iโm With You".
The Light is a reflection of the groupโs past, present, and possible future. Naming the 12-track album after their debut single "The Light", is a way to symbolize the albumโs message [and] it's clear that for their first album, the group wanted to give the feeling of resilience, love, and inspiration.
The Light yielded four singles. The debut single, "The Light", was released in January 2021. The music video of "The Light" has received more than a million YouTube views, 6 days after its release, and its the fastest debut music video by a P-pop group to reach 1 Million views in YouTube. It also broke the record for being the "Most Liked Music Video in a Debut Song" by a P-pop group of all time.[12] The album's second single "He's Into Her" was released in April 2021 and became the official soundtrack of the original iWantTFC series He's Into Her.[13] "The Baddest" was released in August 2021 as the group's sophomore single and released as the album's fifth single.[14] American hip-hop dance crew Jabbawockeez posted a dance cover of the track in social media and went viral in October 2021.[15] "When I'm with You" was released in October 2021 as the album's third single and key track.[16]
"The Baddest", [is] the song that arguably helped put BGYO on the map internationally.
