As fans know, Jin is about to release his first solo album and especially, it is released a few months after his discharge from the military. That makes fans extremely excited to wait for his comeback this time.
However, the excitement was dampened when Geffen Records made a ѕнσ¢кing mistake in the album production. Not only that, fans were also disappointed by the irresponsible way the record label handled the damage.
The wave of criticism from fans was pushed up even when Geffen Records issued an official apology:
This month, the notable event for ARMYs is Jin's release of his first solo album in his career. On November 12, Jin released the music video teaser for the title track 'Running Wild' from his solo album 'Happy' as a starting signal.
In the revealed teaser, the close-up shot of Jin's perfect visual was especially emphasized and attracted attention. The teaser contained both calm and overwhelming emotions, raising expectations for the main MV as well as his entire album. Fans were sure that "Worldwide Handsome" would overwhelm them with his top-notch visuals in the album items.
But their expectations were soon dashed by Geffen Records when the album's publisher announced that they had mixed up the exclusive photos between the two versions of his album. Specifically, the album has two versions: Happy (Ver. 3 Navigate) - Walmart Exclusive and Happy (Ver. 3 Navigate) - Weverse US Exclusive and the photocards in these two versions were mixed up.
In the official statement of the record label, they expressed their apologies to the fans: "We regret to inform you that due to an error during the manufacturing process, the exclusive photocards for 'Happy (Ver. 3 Navigate) - Walmart Exclusive' and 'Happy (Ver. 3 Navigate) - Weverse US Exclusive' have been mixed up. We sincerely apologize for any confusion".
They also explained the corrected product details following: Happy (Ver. 3 Navigate) - Walmart Exclusive: 1 Random Exclusive Photocard out of 3
Happy (Ver. 3 Navigate) while Weverse US Exclusive: 1 Random Exclusive Photocard out of 3.
Despite the apology and official announcement on this issue, Geffen Records could not avoid a huge wave of anger from fans. ARMYs criticized the record label for its poor handling of the promotion and production of Jin's Happy album:
- Can't even do one thing right for Seokjin
- When it comes to BTS, you never do your job right
- We still don’t know the US and EU sales for TA. The whole chaos in weverse stating it’ll be included for charts n then quietly deleting it. Messing up IBT pre-orders and now this?? It’s just intentional atm
- No promo, no playlisting, cannot do their job properly even for manufacturing process. Now doing this 2 days before album release. I need to reveal their contract with jin because are we even sure jin is an artist under their label with this constant sabotage
- FYI!!! THIS WILL NOT AND SHOULD NOT AFFECT SALES. WV (US) & All US based stores have to follow the same rules for charting. The only thing it affects is if you're a collector of PCs. You'll now need to aquire a WV album to collect the Walmart PC. No sales will be affected
- and you notice this 48 hours before the album releases?
- If being unprofessional was a competition, you'd come out as the winner. we've been dealing with your incompetent αѕѕ since the astronaut release, we are tired @bts_bigнιт @HYBEOFFICIALtwt @GeffenRecords
It is known that the US record label Geffen Records signed a strategic joint venture partnership with HYBE Corporation in 2021. Meanwhile, Jin's solo album 'Happy', which will be released simultaneously worldwide at 2 pm on the 15th, contains the message of joining the journey to find happiness. The new album includes the title track ‘Running Wild,’ “Running Wild,” “I’ll Be There,” “Another Level,” “Falling,” “Heart on the Window” (feat. WENDY)” and “I will come to you.”
