“Permission to Dance” is a dance-pop song that was made to “make hearts beat to the rhythm of BTS’s positive energy.” The track marks the group’s third non-Korean main release of 2021, following “Film out” and “Butter.”

In the livestream the group hosted on V Live after achieving their fifth week atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart, the members revealed that they worked on “Permission to Dance” in February 2021, before their latest record-breaking single “Butter.”

For the song, the septet teamed up again with people they’ve trusted musically before—singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran with whom they collaborated on “Make It Right” off their 2019 album Map of the Soul: Persona, and Jenna Andrews who worked with the group on “Dynamite,” “Savage Love (Remix),” and “Butter.”

The name of the song was released by accident on June 15, 2021, by Universal Music Japan with the album’s pre-order announcement, and was quickly deleted. Again, the name of the song and the involvement of Ed Sheeran was spoiled by the artist himself during an Instagram Q&A, when he confirmed that he had teamed up with BTS once again for the group’s upcoming song. He officially confirmed it later during an interview with the radio show Most Requested Live on June 27, 2021.

“Permission to Dance’s” official teaser received over 16M views and 3M likes on YouTube in its first 24 hours of release.

It’s worth to mention that the song’s release date was set not without a reason, as it’s the eighth anniversary of the group’s fanbase, ARMY.