Unboxing: BTS — Proof Compact Edition

 (Warning: This post is long and photo-heavy.)

My BTS Proof set finally arrived a few days ago as Weverse Shop was having delays in shipping. Proof is BTS' 17th Korean language album, 5th compilation album, and their first anthology album. It was globally released on June 10, 2022, at all music retailers both online and in-store. The Proof set is exclusive to Weverse Shop, and includes both the Standard Edition and the Compact Edition. The set retails for $68.93 USD or ₩74,200 on Weverse Shop Global, plus shipping. Note that the set is literally the cost of the Standard and Compact Editions together, so you do not save any money by buying the set as opposed to each version separately.

This post will feature the Compact Edition only. You can find the unboxing of the Standard Edition here.  The Compact Edition retails for $17.92 USD or ₩19,300 on Weverse Shop Global, plus shipping. Both the Compact Edition and the Standard Edition are available at all music retailers online and in-store globally. I pre-ordered the set on Weverse Shop because it came with extra pre-order and special edition gifts, but as those benefits no longer apply, I would highly recommend looking into local retailers as international shipping from Weverse Shop is incredibly inflated. 

BTS Proof Compact Edition — Outer Sleeve
BTS Proof Compact Edition — Outer Sleeve
The BTS Proof Compact Edition measures 15.4cm L x 15.3cm W x 1.5cm D — a bit bigger than your standard CD case. This edition is held together by an outer sleeve, which is made of a matte black card stock and features the Proof logo in a holographic silver inlayed on the front. As there is no box, all the contents of this album must be slid out of this sleeve.

BTS Proof Compact Edition — Fold-Out CD Sleeve
BTS Proof Compact Edition — Fold-Out CD Sleeve
BTS Proof Compact Edition — Fold-Out CD Sleeve + CDs

The first thing you will find is a fold-up sleeve in matte black card stock with the Proof logo inlayed on the front in metallic silver. Once you unfold the sleeve, you will find all three CDs of the album. In general, CD 1 includes BTS' title tracks and major hits over the last 9 years, CD 2 includes member solo and subunit tracks, and CD 3 includes demo versions of existing songs and previously unreleased tracks. The music content of the Standard Edition and the Compact Edition are the same. The contents of the CDs are as follows:

CD 1:

1. Born Singer
2. No More Dream
3. N.O
4. Boy in Luv
5. Danger
6. I Need U
7. Run
8. Fire
9. Blood Sweat & Tears
10. Spring Day
11. DNA
12. Fake Love
13. Idol
14. Boy With Luv (feat. Halsey)
15. ON
16. Dynamite
17. Life Goes On
18. Butter
19. Yet to Come

CD 2:

1. Run BTS
2. Intro: Persona
3. Stay
4. Moon
5. Jamais Vu
6. Trivia: Seesaw
7. BTS Cypher Pt. 3: Killer (feat. Supreme Boi)
8. Outro: Ego
9. Her
10. Filter
11. Friends
12. Singularity
13. 00:00 (Zero O'Clock)
14. Euphoria
15. Dimple

CD 3:

1. Jump [Demo]
2. Young Love
3. Boy in Luv [Demo]
4. Quotation Mark
5. I Need U [Demo]
6. Boyz With Fun [Demo]
7. Tony Montana (Agust D feat. Jimin)
8. Young Forever [RM's Demo]
9. Spring Day [V's Demo]
10. DNA [J-Hope's Demo]
11. Epiphany [Jin's Demo]
12. Seesaw [Suga's Demo]
13. Still With You (Acapella)
14. For Youth

There are three brand new songs that were released on this album: "Yet to Come" on CD 1, "Run BTS" on CD 2, and "For Youth" on CD 3. ("For Youth" is the only track from CD 3 that is available to stream digitally. All the other songs from CD 3 are exclusive to the physical album.) There are also two previously unreleased tracks, "Young Love" and "Quotation Mark," both on CD 3, and two new recordings of "Born Singer" and "Tony Montana (feat. Jimin)" which have been performed live but were never released on an album. 

BTS Proof Compact Edition — Discography Guide
BTS Proof Compact Edition — Discography Guide
BTS Proof Compact Edition — Randomized Member Postcard + Photocard
You will then find a small accordion booklet in matte black card stock with the words, "We are Bulletproof," printed on the front in white. This is a Discography Guide. Each fold features all of BTS' album releases from debut to last year, including the date of release and a small blurb about the theme of the album. (Note that this discography does not include Japanese releases or soundtracks.) Next to the Discography Guide, you will find a randomized member postcard and a randomized member photocard. I ended up pulling a double Suga! (Note that the postcard in the Compact Edition is smaller in size to the one in the Standard Edition.)

BTS Proof Compact Edition — Booklet
BTS Proof Compact Edition — BookletLyric Pages
BTS Proof Compact Edition — Booklet"Proof" Concept Photo
BTS Proof Compact Edition — BookletLyric Pages
BTS Proof Compact Edition — Booklet"Proof" Concept Photo
BTS Proof Compact Edition — Booklet
The Compact Edition only comes with one singular booklet, which uses PUR binding. This booklet is made of the same matte black card stock as the outer sleeve and the CD sleeve. The booklet features the Proof logo on the cover in an ombré greyscale. This booklet basically condenses three of the books that come with the Standard Edition. When you open the booklet, you will find the track list and the lyrics of all the songs on the album. Like the Standard Edition, the lyrics pages are colour-coded by CD: CD 1 is red, CD 2 is black, and CD 3 is grey. In between the lyrics sections for CD 1 and CD 2, you will find solo and group shots from the "Proof" concept, as well as one group photo spread in between the lyrics sections for CD 2 and CD 3.

BTS Proof Compact Edition — Booklet"Door" Concept Photos(Left: RM, Right: Jin)
BTS Proof Compact Edition — Booklet"Door" Concept Photos(Left: Suga, Right: J-Hope)
BTS Proof Compact Edition — Booklet"Door" Concept Photos(Left: Jimin, Right: V)
BTS Proof Compact Edition — Booklet"Door" Concept Photo + Thank You Note(Jungkook)
BTS Proof Compact Edition — Mini Poster
The final section of the booklet is the individual members' thank you notes, accompanied by some of the most gorgeous photos of our boys from the "Door" concept. The last item you will find in the Compact Edition is a mini poster (30.5cm x 30.6cm) featuring a group photo from the "Door" concept. All in all, the Compact Edition comes with much less content than the Standard Edition but is still worth the price — it's about 1/3 of the price, and you get about 1/3 of the content. This is a great option for more casual listeners, new ARMYs, ARMYs who don't really care about extra multimedia, ARMYs who don't have the money to splurge on the Standard Edition, and ARMYs who want a portable version to travel with (maybe keep an extra copy at work or school). Or, if you're like me, you'll just want it for the sake of collecting. It's just a much more condensed version of the Standard Edition — you still get a decent amount of content, the gist of the theme and the message of this album, but all of the music.