BTS Drops New Album Arirang Before Comeback Concert

ay in front of Seoul’s Gyeongbokgung Palace on Saturday. Photograph: Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty ImagesExcitement meanwhile grew in Seoul, with hotels long since booked out and thousands flying in from overseas, ramming home the immense popularity of a multi-award-winning act singing mostly in Korean.BTS are the music vanguard of a Korean cultural wave, which includes Oscar-winning films like Parasite and KPop Demon Hunters, hit dramas like Squid Game, Nobel-winning author Han Kang, food and cosmetics endorsed by the likes of Kylie Jenner.In Seoul, the streets were festooned with purple-and-blue “Welcome BTS + ARMY” signs, referring to the group’s fandom. BTS hoodies, wallets and figurines were on sale at new pop-up stores and convenience shops.Mara Cristia Yao and Rodessa Ericka Bonon, fans from the Philippines, came to Seoul although they could not secure their tickets for the Saturday concert.“We are just going to come to this area anyway. We are figuring out where to position ourselves tomorrow,” Yao said, after taking pictures with each other near the Gwanghwamun Square, where the huge stage was being set up.At the concert, BTS is expected to perform the new album, which the group reportedly spent time in Los Angeles recording.Grace Kao, a sociology professor at Yale University, said that while it features collaborations with western songwriters and producers, the title works to “remind international fans that BTS is, first and foremost, a Korean group”.“They are looking towards the future but reminding the fans and themselves of their history,” she said.It also follows some new experiences for the bandmates, now aged between 28 and 33. Four spent their military service stationed near the heavily fortified border with the North, known for barbed wire, harsh winters and intense training.BTS are “coming back stronger and ready to continue their journey”, Greek fan Loukia Kyratzoglou said.After visiting the White House, releasing hugely successful English-language albums and performing at famous venues around the world, the group has chosen a historic stage at home for the landmark comeback concert.Seoul’s sweeping Gwanghwamun Square, near the landmark Gyeongbokgung Palace, is an area that has witnessed centuries of history, including major political protests in 2025.As well as those present in Seoul – amidst a gigantic security operation – millions more will likely watch the concert via a Netflix livestream to around 190 countries.This new album “feels like a love letter to their home country”, said Jeff Benjamin, Billboard’s K-pop columnist. “I do think they’ll be remembered the way we remember the Beatles or Michael Jackson – not just as chart-topping acts but as artists whom the industry calculates time in terms of ‘before’ and ‘after’.”