BTS, the juggernaut K-pop boy group that has greatly contributed to the genre’s global popularity, is back. After a four-year hiatus, during which the seven group members—Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook—completed their mandatory South Korean military service, the boys have returned with their sixth Korean-language (and 10th overall) studio album, Arirang, which was released last week. However, the prodigal return, a full rolling out of the red carpet for what many had hoped would be a major triumph, has so far fallen short, tainted by an alarming amount of controversy, from accusations of “whitewashing” to financial troubles for the group’s record label.
Considering the sky-high expectations for the reemergence of the biggest boy band in the world, BTS’s less-than-stellar comeback is surprising. But given the current state of K-pop, it’s perhaps less shocking that a firestorm was waiting just around the corner, even for one of the undisputed greatest acts of the genre. So what exactly happened here? And is this just a stumble or a full fall from grace? Let’s break it all down.
Where has BTS been?
Given South Korea’s conscription laws, all able-bodied male adults are required to enlist for a minimum of 18 months of military service by the age of 28 (though, because of BTS, the age limit has been legally extended for specifically awarded entertainers). Therefore, all K-pop boy groups must go through a period of inactivity when members either all enlist at once or stagger out their service across a longer duration of time. In the end, BTS opted for the latter, announcing a full-group hiatus in 2022, at which point the eldest member, Jin, first enlisted. The final two members to enlist completed their service in June of last year. Over the New Year holiday, after all the members were officially done with their civic duty, the group began to drop hints to fans, who are known by the fandom name BTS ARMY, about a March return.
BTS wasn’t entirely absent from the spotlight during this break, though; the members continued to release solo projects before and after their turns to enlist. This not only kept up interest in the band but also allowed the members to explore more personal sounds, some of which became popular in their own right. (You might recognize this song from Jungkook, for example.)
Still, despite there being a somewhat consistent stream of BTS-related content in recent years, fans were still fervently awaiting the moment the full group would reconvene. It felt as if, from a cultural standpoint, the whole world was waiting to see what the most globally famous K-pop group of all time would return with.
Four years is pretty long! I can understand why fans would be antsy for more content with all seven members. So what is this comeback project?
In January, the group revealed that the upcoming BTS album would be titled Arirang and would drop on March 20. The title, taken from the Korean folk song, connotes themes of reunion, creativity, and resilience and nods to traditional Korean culture and national pride. In short, the title alone signaled a potential return to the group’s roots, which were overshadowed when the band began dominating international charts with more Westernized singles, like “Butter” and “Dynamite.” The group also announced a massive 2026–27 world tour with more than 80 dates. In a scramble for tickets, the group sold out all the North American and European tour dates before any new music was even released.
So what’s the verdict on Arirang?
Shockingly, it really depends on who you ask. Arirang, which dropped at the same time as its lead single, “Swim,” was a touch more Westernized than most fans expected, given the album’s title. Though elements of the folk song “Arirang” and Korean culture are incorporated within the album’s 41 minutes, the credits still boast a set of international writers and producers, and more of the lyrics are in English than in Korean. This discrepancy has launched opinion pieces and social-media debates about what makes a K-pop release “Korean enough.” And that wasn’t the album’s only contentious debate. When a promotional video for Arirang was released—an animated short that highlights the history of the first seven Korean students to study at Howard University (who created the first known recording of “Arirang”)—it was dinged by critical fans for “whitewashing” the school by seemingly portraying the student body of one of the most prominent historically Black colleges in the States with more non-Black faces than Black faces.
And then there was the all-important question: Is the album actually good? Despite Arirang’s record-breaking streaming numbers and sales, the answer was unexpectedly mixed. Since its release, the album has been mocked online for its experimental nature and (via Photoshopped posts) its lyrics, particularly in the rap verses, which some listeners view as being out of touch. While many fans were disappointed, dedicated ARMYs still lauded it. Even critics are deeply unaligned on the project’s artistic merits. Despite positive reviews from outlets like Rolling Stone, NME, and the Guardian, not all critics enjoyed Arirang. Notably, a Pitchfork review from Joshua Minsoo Kim, wherein Kim gives the album a 5.3 out of 10, is gaining traction not only for its low score but for Kim’s accompanying tweet dubbing the record “pointless” and “passionless.” Since the review was published, Kim has been beefing with (and ragebaiting) disgruntled ARMYs left and right on X.
Personally, I’m more on Kim’s side than the others. I find the album to be largely uneven from track to track and between the lyrics and production. Some songs, like “FYA,” have great beats but lyrics that sound like the embodiment of that Steve Buscemi 30 Rock meme. I yearn for the group’s earlier Korean-dominant stylings. However, there are still a couple of standouts in the track list, like “Body to Body” and lead single “Swim.”
How has all this messiness affected the rollout? I imagine the promotional budget was huge!
Considering how the BTS boys have been put to work for weeks as if they have debts to pay, it’s evident that this release had a massive promotional budget. There have been tons of promotional events and materials already conducted and released for Arirang, with more likely to come, but even those had some snafus. There was an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe—par for the course for any established artist promoting new music—and a livestreamed chat on WeVerse that unwittingly sparked rumors of bad blood between some of the members. The day after the album’s release, the group performed live in Seoul, South Korea, at the historic Gwanghwamun Square. Though the performance drew more than 18 million views while being livestreamed on Netflix, the in-person turnout didn’t quite meet expectations. While 100,000 fans did indeed show up, South Korean officials had anticipated a crowd of about 260,000, a difference that resulted in shares in Hybe, the entertainment parent company that manages BTS, falling by 15 percent, and public apologies from both the group and the company. The massive success of the livestream didn’t prevent people online from pointing and laughing at awkward moments during the broadcast either.
All of this is still in the lead-up to BTS: The Return, a Netflix documentary premiering on Friday that will chronicle the group’s creative journey while making Arirang.
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Does the documentary reveal anything that might speak to the more divisive aspects of Arirang?
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A little! It shows the members disagreeing with their management about how to use the “Arirang” sample in the album’s intro track “Body to Body,” with Hybe Chairman Bang Si-hyuk telling the bandmates to think of how impactful it would be to spread Korean culture to the world in this way. Additionally, in another scene, Suga and RM (the group’s main rappers) bring up concerns about the lack of Korean lyrics. However, their management team mentions that their main issue at present is reaching (or maintaining) a global audience. Outside of these specific conversations, most of the movie focuses on the guys’ reunion, the pressure the members feel to get this comeback right, and how they see themselves now as compared to both before their astronomical success and before their hiatus.
How is Hybe taking this? It’s bananas that one single group could heavily change the financial outlook for a major company, especially one that has produced popular groups like NewJeans and Katseye.
And look how those are turning out! But to your point, this comeback was meaningful not only for ARMY but also for Hybe, a corporation that has recently battled a number of legal issues and a consistent churn of allegations from the rumor mill.
Still, with a massive tour on the horizon and the well wishes of their fans, I think that Hybe and its crown jewel BTS will be OK. BTS is widely considered the biggest group in the world right now, so I think the guys have made enough right moves to survive one divisive album, even if the stock markets seem to think otherwise. They’re still going to be performing for hundreds of thousands of screaming fans on their lengthy world tour. Plus, if there’s one thing that’s true of K-pop, it’s that there’s always a new release waiting in the wings.
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