ARIRANG is BTS’s first studio album in four years. At the height of their fame in 2022, the group announced a hiatus in order to complete their mandatory military service: Jin enlisted in December of 2022, with the others in 2023. Jung Kook and Jimin were the last to serve their terms, finishing June 11th, 2025. While BTS as individuals kept the content coming during their time away, this is the first new music as a group since Proof dropped on June 10, 2022 (although strictly speaking, Proof is not new music, but rather a compilation of their work through the years). In many ways, this album represents a homecoming and healing through the return to music and the stage.
Running at just over 41 minutes, ARIRANG consists of 14 tracks: the first five tracks are nostalgic, heavy on hip-hop and rap, while the last seven articulate the present, future-looking BTS. The two parts of the album are divided by track 6, “No. 29”; the title of which refers to The Sacred Bell of King Seongdeok (currently on display at the Gyeongju National Museum), which is known as South Korea’s National Treasure No. 29. The 1:37 minutes represent the time it takes for the sound of the bell to fade. This is used to mark a transition from the past to the present-future. The first five tracks pay homage to their origins as a hip-hop group, while the final seven move away from driving rap beats, embracing a more reflective yet dynamic exploration of the current BTS. This shift reflects their growth and evolution over time.
The album is perhaps best understood as a sustained interrogation of identity. When BTS debuted in 2013, most of the members were still teenagers; now they are approaching or over 30 and have earned the right to self-determination. ARIRANG sees BTS on an existential journey into the nature of identity without forgetting their past, as current and future identities are predicated on past selves. The project has been described as “a deeply reflective body of work that explores their identity and roots … and reflect(s) on the culmination of BTS’s journey to date”, seeking to “define the group on their own terms”. This is demonstrated by the fact that RM is credited on all tracks, SUGA across eleven tracks, j-hope ten, Jungkook four, and finally Jimin and V took part in the writing of two tracks each.
The search for identity is evident in the lead single “SWIM” and the accompanying music video, which subtly references the Ship of Theseus paradox. This paradox is a thought experiment that relates to the shifting nature of identity over time. Using the ship as a metaphor for the self and ruminating on the replacement of parts of the ship due to wear and tear, the Greek philosopher Plutarch posed the question as to whether the final ship was still the same if all parts were new. Later, Thomas Hobbes added to the paradox by posing the question as to whether the original planks were used to build a second boat, which one would be the “original”.
Most cultures across the world have variations on this thought experiment: France, “Jeannot’s knife”, Hungary, “Lajos Kossuth’s pocket knife”, and in the US, “George Washington’s Ax”, to name but a few. On the surface, the lyrics for “SWIM” seem to directly engage with parasocial relations between artists and fans: “Swim, swim / Water falling off your skin /Swim, swim / I could spend a lifetime watching you / Swim (Swim), swim (Swim) / Let it all begin / Swim, swim / I just wanna dive, I just wanna dive”. It could also be argued that “SWIM’ reflects on the past in that it shares themes with an earlier hidden track called “SEA” from Love Yourself 承 ‘Her’ (2017). And whereas “SEA” expressed worry and fear about the future, ‘SWIM’ is more hopeful. It is not that the journey has finished, but rather that BTS has moved beyond childish fears to a place of adult acceptance. After all, a ship protects us from the raging currents of a stormy sea.
The title of the album, as well as the first track, “Body to Body,” is a concerted attempt to reestablish their Koreanness and their pride in that identity. “Arirang” is a folk song that, according to records, originally came from Jeongseon and these days is the unofficial national anthem of both North and South Korea. Arirang is also the title of one of Korea’s earliest films, directed by Na Woon-gyu and released in 1926. While the film is an extant one, commentary on the plot directly links the folk song with national identity; audiences of the time would sing the song at the film’s conclusion. The huge success of BTS’s three English-language songs “Butter”. “Dynamite” and “Permission to Dance” had critics and fans at the time lamenting BTS’s perceived loss of identity. For some, this seemed a betrayal; as many of BTS’s original fans were drawn to the group, partly because of its Koreanness. An insightful piece by David Tizzard for The Korea Times asks what happens ‘When the K Disappears” (2023). Provocatively, he suggests that if the “K” vanishes, Korean culture will finally come of age. However, until then, K-Pop’s koreanness remains an important part of the genre, and one that is clear to see for BTS. In a global world, identities are in flux, shifting along with physical and psychological borders within liquid modernity. Yet we still cling to those things that define us in terms of belongingness and community; the past mediating between our present and future selves. This is clearly shown in “Body To Body” as the driving rap gives way to choral Arirang. By the commingling of the old and the new, BTS stress their commitment to Korea alongside recognising the liminal nature of their identities within the global economy.
ARIRANG sees BTS taking risks rather than just repeating what they did in the past. There is an emphasis on alternative and experimental pop and rap throughout, which is particularly seen in the first half of the album, where they are reworking their past and, through it, taking agency and accountability. Track 3: “Hooligan” clearly demonstrates this, effortlessly blending rap with strings and drums, seemingly addressing Tizzard’s question about the “K”: “Yeah, we the mess, gonna get a bigger mop here (Bigger mop) / This that K, gotta get a better pop here (Better pop) / You gon’ hear this one playin’ ’round the clock, yeah (‘Round the clock) /’Round the clock, clock, clock, clock.”
It is an album without skips, which is a rare thing these days. It is easy to see how “Body to Body” might be the opening track at their concert or for live performances, despite “SWIM” being the lead single, with its driving beat and direct address to the audience alongside the homage to Korea as a nation through the use of “Arirang”.
In the second half, we can glimpse the future BTS through its relationship to the past BTS. “Normal” fuses pop and rock and explores the intersection between solitude and the spotlight. In The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1956), Erving Goffman contended that life was like a never-ending play in which we take on different roles depending on our circumstances. He distinguishes between front stage and backstage; front stage refers to what roles we play when we are with the company, while backstage, we don’t have to play our parts but can be our authentic selves outside of the curious gaze of others. We can also spend our time backstage preparing to go front stage: “Kerosene, dopamine, chemical-induced / Fantasy and fame, yeah, the things we choose / Show me hate, show me love, make me bulletproof / Yeah, we call this shit normal (Woo-woo) / Run away, out of sight, don’t know what / want / Wish I had a minute just to turn me off Kerosene, dopamine, what I gotta do? / Yeah, we call this shit normal (Ah-ooh)”. Indeed, what is normal must be very different for people who live in the public eye, especially in terms of idols from the Korean system, as the promotion schedule when you are establishing yourself is brutal, and the eyes of the world are on you, with any little indiscretion being blown out of proportion. “Normal” directly addresses the conflict between the private and public selves, which lies at the heart of the album. It is also important to remember that they had an enforced 18 months away from the music industry, and coming back to such expectations must have, at least in the early days, been very stressful.
The final track, “Into the Sun,” articulates concern about the fickle nature of fame. The lyrics: “I’ll follow you into the sun / Into the sun, into the sun” reference another Greek myth, that of Icarus, who didn’t heed Daedalus’s injunction against flying too low or high. Instead of exploring his newfound freedom after being locked up in a tower, Icarus soared too close to the sun, plummeting to his death. The multiple references to Greek mythology form part of the album’s mediation on the nature of identity, centered on the transition from childhood to adulthood under the watchful eye of the world’s press and with the hopes of a nation resting heavily on you.
ARIRANG is BTS’s most authentic album yet. They continue to experiment by working with different artists and producers outside of the mainstream. Here, BTS worked with El -Guincho and Fakeguido on “Hooligan”, Will Made-lt and Pluss on “2.0,” and JPEGMafia on “FYA” in addition to well-known names including Ryan Tedder. In the final analysis, ARIRANG is an album with no skips; it is about the past, present, and future and the nebulous nature of identity. Through their art, BTS offers a philosophical meditation on the nature of identity at a time of flux, warning us not to get too close to the sun in case our wings get burnt.
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Written by Dr Colette Balmain
Featured image © BIGHIT MUSIC
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