There they were, the seven of them all onstage together again. There, with ARMY. Those two facts alone are all you really need to hear to know what “BTS WORLD TOUR ‘ARIRANG’” is all about. The big question behind “ARIRANG,” the group’s latest album, was, “What is your love song?” The answer is starting to come to light in their performances, filled with all the longing that accompanied them on the long road back to the stage, with ARMY singing right along with them. With BTS on tour since April, we asked the seven of them in writing what sticks with them after the curtain.
The documentary “BTS: THE RETURN” begins with Jin opening up about how tough touring is, and yet he suggested extending the “ARIRANG” tour.
Jin: Before we went into the military, we said, “Once we all get discharged, let’s go see ARMY everywhere we couldn’t tour during COVID.” It wasn’t really something we were discussing with the label. It was a promise we made together before enlisting—going to the places where people wanted to see us. If a singer you like goes on tour and yours is the only country they skip, of course you feel bad, and we didn’t want ARMY to feel that way. When I see them writing to thank us for coming to where they’re at, it means the world to me. It was meant to happen eventually, and now we’re finally doing it.
Something that stands out about this tour is how there are no subunit or solo songs, instead focusing on the seven of you being all together. The concerts really drive home how BTS is one unified group.
Jung Kook: You hit the nail on the head with our intention. It’s pretty unusual for a group to fill an entire concert exclusively with group songs from start to finish anymore. We wanted to remind everyone what BTS is like as a group, and since it’s been so long since our last tour, we tried to focus on the kind of energy we have when we’re all together. Obviously that makes things harder, but we wanted to immerse the audience in that feeling of all seven of us putting on the show together, all the way through.
V: We all felt that we should be focusing on the group rather than subunit or solo songs. I think that is the core of this tour. Having the seven of us back together after all this time feels special, and it’s also our way of saying we want to keep doing this together.
RM: We wanted to put more weight on reaffirming the BTS brand that’s brought all of us this far. We’re at a point now where we can end up with a totally different outcome depending on what we choose to pour our energy into. That’s not me trying to explain or describe it. It’s just a feeling. It’s like, we have to do something to show that we’re locked in as a group, now that we’re back after such a long time away. After all, we’re talking about 13 years of history that the seven of us and ARMY have been building together.
SUGA: I think it’s so “Bangtan” that the seven of us are still so aligned.
In “BTS: THE RETURN,” Jimin talks about how “perform[ing] onstage together” is “what we are meant to do. So it’s a matter of focusing on what needs to get done now.” What does it mean to you to be performing right now, given you’re carrying that sense of being a group with you?
Jimin: I don’t think it’s anything grandiose. As long as ARMY’s there, every show is special—because we’re performers, and ARMY’s there to see us. Our job is to put on the best show possible and make sure ARMY feels like spending their day to go to the concert was worth it, so I think we owe it to them to put absolutely everything we’ve got into what we’re there to do. I keep that responsibility in mind every time I get up onstage.
j-hope: This tour’s also the start of an evolution. We felt like we needed to be the ones leading the way, working through it as we go, and that it’s what’s required to get us to the next level. So we all worked really hard getting ready for everything, chewing all that over.
The concerts feel free and loose on the surface of things, but it sounds like it takes a lot of careful coordination and design behind the scenes. You start with traditional gugak music that symbolizes the whole theme of the concert, then launch into “Hooligan,” with j-hope taking the lead.
j-hope: We all have certain ways of doing things—certain patterns we’d fallen into over the years—but I tried hard to break away from a lot of that. Since I’m the one kicking things off with the opening of “Hooligan,” I felt like it absolutely had to hit hard. For that reason, I’ve been trying to bring a little more energy to the performative aspect. And since we’re doing several shows all with the same setlist, I try to do something a little different each time and leave a strong impression. That’s part of the charm of touring—plus it adds a little extra fun for ARMY if they come out to more than one show! I’m not sure if it’s really working, but fortunately I seem to be past it weighing on me. (laughs) Now I’m trying to feel a little more confident, getting things started more at my own pace.
There’s a lot of walking around throughout the show, and for Jimin, it feels like even that is a form of personal expression. Where was your main focus in that regard when you were getting ready for the tour?
Jimin: I wanted the whole show, start to finish, to be one unbroken immersive experience. It wasn’t so much “Here’s the kind of vibe I should give off while walking” as a lot of “What does this song mean to me?”
The part where Jung Kook catches the drone during “Run BTS” got a lot of attention. He looks so natural doing it that some people thought it was improvised at first. What’s the story behind that?
Jung Kook: That part was very deliberately orchestrated. We ended up trying it out based on an idea the director had. The drone actually crashed into the floor by accident when we were rehearsing. I'm always worried I'm going to miss it. (laughs)
When “SWIM” comes up later in the setlist, it turns the show’s sentimental mood up to 11. RM has described the song as something that’s neither “a command” nor “a recommendation” but “just describing somebody” or people who “almost give up but not give up 100%.” With all that packed into it, it must feel indescribable when ARMY sings along all throughout the stadium.
RM: The meaning of “SWIM” keeps getting refined all throughout the tour. We’ve entered a future we didn’t see coming, and even with all the twists and turns, somehow we’re still moving forward, beat by beat. I think life really is just an imperfect, unbroken series of waves you never see coming like that. When “SWIM” comes on, sometimes I take out my in-ear and just listen to the crowd. It helps me really get into it for when my verse comes in.
The sentimental part of the concert transitions into the most physically demanding stretch of songs: “Not Today,” “MIC Drop,” “FYA,” and “FIRE.” In fact, on the first night at Stanford Stadium, some of you were so worn out that you lay down on the ground after. But what struck me was how you would come out on the thrust stage even when the cameras weren’t on you, still going nonstop and interacting with ARMY.
Jimin: I try not to think too hard during that stretch. I just focus on conveying the exact energy of the songs through my body so ARMY can feel it.
RM: Not to overstate it, but I’m practically on tour just for that moment. It’s the closest I get to losing myself completely. I’m the kind of person who’s normally full of random thoughts and worries, so when I let go of all that and just let loose and have a good time without thinking, that’s when I feel the most amount of energy and adrenaline. It’s when the version of myself I’m usually so self-conscious about totally disappears, and I melt into the crowd. And even though it’s exhausting, and my ankle still hurts, I can’t help but want to get even more into it. I look forward to it more than any other part of the concert.
That’s another big part of what makes this tour special—those spontaneous moments you share with ARMY, like V in Mexico City eating a hot dog or making a toast with them, or Jin asking for confetti to rain down over his head or blowing his signature kiss. Every show ends up with its own special moment.
V: Umm, how do I say this? I just like seeing ARMY happy, so if some idea pops into my head suddenly, I guess I just go with it. I want to make them laugh. (laughs) Even when I’m talking with the crowd, I try not to get too serious about it. I’d rather just chat about everyday stuff and keep it light. I feel like that gets more laughs out of them anyway.
Jin: I’m a pretty spontaneous person, so a lot of the time I’ll see something and think, “Oh, I should try that.” I guess when you think about it, that still counts as planning—just planning spontaneously. (laughs) I love making people laugh, so I’m always thinking, “Oh, I bet I can make them laugh if I do that.” I mean, ARMY goes through all the trouble to come out for the show, so it’s nice if they can get in a few extra laughs.
Seeing ARMY wave Korean flags and sing along to the “Arirang” section of “Body to Body” on night three at Stanford Stadium really felt like witnessing the exact moment one country’s folk song crossed international borders to become a love song for everyone. What goes through your mind when you see something like that?
j-hope: It gets me every time. It’s overwhelming. I can’t put it into words any other way! I think the “Arirang” part of “Body to Body” has become one of the most iconic moments among the things we wanted to do on this tour. I think that’s the very heart of it—setting aside differences like language, race, geography, gender, and all that to come together as one through love. I think communication onstage matters just as much as the performance itself. I think the two really feed off each other.
This tour has BTS’s past and present coexisting side by side. The setlist is built around “ARIRANG” for the most part, but there’s also time set aside to connect with ARMY through songs from your earlier days. How do you feel when you sing those older songs with ARMY now?
Jung Kook: It makes me happy. Sometimes I get nostalgic and look up old videos of our performances, too. Obviously I can’t do all the choreography from back then exactly the same, but there’s a very different hit of nostalgia when I’m actually performing it live instead of just watching a video of it, and I wanted to let ARMY experience the same thing.
SUGA: I’m grateful that there’s still people out there who can listen to the music from that era with us and go right back to those old times. Everyone becomes a fan at a different time, but it was so moving to create this experience where everyone could come together as one anyway.
RM has compared your time in the military to chronos, meaning measurable, chronological time, and the time spent with the rest of the group to kairos, a noteworthy point in life that creates its own meaning. It seems like this tour, too, must be kairos thanks to the memories you get from visiting all these different places and the memories you make there with ARMY. What moments from the tour have made it to kairos?
RM: I feel that way whenever I get to visit what you’d call the truly local spots in a city. Especially somewhere unexpected … When I go to a famous tourist spot or museum, my expectations are already so high that it’s hard to actually be moved by it. It’s more the restaurants, cafes, and small shops I stumble across while wandering the streets where I can really feel the place. It’s like, “So this is how people here live, this is how ARMY here lives. These are the sights they see every day.” I cherish time spent like that.
And on that note, it seems like V’s been putting in a lot of effort to help create even more memories with the group throughout the tour. Jin even called him the “culture master” on Weverse LIVE on May 3. What’s been driving this hunt for little pockets of joy in every city, like the pizza V told ARMY was great at Stanford Stadium?
V: We’d talked about wanting to make the most of our time together offstage, too, and I wanted to keep everyone’s energy up so no one got too worn out over the tour, so I ended up being among a few of us who comes up with ideas, like restaurants and pickleball, and I kept nagging the others to come along. (laughs) I’ve come to realize that creating little pockets of happiness like that can make the whole tour a better experience for all of us.
SUGA’s been posting behind-the-scenes photos from every tour stop on Instagram, and he even vlogged the marathon he ran during your time in Stanford for ARMY. What was the push to document moments from the tour like that?
SUGA: I just felt like it. I can never forget just how much ARMY’s supported us, and I always make sure not to. Honestly, I just did the vlog because I thought our fans might enjoy it, so I’m glad they did.
RM once described the path BTS has traveled so far as “a path no one has traveled before,” and it seems the current tour is a part of that. What’s the biggest realization you’ve come to as you’ve continued down this untrodden road across so many different cities since April?
RM: This is a really hard question, and it’s really hard to give a neat, tidy answer to. If there’s one thing I felt with absolute certainty, though, it’s that the 10-plus years we’ve been doing this together haven’t just disappeared into thin air. We’ve sung so many songs and shared so many real connections with each other over the years, I felt like this tour finally brought some of that together after the long wait and let it shine. Like, “Wow, we really went at it for 13 years. I’m so thankful.”
At the end of the day, the “ARIRANG” tour feels like it’s both BTS 2.0 and a chance to think about what that name really means.
Jin: These guys are the best, you know? I’ve done promotions and even toured without the others before, and there was a lot of pressure there. There was this fear in the back of my mind. Performing without them taught me something—how grateful I am that we get to do this together and how much it means to me. When I’m with them, we end up laughing our way through everything, and onstage, too, I’m so happy that I just can’t help smiling.
Jimin: Reuniting like this was a vivid reminder of just how grateful and happy I am that all seven of us get to perform together. I think seeing all seven of us onstage together from start to finish during this tour says everything about how we see our group and how we feel about each other.
j-hope: With our group, you could never replace any of the members. Each of us has our own role to play, and there’s a kind of beauty you only get when we’re all lumped together. And more than anything, I think there’s this connection with people all over the world that only exists when all seven of us are together. Since this tour is our first time being back with our fans in a long time, we wanted to give them as much time with the whole group as possible. That’s really all there is to it.
SUGA: I’m just grateful that, even 13 years later, we still get to go on tour and keep being singers.