ARIRANG ROUNDTABLE - April 2026
Members of the KCCNYC community gathered to discuss the new ‘Arirang’ record from BTS – including its influences, the reactions to the concept and content of the album, and what or who BTS is culturally in conversation with through the release of this album. Watch the audiogram above or read the full roundtable transcript below.
Transcript:
Eun Byoul Welcome to the Round Table. This is Eun Byoul Oh, the program manager of KCC NYC, and we are a non-profit, based in New York City. We bond over Korean culture and Korean language. And I had this inspiration that we should talk about the BTS new album released Arirang, so we're here talking together tonight. I personally been teaching Korean for the last ten years or so? And I studied East Asian studies in New York. Columbia University, and I would like to talk about the cultural aspects of the album today.
Dana Hi, Dana Cunningham. So I'm a student at KCC. I guess what brought me to to KCC was my introduction to Korean culture, to Korean music, all things Korean related because of BTS. So I've been an army for about three years. The "Butter" era is when I first actually, became a fan of BTS, but they've led me to dig deeper into all things Korean and just really enjoying the ride, wanting to learn the language and happy to be here to talk about my passion, which is BTS.
Crystal My name is Crystal Arnette. I am a professional filmmaker and I'm currently working on a documentary around Korean culture and identity in partnership with Korean Culture Center New York City. I have been working on that project for about six years, and I am coming to this conversation from the place of being a musician. I had a band for a long time – and I'm also, you know, a classically trained actor who started in a conservatory system as a very young person. So have always felt quite an affinity to the K-pop system because I get a lot of how that goes. And in terms of BTS, I remember being introduced to them when I was working on the Off-Broadway production of "Kpop, the Musical" – but I wouldn't say that I became a fan until I went to see the concert in 2019 – So I went to the show really as research for the documentary. And I left the show an ARMY.
Hannah My name is Hannah Elliot. I have been working in the music industry in various capacities for nearly ten years now. I went to school for music business at NYU and since then I've worked with artists management, staff, labels, and currently I'm a project manager at a creative agency that works with a lot of the top streaming services and providing editorial and curation. K-pop and BTS came into my orbit probably around ten years ago, around like DNA when that came out. And I don't know if I was a full fledged ARMY at that point – I definitely was a big TWICE fan at the time. But BTS, I think came a bit later around Covid, which I think a lot of people kind of gravitated towards BTS during that time as like a place of comfort and safety. And that's when I started taking classes at KCC and it's been a journey and I'm excited to talk about it.
Karleta Hi. My name is Karleta Peterson. I am an educator, a DJ, and a cultural curator. I lived in Korea for about seven years, which is where the bulk of my DJing and just event curation experience comes from. But, in New York, also continuing that work as well as my first love, which is education. I studied Sociology at Columbia and then later on ended up studying Critical Race Theory and Sociology as well as Education at Harvard. And I unfortunately do not identify as an ARMY, but I was more than a casual listener of BTS from their debut in 2013 – until around 2017 , 2018 . So I'm really excited to be able to revisit them and discuss their work through the lens of culture and music and all the different things that I'm interested in.
Mitchell Hi, I'm Mitchell. I am a DJ in New York. Moved here a couple of years ago to pursue this dream, and I've been DJing different rooftops, clubs and bars around the city, exposing myself to new music. And I think this is a great opportunity for me to expose myself to more of the background of BTS, which I am very open to learning more about the scene.
Crystal What do you think BTS is trying to say with this record with Arirang? You know, it's fourteen tracks, that are kind of split between a section one and a section two and separated by the big gong of the bell, so, what do you think BTS is trying to say on this record, through the music, lyrics and presentation of the album and performances. And that last section, is brought in because K-pop as many people define it – And I'm going to pull, I think, RM's own definition of K-pop as being this – It's not just the music and lyrics. It is also the performance of it, that K-pop is this package – that the industry, the genre of K-pop includes the performance aspect of it. So let's just start there.
Dana In the songs that really resonate with me, I believe I'm hearing kind of the tension between who they are as Koreans, being artists in the global stage, and maybe within the industry. So I'm hearing kind of – coming out of the military, what does all of that mean to them? And I think each song is expressing maybe some of the tension in any of those areas.
Crystal Yeah. And something we can add on to it is also like, "Did you have like, a reaction listening to it?" Because I think when I first heard the record, like, at midnight when it came out – because I was at a bar with a friend – and we were listening to it like on a phone. I couldn't hear it very well, but what I could hear I said, "I'm not sure this is a pop record." I was like, this is weird – in a very good way, you know? "This sounds like I'm going to need to go put my headphones on for real." I didn't get to do that until the next morning. And then when I did get my headphones on the biggest thing that I came away with was I really wanted to have a sit down with the mixer – and the mastering team on this record. I was so thrilled by the depth and quality of the tracks. I think I remember writing in a chat, I was like, "I want to listen to this song again." And I'm a fan, but I'm not going to just blow smoke, you know? I don't always want to listen to something over and over again – but that first day, I really wanted to listen to this record again, top to bottom. One of the things I think they really said with this record was like, "This is what a BTS record can be." I thought that was... that was a really strong statement. I was really happy that it didn't feel safe.
Karleta I think that there's a distinction between what they're trying to say and what I'm actually hearing them say. Especially with the presentation and the rollout, I was expecting something that did feel a little bit more patriotic in content. I think that the rollout, the concert at Gwanghwamun, the title of the album, the integration of Arirang into the first song... it – that definitely carries the, you know, the weight of the patriotism. But I think that the rest of the album, in terms of the lyrical content, didn't carry that. So I think initially what I thought they were trying to say was, you know, we are still connected to our Korean musical roots, our earlier work – and that wasn't what I got from it. However, I do think, the part that I enjoyed about this album is that it does feel very reminiscent of their pre 2018 – work, which is also the work that I'm most familiar with. I appreciated the emphasis on more of their hip hop sound and like working with producers like Mike Will Made-it, Teezo Touchdown, Jpegmafia – like, some of my favorite producers. And so I feel like they're also trying to say, like, "We are still connected to our original hip hop sound – this is just a more mature version of it in terms of the production." And so that part was really exciting to hear. However, what I thought they were trying to say with the rollout is very different from what they were actually saying, when I listened to the album. HANNAH - I felt
Hannah Very similar. I felt like when they first came out with the concept and all that, I think I had a different idea of what it actually ended up being. I mean, I personally feel like it felt kind of overproduced and sanded down in a way – it was like engineered to be like, universally palatable when the branding was supposed to be like, you know, "Arirang" – like Korean. And I feel like you could see it also in the documentary – like, there was obvious tension between, you know, Bang saying all the time and HYBE saying, you know, we want to make, "K-pop not 'K'-pop. It's just 'Pop.' It's global music for everyone" – But then they're also trying to like, go hard into this you know, heritage, like, patriotism idea. I feel like it just kind of seems undecided to me still. Like I don't think they really settled on that. And I don't think it's a bad album. I think there are great moments throughout. And I think if anything – it's going to prove itself when they go on tour and they play this stuff live – I think this is going to be amazing live, but as like, an album, and just thinking about how they marketed it versus what it actually is – like the content, the songs, it just didn't match for me.
Mitchell I – I'm pretty fresh off of a first listen from the album, but I feel like they really touched on a lot of different sounds that – I feel like all the producers kind of came together and even so – it had so many different aspects – I feel like it was still easy on the ear to listen. And I think that is where it kind of eases in and it could grow on a lot of people. So I think that's a cool standpoint, [them] coming back and just exploring some new creativity and from a producer standpoint.
Eun Byoul To be clear, I am not an ARMY. But maybe through this round table project, I have slowly transitioned into, you know, listening to more BTS. Of course, I have listened to them in the past, but not as a fan. It was more of a general K-pop listener. I mean, it will be interesting for me to enter or call myself like a semi- ARMY through this album because I feel like it's such a different moment, different stage for them to be in. coming. I have listened to them in Butter era and Dynamite era – and of course, you can't miss BTS in public presence when you know, the American Radio, TV has them all the time. So I have heard them. I've seen them. But, my understanding of this album has changed significantly from the first listen to like, what I am now and I think it will continue to evolve. I actually went into the album through the music video "Swim" – I was like, "I need to teach a class that day, so maybe people will bring it up. So let's watch it." And my initial thought was like, "What is this Pirates of Caribbean?" But at the same time, I think that reaction was there because this album was supposed to be "Arirang," right? And it was kind of confusing to me – without listening to the whole album – seeing that music video by itself and listening to this very serene, tranquil sound – I was like, what is this with Arirang? But at the same time that night, I also watched Gwanghwamun concert, right? And it was nice for them to come back in Korea – connecting to the roots. I was like, "Okay, okay" – and of course I was like, "What are they trying to do?" And, I'm very familiar with like, Big Bang era SNSD, the older K-pop era where like, I grew up in Korea around that time being a teenager – so you can't miss it. However, I was like, "This is very different" and probably it's also – they have changed. You know, this album was a statement for me that they are now mature ahjussi – cute little ahjussis – but little ahjussidul that are not going to be boys anymore – this album for BTS was like a clear statement for me of, "We are gonna do something cool and new." And I think that disconnect between the album title and the tracks right now – kind of makes sense to me – Not fully, I still maintain some thoughts about the "Swim" music video from my perspective – but I really appreciated 2.0 ... – And I think that was the wow moment for me to see the music video, right? And then actual performance videos of "Swim" gave me a different insight – the dance videos actually gave me a better insight of what they were trying to do. This may be their own statement of what Koreanness should be. And maybe that's why the overall package itself is called Arirang. But Korea itself is diversifying, right? Getting into new ideas and all that.
Crystal On the record for you, was there anything that really, popped out as a new experience or as something that you really kind of made a note of when listening to this record?
Dana When I first heard it – at midnight when it dropped – So I started with the video first and I didn't know what I was seeing, I was totally confused just because the format was very different. It was very different than any of the videos that I've ever seen from BTS. So I was a little confused there. Then started to listen to the album, was even more confused. And when I got to hooligans, I was like, what am I listening to? Because I think I had all of these expectations – I'm not sure what they were – but you know, there had been some talk about it being "The Most Beautiful Moment..." era. And so I thought that's what we were going to get. I didn't realize we were going to get "Dark & Wild," so I didn't go back that far in my mind. So the first time I heard it, I was confused. Second time I was like, "I'm not sure." And then I consciously said, "Okay, Dana, just listen to the music and do you like the music?" And I absolutely loved the music. And so once I was able to put that aside – I really started to enjoy the album. But where I am right now is really dissecting what they're saying because there is a lot of meaning in what they're saying. And I feel as a non-Korean, I'm missing a lot. And for me, what really kind of stood out was "Aliens" because I'm like, "What are they really saying here to the world?" For me, that was a standout. And so I'm looking forward to spending more time to really understand the context from a Korean perspective of what they're really saying, because as a foreigner, I'm not understanding that. I'm missing that piece, that nuance.
Crystal Yeah. Mitchell, what about for you? What's something that's really jumped out in a good or a bad way for you?
Mitchell I was happy to see Mike WiLL Made- It as a feature on that. I think that was a really cool, like taste. And I feel like as a DJ, I feel like that would be a really fun song to mix in. It has a good beat to it. And yeah, I really enjoyed that.
Crystal He's got 2.0 and Aliens – I think those are just very cool. beats and drums and distortion on it and very industrial – reminded me a little bit of like the sonic flavors of early 2000s – I was really in the goth like, heavy metal scene at that time – so it reminded me a little bit of like industrial rock, very industrial sound. And I'm not fluent enough in this world to know what that's in conversation with.
Karleta In a lot of different global genres that are bubbling up right now – the industrial production elements are very, very, present, especially like if you think about baile funk and a lot of Afro electronic genres – we all know like what cyber pop or – you know, these kinds of genres that are becoming more popular and even in hip hop now, like artists like Lil Uzi Vert or Travis Scott, they're using these elements. It's just, I feel, ever like, present now. So, perhaps that's where Mike WiLL Made-it is coming from, but I can't speak definitively on that. However, I do want to revisit something that Dana said about like, "Oh, I didn't know we were getting 'Dark & Wild' because although I'm not an ARMY, that album was definitely in rotation in what, 2014? Like, I loved that album. And I think that it's also why "2.0" is a stand out for me, why the beat of Hooligan is a standout for me – I do not like the lyrics, but I love the – the beat and the production of it – it definitely reminded me of "Dark & Wild" and that's why those two are standouts. But I also love "FYA" – it feels like the more mature, evolved version of a "Dark & Wild" – I love the Jersey club elements. That is just so I love it, but then on top of that, I thought, "Merry Go Round," which was produced, I think by Tame Impala - and then finally, "Please" just because we love an R&B moment, right? Like, like we love a little, a little BTS R&B moment. So that's a lot of standouts. And I think that, when I first started listening to it, I was like, "I don't think there are any standouts for me, and I'm not sure how much I will revisit this particular album," but after listening more and more, I will definitely be revisiting – you know, at least four or five of these tracks because of the production or because of, you know, the nostalgia that they remind me of.
Crystal Yeah. I went to like a album release party at Brooklyn Bowl – I just wanted to hear the bass, you know, like through an actual sound system. But what I thought was really interesting was when 'FYA' played – all these young, hot, kids started v– like, voguing – and they started voguing straight through the middle of the dance party – like all the queer kids in the middle of the space – And I was like, "This is exactly right!" Like that is the response to that song. And, I love that. I love that that was what it evoked. And it immediately became this total party. Hannah, what about for you?
Hannah I'm surprised no one's talked about "Body To Body" yet.
Crystal I love "Body To Body."
Hannah I really think that's like, my standout. I'm also thinking about this maybe in a different way because I am seeing them in Tampa in a couple weeks. So I can just hear that going insane – I love the sample. I liked how they settled on using it. I honestly want more of it. But I guess, I understand why that's not the move for them. But I really liked that insertion of traditional weird sampling.
Crystal I – I don't know how you feel, but I actually agree with Bang Shi-hyuk on this one. When he was like, "Just wait till the whole stadium is singing Arirang –" and I think we could feel like it's a bit of a shoehorn – but I do agree that he's right – that will be amazing and that maybe we say "Only BTS can do that –" because BTS is the only current K-pop group that can have a sold out stadium tour of this size – Like they're going to be on tour for three years. They're going to be on tour into 2028 – Coldplay was on tour for three years with their most recent tour. I see BTS being on tour for at least through the end of 2027 . The idea that you have sixty thousand people, singing the oldest folk song from Korea, and only BTS could pull those numbers – I agreed that that was an opportunity you shouldn't pass – the producer in me wouldn't have passed that up. Eun, what do you think? Tell us about your standouts and also what do you think to that?
Eun Byoul So yes, my thoughts on Arirang. It was – it was interesting. like in an album called Arirang, right? I was expecting more percussion based traditional instrument. That's the Korean in me that was expecting what "Arirang" meant, but like actually looking at from Body To Body – like whole track – I don't think it was a bad decision, but it was quite abrupt I was like, "You put it there?" And that's not a title track either. And this is called Arirang. And I'm like that specific Arirang – I would say there are better versions of Arirang itself, like the younger sounding version. I was like, "That's not the Arirang that I was expecting," but it's growing. I'm letting the song grow to whatever it becomes in me right now, but I think Koreans felt a little bit cringey. And I think that's one thing that the BTS members also talked about, I think, in the documentary and I loved seeing clips of them actually doing the millennial. Do you know what I mean? The millennial – What do you call it?
Crystal The calisthenics?
Eun Byoul Yes. It's called like New Millennium Calisthenics. This is what we learned as an elementary school kid – So I was like, yeah, they're definitely ajussis from the same generation as I was – But I understand from Performance view, once again, I had to realize that this is not just going to be the music, it's going to be the stadium, right?
Crystal Could you break down what that specific section of Arirang is saying?
Eun Byoul This is the school part of it.
Crystal This is the school part of it. And also, I feel like it's a good opportunity to get a great pronunciation of these lyrics for anyone at home who's going to be practicing ahead of the concerts.
BTS
Somebody like you, oh
Somebody like you, ayy
Somebody like you, somebody like, everybody like you
아리랑, 아리랑, 아라리요
아리랑 고개로 넘어간다
나를 버리고 가시는 님은
십리도 못가서 발병난다
I need the whole stadium to jump
Put your phone down, let's get all the fun
You at the side, at the back, at the front
Karleta That's gonna go so insane in concert.
Dana I can't even sit in my chair. I wanted to get up and dance, I honestly did.
Hannah They were writing it with that in mind. Like, you know.
Crystal So Eun – why don't you talk us through the lyrics that we're hearing and what they mean?
Eun Byoul So if you tell a Korean to think about what Arirang means to them, like actually, like lyrically, we usually don't know [laughs] because it's been a folk song that's handed down thousands of years. You know, it's part of the culture. We just hear Arirang, Arirang Ara-ri-oh repeated. And by the way, regionally it's all different. I like the fact that he put it in – just letting you know – but I felt very cringey, that's all. And I'm cringing because that part of Korean in me is like ringing. It's almost ticklish, but at the same time, at the same time, Arirang is like, you know, the folk song. And the gist of what they have sampled is "If you leave me, you get foot pain after you walk about four kilometers" One 리 – 일 리 is about four hundred meters. If it's 십리 it's four kilometres, right? So that means - 십리도 못가서 발병난다. 발? 발 is foot, right? 병 is disease or pain in general. So like, "If you leave me, you'll get foot pain." So it's about departure of the beloved, you know, yearning. Korean has this whole idea of Han, right? The Han and Jeong defines the Korean culture, the traditional culture, at least – the Han is the grudge and sorrow that we hold as a nation of grudge and sorrow – We live on it, as everybody knows. And jeong – that is affection, right? "아리랑 아라이요" We do not know what the origin of it is. And if you go to our Instagram, I actually did a explanation of what Arirang can be, but 고개 is the hill; 고개로 넘어간다 – – is to go up the mountain and go down, right? But the pronunciation part, I think 십리 is very confusing. 십리, "심 - 니" Yes. It's not "십 - 리" it's "심 - 니" because of nasalization. And there's the "ㄹ" half nasal that's causing it to be a "ㅁ" not a "ㅂ" - so that's going to be "십리" Yes. I expect my students to get it right in the stadiums.
Crystal Do you want to read these four lines for us properly as our teacher?
Eun Byoul Yes!
아리랑 아리랑 아라리요
아리랑 고개로 넘어간다
나를 버리고 가시는님은
십리도 못가서 발병난다
버리다 is "to abandon." 나를 버리고 가시는님은 Right? "The beloved who abandons me. If you go not even the ten "리" – will get foot pain.
Crystal Awesome. So we got our history, we got our language lesson – So we're going to move on to the next couple of questions that we had here. So we've spoken a little bit about like how the record fits into the wider musical landscape, I'm interested in 2026 – – like, what these songs are in conversation with. I'll point out that like for me, I really love "One More Night" – it reminds me of the seminal early nineties disco track – (I wrote this down somewhere...") [Singing] Oh You gotta show me love" right? Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun That's the same kind of rhythmic –
Karleta Robin S. "Show me love"
Crystal Robin S! That's what it is! Thank you! I just started singing it.... Like, I heard Show Me Love. Like immediately as soon as that beat popped in. It's like almost melodically the same. The instrumentation feels very similar. Like that called back to me. I'm like, oh my God, "Show Me Love!" Okay, we're here. We're in the club. It's like 1992! – – I'm old. So I was also around for that! Similarly, like, I love the track "Normal", but the way those guitars are running, I was hearing, like, "Do Me" by Kim Petras – I'm also thinking a lot about, you know, BTS' foundation – something I wanted to bring up was that the NPR review of the record talked about BTS being a rap foundational group – he described them as a rap group dressed in a pop group. So I also found that an interesting touch point. And we've been having a lot of conversations around the – I'm opening up a larger conversation right now, but like the screw up with Howard University representation in the video, you know, just completely missing a great opportunity. And whether that was impact versus intent – you know, we're not going to make excuses for a failure to do right. I think this kind of brings us into maybe a more deeper conversation about where BTS is operating and I'm kind of interested in where this album is having a conversation. Where are you hearing inspiration?
Hannah I was pretty surprised when Kevin Parker was on the liner notes when they announced that – I come from more of like indie, I guess rock whatever background. And I guess it makes sense, you know? I think Merry-Go-Round is good and I think it's more reflective of like RM's interest in working with more psych rock groups and like Se So Neon and like Sunset Rollercoaster,
Crystal Silica Gel…
Hannah All of those guys. And I love that personally, but I feel like maybe that was a little misplaced, but. it's not a bad song.
Crystal You could really hear like, RM's influence on that track, you know, coming out of his records, coming out of his solo records, especially.
Hannah Yes, definitely.
Karleta I think that as someone who approaches most things with a sociologist's mind – Rather than listening to it, thinking about "oh what songs are they connecting to" or "what they're in conversation with musically?" I thought about like, "what are they in conversation with in terms of culture and identity?" And I think I would be remiss to not bring up the relationship of the lyrics throughout the album to blackness and black culture. I think that – although I love the instrumentals on so many songs – sometimes the lyrics do... turn me off from the the music. For example, there was one moment from "Hooligan" actually, where it's like, "We pop out, we actin' _ a fool again." "Why this baseline slapping so rude?" "Drop it lower then chopped and screwed." And then there was a mode in 2 . 0 – which is one of my favorite songs on the album – where, they say "Hit a lick, in a split." "Pull up at your block, we gon knock, knock knock. Pop pop pop." And so those are moments where I'm like, "All right, you're in conversation right now, but who are you trying to be in conversation with – with these lyrics. Especially knowing that like, I don't think BTS has ever 'hit a lick in a split' 'Pulled up on the block' 'Pop, pop' you know? And so I think for me, as I'm thinking about, "All right, what cultural elements does this album interact with?" It is, unfortunately something where I have to take a step back at times and think, "Who are we trying to be with these lyrics?" However, I do just looking at the album in general and seeing the divide between like the more poppy elements versus the more hip hop songs – I feel like "who" they're trying to speak to is "everyone at the same time." And I think that's why people feel that it is divided. I think they want to be, "appealing to a general global audience with the pop elements," but also, you know, say, "Hey, we're, we're revisiting our earlier roots with the hip hop elements." If I think about who they're talking to from 20 13 and 20 14 – especially if you think about "No More Dream," right? Talking about these preconceived notions of success in Korea. You know, "I don't feel aligned with them. Like everyone's dream job is a government worker. That's just not me." Like, you can really feel that they're talking to Korean youth. Whereas with this album, I'm not too sure who they're trying to talk to.
Crystal I was thinking a lot about how RM – the story, the lore is that he learned English watching "Friends" – I don't – he learned English listening to rap. He learned English, listening to like, you know, Nas records – but you said like 'pop, pop, pop.' You're right. They ain't pulling up on anybody's –
Karleta That's not their experience –
Crystal These guys are not pulling up on any blocks –
Karleta I think that if I think about the actual experience that they're portraying in the lyrics, I don't know who they're talking to because the earlier experiences they're talking about were very part of their identity or part of Korean identity or even the love songs like, oh, "Dynamite" "Butter" – you know, the lyrics are one experience that is completely different from "I'm pulling up at your house. We're going to pop." And so I think that's my issue. Who are we talking to with the lyrics? The use of AAVE and blackccents aside. Right? Let's look at the actual experience from the lyrics or the content. It just feels like now that they're on this huge global stage, the person or the people they're talking to, I'm not just not sure who that is.
Hannah So like, how I was saying they kind of were trying to make the most universally palatable album for everyone. And in their minds, they're looking at the US, they're seeing these rappers, they're seeing Tyler [The Creator] – And like all of these influences they love. And so they're like, "let's just do this." And in their minds, rap and lyrics like that is the "maturing" or portraying a more 'mature version' of themselves, but it just doesn't feel authentic – And they're looking at the West and they're like, "That's it. That's what feels right for us." But it feels awkward when you're actually listening to it.
Karleta Yeah. Hannah, your comment brings up a great point of like, the fact that this kind of taking on, you know, Blackness because people see it as popular – that's not something that's unique to BTS. It's not even specific to K-pop and it's not specific to you know, Korean music. I think that many artists from the states and beyond, you know, take on Blackness or emulate it because they see, "Oh, it's popular with people." And so when I say that, it's not a criticism that is only on BTS at all. And it's something that is noted throughout the entire industry and music industry globally.
Eun Byoul I have a question for Karleta – Did you watch the music video that dropped yesterday?
Karleta 2.0?
Eun Byoul Yeah.
Karleta Yes, I enjoyed the old boy reference.
Eun Byoul It was connected to the "Old Boy." So I found that really interesting that that was the statement they tried to make. And they made sure that they said thanks to Park Chanwook – But as you said, like the lyrics, it starts with a gang fight, right? that music video. So I was like, that's not how typically Korean 깡패 – Korean gangsters – would behave, I would say? So I was like, you're picking up a lot of influences from somewhere.
Crystal I wish I had been in the studio for that because I want to see that session, you know, for 2.0 – when they got that, Mike WiLL Made-It beat and like, who was in the room with them? Cos I see their collaborators, I see who's in the room– I see who they were writing these songs with – I know who's on the track and so is this about the mashing of cultures? And so, yeah, I'm sad that we didn't get to see that because I wanted to see that process.
Mitchell I just found it interesting they had like a quick release on remixes of the recent Swim song I believe, and I think that's interesting. They had a take to set like a basis for just, other people to play with the songs that they're producing.
Crystal And that has a couple purposes. the remixes count for the chart towards that song. So when you release a remix of the song, it counts to the charting of the original song – and it's something used by many artists. I personally feel like these songs are ripe for remixing. Mitchell, for you, when you listen to it, was there anything that you felt this album was in conversation with musically?
Mitchell I think you already spoke on the point of the more Garagey kind of sounds more, in that realm. I feel like Hyperpop is a big scene nowadays and more garage as well, so I think they're trying to tap into that sound.
Crystal I'm actually interested in how people are defining K-pop right now. For you, Mitchell, like if you're someone says, will you play me some K-pop? Do you know what that definition is for you in 2026 ?
Mitchell I just feel like it's a very broad spectrum now. It's just – formulating something for a stage presence, but also that could be played in a club. That's how I see it.
Crystal That's about right for K-pop in 2026! So let's wrap up with the last question – there's been a lot of discourse about the album not being Korean enough – I thought this is a interesting argument that's arisen out of this record. And I thought we should as a Korean Culture Center conversation, how do we center that thought? About these arguments being made by the Korean media, by people online saying, you know, "This record isn't Korean enough," even though in the middle of the record, they spent a minute and thirty eight seconds ringing a bell, which would have charted on the hot one hundred if they had let it.
Eun Byoul I don't know, more and more I hear the lyrics I'm like, "That's Korean. Oh that's Korean." But I see a lot of cultural element to it and I think it's feeding into it pretty well – in terms of like, the name dropping of Kim Gu, the bell, right? I personally really appreciated Aliens because there was "가 나 to the 하" That's what I do for a living, right? So I was like, yes, go for it. But at the same time, my first round of reaction to the album, I was like, "There's not much Korean" and that was my thing – but then when you think of it, the beats in the back and then they're also naming the beats names in Korean like 중모리 – and you hear a lot of cultural elements in there. The more I listen to it, I hear it more. So I'm less frustrated with the idea of Arirang. But I think when you run it for the first time, I think you need to process a lot. Like, what is this? What is that? And "take off your shoe" thing is a real thing. How many of you actually take off your shoe at home? I do.
Karleta I feel like you should.
Dana [Laughter]
Karleta Korean or not!
Eun Byoul As a person who also works in another field other than teaching Korean right now – the term "Alien", gets associated with immigration. So I kept on thinking about them being an alien in this country. I mean, we know, like, Sting talks about being an alien, right? But that's the cultural reference of being an alien – being from somewhere else in this multicultural but hostile situation in some way. That has been the case over the years, right? I mean, we see that the specific government right now is turning more hostile to certain things. But that has been the case for many Koreans and many non-Americans who immigrate or work here from the other country, which – that's what BTS is. So I really thought about, "What does Koreanness mean for them?" As people now who spend most of their three hundred and sixty five days abroad, not in Korea, but representing Korea. And what does that mean to them? You know? I'm having this conversation to myself, listening to the track – it might be reflective of how they feel as Korean.
Crystal Also, I love that the first time I heard the track, because I didn't have lyrics in front of me, I thought they were going "A list, A list." Right, right. People complain about the English lyrics, but something that's really fun about putting these English words in mouths that even thirteen years in, cannot make these sounds as comfortably as they probably want to – and they talk about that in the doc as well – it's really fun because it pulls words out in ways you don't hear it. I mean, I heard "Cause we're on the A list, the A list" and it's "aliens." And that is fun. That's fun. I like that the song can have one meaning when I don't know what they're saying and has another meaning when I do know what they're saying. And I think that the sounds of words and the shape of words and this is something that, you know, RM as their lead songwriter has talked about – that English offers fricatives, like sounds that Korean doesn't use. And so I feel like that fluidity is really fun, and it offers colors and textures to the record in a nice way, but I really enjoy the times where I really felt they were saying certain things because of the way they were pronouncing the words, and then it's actually something else. And that to me was delicious. Like I love that you could think it's both – because they're aliens, but they're aliens on the A list. I don't know, I – I enjoyed that!
Eun Byoul I don't know, I mean, I'm obviously Korean and people ask me, "How Korean are you?" all the time? I mean, despite the fact that I'm teaching Korean, I teach culture, language, history all throughout, right? People still ask me, "How Korean are you?" As a multilingual speaker – [you] have to put yourself in two different shoe – English and Korean. And I always think about how hard it would be for them. They were in Korea for most of their teenage years and then got thrown into this harsh industry speaking English. And then, you know, having to prove their Koreanness because they represent Korea is really a hard burden on them, which I sympathize with.
Hannah I keep going back to a moment in the doc where – I think, RM is in the car and he's just talking about like, "This really hasn't happened before, where a group has been around for this long. So we're really not sure how this is supposed to go – for us, we don't really know what we're doing." And I think that's fair. Like we gotta think about that. This is the first time someone from Korea is doing this for so long.
Crystal At this level, because I don't want to have like, SHINee erasure. [Laughter] – but SHINee did not go into their military service at the level that BTS did. So there's just not a comparison there.
Hannah And I also don't want to be overly cynical about this, but they're part of a super major label. They were never going to let them make an album that's in all Korean. That was never going to happen. That's never going to be a possibility.
Crystal And I don't disagree. The world speaks English, whether we think that's right or not. You know, like if they're making music for the world, like just like ABBA!
Eun Byoul Swedish and English is another question though.
Crystal Okay. Um, flash round so we can wrap up. If you could ask any of the guys a question about the record, like what would you want to ask them? Let's do that first: so mine would be "Yoongi, are you going to play the guitar solo in Like Animals? And is the answer? "Yes,"" We'll find out in two weeks – I took your question? Oh, Dana! I'm sorry, Mitchell, why don't you go ahead and any closing thoughts or questions you might might have had on the record –
Mitchell I guess I don't have too many other thoughts, but I appreciate this conversation. It definitely opened my perspective on BTS and the whole scene, but thank you guys so much.
Crystal Dana. Go ahead. I stole your question, but what would be your question?
Dana Well, I I'm hoping we get to see that guitar moment on stage, but I guess if I had to ask a question, this would probably be to RM – "What was number like fifteen that was in contention and why didn't it make it to the album."
Crystal Isn't it on the record that's coming out – The deluxe edition, the secret track – isn't that fifteen? So maybe it's about what 16 is?
Dana "What's number sixteen?" – then.
Crystal What about for you, Karleta?
Karleta I think I would ask all the members and HYBE – "Who they want the boys to be at this point in both their careers and in K-pop in general?" I think that, as Hannah was saying – this is uncharted territory for a Korean music group to be THIS huge, THIS far into their careers. And at the same time, while K-pop is THIS big in the world. And so – I want to ask them, like, "Who do you want to be as an artist to the world and for yourself?" And then I also want to ask HYBE. And then I want to compare – [laughter] and I'm guessing there would be like lots of differences – because then they all have to navigate that potentially as a group or depending on what their answer is for themselves, maybe NOT as a group. So that's something that I would, I would ask.
Crystal I feel like if they want to be Metallica, they're going to be Metallica. You know, Metallica still hits the top of the Billboard 200 when they release a record – because of their fandom. And so I think if BTS wants to be Metallica, they can – and that means they can tour forever, as long as they want to – I think that feels about right. But –
Hannah Is that what they want?
Crystal Right? Hannah – what about you?
Hannah I feel like since they announced their break so many years ago, four years ago, at this point, they all kind of did have a chance to experiment with their own sounds and doing their own tours and albums. And I really loved "Jack In The Box" – I thought that was genius. But I wonder how it feels coming back into this group setting actually, and knowing that you could do what you wanted to do and then coming back and having to compromise and do these things for this larger album, this thing that's bigger than yourself as an individual? "How does it actually feel? What's missing for you?" I don't think they would ever answer that question, but I think that's something that I would always be curious about.
Dana If I could just make this comment here, as an ARMY, it was really an awesome privilege to actually have each one of the members make their own music in their own style. And I think, you know, we knew that they were very talented as BTS, but each one of them has the potential to be a solo artist. And it's amazing to me that they can like, check their egos and work collectively as a group – because I just loved having the opportunity to see each one of them and what they could do.
Crystal And also, returning to this interview that Diplo [did] – he said that they made like one hundred tracks. They were putting down like one hundred tracks over their song camp, and they kept going, oh, "This is a J-Hope song." "This is actually this is a Jimin song." "Oh, you know, this is a Jungkook song." And so I think what was interesting there is that they were aware of these different kind of brands within the group. And the question that Diplo had as [one of the] main lead producer was like, well, "What is a BTS song?"
Hannah That kinda ultimately bothers me, though, that we can fit more with the 'Arirang' thing because it's like Arirang is about all these different versions of Arirang –
Crystal And that's why I'm wondering if we're gonna get that on the tour. Like, in like six months? Are we going to be looking at this record inside of a tour? You know, seeing a bigger story that we don't know – The tour kicks off in a week.
Hannah I would love for them to all have their individual moments, and I think that would thematically make a lot of sense. But the record, I think kind of rejects that idea a little bit.
Crystal I agree with you there, but I also know that like, they actually can't do 'Permission To Dance [Tour]" again. They cannot do a two hour show of all group songs. The reason they have to do the solo songs on tour is because they all need to sit down for twenty minutes during a show. I mean, these guys are thirty years old, so – like there's no way they can do a three hour show of all seven of them going again – I think they managed to do that for a very short amount of shows but I don't – again, if I was producing this tour, I would need these guys to sit.
Hannah I really hope you're right.
Crystal It gives them a time to rest.
Dana I think we're going to see the dancers doing more of the hard stuff and they're going to be there synchronized and being awesome, but the flips and all of that hard dancing, I think they're going to –
Crystal Like on J-hope's tour where he had like the younger guys doing the more.... I mean, it makes sense. They are taking nice breaks though. They like weeks off between dates. They've got time to get there and rest. Okay. But I, I think we're going to see solo stuff. I personally think so. I really would like to because otherwise we're waiting a really long time for RM to go on tour with his albums.
Dana I'm waiting for 'Huh.' I've got to see that.
Crystal Eun if you were to ask a question of anyone involved in this record, what would you ask?
Eun Byoul I do genuinely want to ask each of the members, what does Arirang mean to them? It could have been a discourse that they had amongst themselves. You know, going back to the Korean ness and me being a Korean instructor who talks about culture, "how did they define Korea? What is their idea of their own Arirang, their own versions of their visions of what this album was supposed to be?" Or is the album currently their vision? I mean, they will say yes, right? That's the final product, right? But at the same time, I do want to ask if RM feels different. Jin feels different. You know, Jimin, Jungkook and V, Hobi, Suga but feels different about what Arirang and their Korean identity attached to it supposed to be. Arirang – it's a very universal song, but at the same time it has so many variations, and we sing it at so many different occasions in our lifetime. And like between South and North, right? That's what's really cool about Arirang. North Korea sings it, South Korea sings it. Right. So I thought when I heard the title Arirang, I thought it meant that they will sing it forever. I think that goes along with the "Swim" idea, which is an interpretation now that I have of it.
Crystal I'm interested in if we'll see a change in K-pop moving forward from a record like this. It's just so diverse in its offerings on one record – or has BTS moved outside of what we think of as the genre?
Dana I think because of this early success of Arirang – and I think the tour is going to be a success. I think the industry is going to want to copy and build on that success – they're going to try to emulate that, to jump on where they think it's moving and not double down on it.
Crystal Maybe that's song camps? You know, because we saw them do that with the CORTIS kids. They brought them to LA and they did a song camp. I'd be interested if that's a shift and that we start seeing more K-pop groups doing like traditional song camps –? Is that the takeaway? We'll see.
Eun Byoul I think BTS is doing what BTS is doing because they're big enough. I don't think the K-pop industry is ready to take on that risk – like you hard ARMYs, you're very loyal. And I think, that gives them room to breathe, even if the first reaction from Koreans are like, "What the hell is this album?" It's not out of hate or distaste. It's more like, it's baffling because it's something new. It's something new and it's an evolution of what next K-pop may be. However, I think BTS is able to take on that risk because they are BTS.
Crystal Well, I feel like this was a really cool opportunity to have a broad ranging conversation about the album in a way that only this group of people could do it.
Karleta Thank you everyone.
Dana This is a pleasure meeting you. Hope to see you soon.
Karleta Thank you.
Crystal Yes, I hope we can have a good dance party time soon!
This podcast was edited for brevity and clarity
