Grab your suit, or your Speedos. And get ready for a swim.
Unless if you’ve been living in a cave, its entrance covered by a boulder, the pop music community is all locked-in for the return of BTS, and their new album ARIRANG.
The 14-track collection dropped at midnight, featuring production from Diplo, Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker, Mike WiLL Made-It and Ryan Tedder.
ARIRANG is no ordinary recording. It marks the first release in six years, a lava hot-run for the Bangtan Boys that briefly cooled when its members enlisted in the South Korean military to fulfill mandatory service requirements.
To celebrate the arrival of ARIRANG, Hybe Labels and BTS share the official music video for album cut “Swim.” Directed by Tanu Muiño and starring Lili Reinhart, it’s a cinematic experience, a high-seas drama that sees RM, Jin, Suga, j-hope, Jimin, V and Jung Kook work the ropes and navigate a sailing ship.
It’s not any boat. Of course, the lads are cruising on the good ship ARIRANG.
ARIRANG is the group’s fifth full-length studio album, and first since Be blasted to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in 2020.
Also that year, BTS climbed the summit of the Billboard Hot 100 with smashes “Life Goes On” and “Dynamite,” after which the group would top the chart again with “Butter,” “Permission to Dance” and “My Universe” with Coldplay.
The ARIRANG ship will come in to dock on Saturday, March 21 when BTS performs a free concert at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul, South Korea, with an expected 260,000 fans watching on. BTS hasn’t performed as a group since October 2022, when the septet performed in Busan as part of South Korea’s bid to host the World Expo in 2023. Shortly afterward, their staggered enlistments into the military began, while solo projects got underway.
But wait, there’s more.
Next week, BTS will stage a return to U.S. late night television for an in-studio interview and two performances on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The interview and first song will air Wednesday, March 25, and the boy band’s second song will beam out the following night.
Watch the music video for “SWIM” below.