BTS returns from military service. Is its comeback worth the wait?
ABC
Double J
Topic:Music
BTS has come out of hiatus to reclaim its K-pop throne with comeback album Arirang. (Supplied: Netflix)
It's one of the most anticipated events of the year: the return of K-pop supergroup BTS.
Today marks the release of Arirang, the first new music since all seven members completed their mandatory military service in the South Korean Army.
Named after a centuries-old Korean folk song, Arirang closes the gap since 2022's anthology album Proof and 2020's chart-topping Be, which housed the international hits Dynamite and Life Goes On.
BTS is supporting the album release with a mammoth world tour, spanning 34 regions, including Australian dates scheduled for 2027.
It's a very big deal. So, whether you need to bone up on BTS basics, or this is your first day on the internet (welcome), here's everything you need to know …
Who is BTS?
BTS, which is short for Bangtan Sonyeondan (translating to Bulletproof Boy Scouts) and later, Beyond the Scene, is the most successful K-pop export of its generation.
It has sold more than 500 million units and breached more than 104 billion streams worldwide, making BTS one of the all-time best-selling groups of any genre and any nation.
RM, J-Hope, Jung Kook, Jimin, Jin, Suga, and V of BTS. (Supplied: BigHit Music)
BTS's career is dotted with historic firsts: the first Korean group to top the Australian ARIA albums chart (in 2019 with Map of the Soul: Persona), as well as topping both the US Billboard 200 album chart and Billboard 100 singles chart six times.
A global cultural force that sells out stadiums worldwide and commands a record-breaking social media following, BTS is the first act to have won the IFPI Global Recording Artist of the Year trophy twice, in 2020 and 2021.
Why has BTS been away?
The group has been on a nearly four-year hiatus in order for all seven members — RM, Jung Kook, Suga, Jimin, V, Jin and J-Hope — to undertake Korea's mandatory national service.
The last remaining member of BTS to complete military service has been discharged.
All South Korean men aged 18 to 28 are conscripted for an 18 to 21-month term.
There was debate whether BTS, practically national treasures, would earn the kind of special exemptions given to athletes, classical musicians and dancers.
However, the K-pop stars were not exempt and in December 2022, they staggered each member's service. As some members left for enlistment, others pursued their solo careers.
Eldest member, Jin, enlisted first and was discharged in June, 2024, followed by J-Hope later the same year. RM, V, Jimin, and Jung Kook were discharged in early June 2025, while Suga was the last to complete his service, on 21 June, 2025.
When is the new BTS album released?
Often Australian fans get a sneaky early listen to albums as midnight rolls around here well before it does in other major markets around the world.
For releases from artists as popular as BTS though, there is usually a worldwide premiere time that ensures everyone gets to hear it at the same time.
So, fans will have to wait a few more excruciating hours to hear the album, which goes live on streaming services at 3pm AEDT, Friday March 20.
BTS means business on the album cover for Arirang. (Supplied: BigHit Music)
How to listen to Arirang?
Arirang is available on all major platforms from today, including Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, as well as South Korean subscription services like Melon and Genie Music.
There is also a staggering array of physical releases available on CD and vinyl, with BTS's famously devoted fans able to choose from different colours and bonus extras across different versions.
There are reportedly 16 different physical versions available, with a range of standard copies, member-specific releases, and various deluxe editions ready for their feverish fans.
Besides being pitched as BTS's return to global pop domination following its hiatus, Arirang is described as a "deeply reflective body of work" by label Big Hit Entertainment, which explores the "identity and roots" of the seven-piece more than a decade after its debut.
How to watch BTS's live concert stream?
This weekend, all seven BTS members will reunite on stage for a free comeback concert, staged live from Seoul's historic Gwanghwamun Square.
Seoul has ramped up the security and police presence, while streaming and map service operators are bracing for seismic impact, in anticipation of the comeback concert.
The performance is being broadcast exclusively on Netflix, 10pm AEDT on Saturday, March, 21, marking the streaming titan's first live event in South Korea.
Many BTS fans are expected to tune in, including the 33.5 million followers on Weverse, a social media app designed specifically for K-pop fans.
What is the BTS Netflix documentary?
Following the comeback concert, Netflix will also host BTS: The Return, a documentary, releasing March 27, that chronicles the group's highly anticipated comeback.
The film goes behind the scenes on the making of Arirang. All 14 new tracks were recorded between July and November 2025, when the members of BTS relocated to Los Angeles following their conscripted service.
"In the military, time just passed by," RM remarks in the trailer for the upcoming documentary.
"But here in L.A., you really feel the impermanence of time. And we're trying to find out what makes us BTS."
The group shared a house, living together for the first time since 2015, and dedicated themselves to a strict daily regime of physical training, writing and recording.
"We'd do six days a week, like businessmen," RM said in a GQ interview, explaining the process harkened back to their roots as trainees.
In 2010, a 16-year-old RM (short for Rap Monster) signed to Big Hit Entertainment, which paired him with rapper-producer Suga and dancer-rapper J-Hope to form a hip hop trio.
However, they were soon pivoted into a K-pop band, combining underground rap with the chart-baiting flair of idol groups.
Cementing the line-up was young showman Jung Kook, singer-dancers Jimin, V, and Jin, an actor with the nickname Worldwide Handsome.
The group debuted in June 2013 with the album 2 Cool 4 Skool, later gaining global attention in 2016 with Wings.
Who are the Australians involved in the album?
Surprisingly, a few notable homegrown artists feature among the credits for Arirang.
Namely, Kevin Parker, the West Australian musical auteur behind Tame Impala, is credited as a writer and producer on the track Merry Go Round.
He features alongside Los Angeles-based Australian hit-maker Sarah Aarons. She co-wrote three tracks on Tame Impala's Deadbeat and her previous clients include Childish Gambino, K-pop stars NewJeans, and Zedd.
Harley Streten, best known as Hottest 100 topping, ARIA- and Grammy-winning producer Flume, is a co-producer on FYA alongside his frequent collaborator JPEGMAFIA.
Who else is on Arirang?
Somebody else with recurring credits all over the album is super-producer Diplo, who is also a member of Major Lazer, Jack Ü (with Skrillex), LSD (with Sia and Labrinth) and Silk City (with Mark Ronson).
"ARMY please be nice. I made 5 of these [songs]," Diplo, real name Thomas Wesley Pentz, wrote in a social post addressing BTS's impassioned, juggernaut fanbase, attaching a photo alongside Jung Kook and RM.
American record producer Mike WiLL Made-It, known for working with blockbuster artist like Kendrick Lamar, Beyoncé, Rihanna and Lil Wayne, is credited on the tracks 2.0 and Aliens.
Ryan Tedder, OneRepublic frontman turned songwriter to the stars, has writing and production credits on four songs, including opening track Body To Body. That song also shares writing credits with eclectic Texan rapper-singer-producer Teezo Touchdown.
El Guincho, a Spanish musician-producer who has worked with art-pop luminaries Rosalía, FKA twigs and Björk, co-produced the track Hooligan.
Arirang features an eclectic array of collaborators and represents a "diversity of genres," as Suga recently described to GQ.
"It's going to be quite different from the BTS albums and sounds that you've been listening to. You're going to see a more mature side of BTS this time around."
BTS's new album Arirang will be available from 3pm AEDT today.
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