Seoul, South Korea
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When the world’s biggest K-pop group introduced their hiatus in late 2022, they have been on the peak of superstardom. They commonly topped music charts, received prestigious awards, and arguably reworked the style into a worldwide cultural phenomenon.
Now, BTS is back – and coming to a metropolis close to you. As the clock struck midnight on Wednesday in Seoul, the group introduced the dates and places of a extremely anticipated world tour, with their new album anticipated to launch in March – the band’s first in nearly four years.
In what shall be their biggest tour but, BTS will carry out throughout 34 areas, beginning in April with a number of concert events in Goyang, South Korea and Tokyo, Japan, earlier than touring to different cities throughout Asia, North America, Europe, South America and Australia. The tour is at present scheduled to conclude in Manila, Philippines in March 2027, although a message on the band’s web site stated extra dates can be introduced in Japan, the Middle East “and more”.
BTS’s followers, often known as ARMY, have been fervently awaiting their idols’ comeback because the final of their members accomplished necessary army service final yr – although the pace of the announcement got here as a welcome shock to some.
“It’s like the gods are coming down from Mount Olympus,” stated Carla Nicholson, a fan from San Diego who at present research in Seoul and visited a BTS promotional set up within the South Korean capital final week. When the album releases, she plans to lease a whole cinema to look at the music movies together with her pals, she stated.
Another fan, Jing Lee from Taiwan, stated that when she heard of their impending comeback, “I couldn’t sleep for two nights because I’m too excited, but also scared that I won’t be able to get a ticket.”
“I gave all my three birthday wishes to BTS, just hoping to get at least one concert ticket,” she stated – including that she is able to journey to the US if the group performs there. “I’m just going to follow them wherever they go.”
Fans have additionally pored over a cryptic picture teased by the band, depicting three pink circles – with theories about what it means starting from “hello” to the symbols on the South Korean flag.
But the group is returning to a really completely different panorama than the one they left. K-pop is not a novelty, with the “Korean wave,” also called Hallyu, bringing the nation’s cultural exports to each nook of the globe. And for the previous yr, the business has been rocked by a high-profile legal battle involving BTS’ dad or mum firm Hybe.
“The challenge isn’t just exposure, it’s really about how to stand out, and also earn trust among global fans,” stated Ray Seol, an affiliate professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston, who researches K-pop. “It’s quite a different game now.”
When BTS debuted in 2013, K-pop was already in style throughout Asia – however had solely made restricted progress breaking by means of Western markets.
That started altering with Psy’s 2012 smash hit “Gangnam Style,” whose viral recognition was an early precursor of what would come.
In the next years, BTS skyrocketed to international recognition, with their arrival in American popular culture hailed as a serious breakthrough for the style. They have been the primary K-pop act to win a Billboard Music Award in 2017, to carry out on “Saturday Night Live” in 2018, and to earn a Grammy nomination in 2020.
Experts say a number of elements contributed to their runaway success. Of course, there’s the catchy music and detailed choreography – but additionally progressive songwriting that tackled social points, and an lively social media presence that set them aside from different K-pop teams and attracted a world fanbase.
But that journey got here to a pause when the members – recognized by their stage names V, Jin, Jimin, RM, J-Hope, Suga, and Jung Kook – started their army service.
In South Korea, all able-bodied males aged 18 to twenty-eight are required by regulation to carry out 18-21 months of army service beneath a conscription system.
The group had already managed to postpone their service as soon as, due to South Korea’s parliament passing a invoice permitting high pop stars to defer their service till the age of 30. But that deadline arrived in 2022 for the oldest member, Jin – and the others quickly adopted.
All seven completed their service by 2025, and commenced making new music quickly after – although every member had additionally launched solo work in the course of the hiatus years.
However, so much has modified from 2022 to now.
For one, South Korea has cemented itself as a cultural powerhouse – the supply of Ok-beauty, K-pop, Ok-dramas, and extra. What was as soon as new and international to Western audiences is now broadly beloved – consider final yr’s “KPop Demon Hunters,” which grew to become Netflix’s most-watched movie of all time.
Seol, who teaches a course on K-pop at Berklee, says every semester his school rooms are “full with non-Korean students” curious concerning the business. When strolling by means of his neighborhood within the Boston suburbs, he hears youngsters belting songs from “KPop Demon Hunters” — the soundtrack dominated Billboard’s charts for weeks, with one observe successful a Critics’ Choice Award and a Golden Globe for Best Original Song.
“In 2022, when BTS paused their group activities, K-pop was still in a phase of global expansion,” Seol stated. “Now it is a different place. Mega hits like ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ really showed how deeply K-pop culture has entered the global mainstream.”
The style itself has gone international, too – in language, nationality and elegance.
Take Katseye, an LA-based group that payments itself as “the first-ever global girl group formed using K-pop artist development methodologies.” Created by means of a actuality competitors sequence partly produced by Hybe, its members hail from four completely different nations and sometimes incorporate their respective languages into their songs – a multicultural strategy that would trace at the way forward for K-pop.
It’s additionally more and more frequent for Korean stars to collaborate with artists outdoors of their style. For occasion, the 2024 hit track “APT” was a collaboration between Bruno Mars and Rosé of the massively in style lady group Blackpink.
At the identical time, the K-pop business has confronted its personal challenges – mirrored within the authorized battle between lady group NewDenims and their label Ador, a Hybe subsidiary, that shook up the leisure world final yr. The controversy raised questions of artists’ restricted company beneath main labels.
Many followers, in addition to spooked traders, are “looking forward to seeing how BTS can actually reset the industry. It’s been quite noisy, especially what Hybe has been facing,” stated Seol. For the sake of their monetary stability, “Hybe has to do something, and BTS could be the answer,” he added.
And regardless of the saturated market, he stated, BTS has the distinct benefit of being the primary to rework the business — an affect that has elevated them in standing, longevity and affect regardless of their lengthy hiatus.
“I think that they’re coming back more strong and more relevant,” Seol stated. “BTS is not just a regular K-pop group. They are really the engine of the industry itself.”