New BTS album drops ahead of comeback mega-gig

K-pop megastars BTS released a new album Friday, as buzz built ahead of their open-air comeback concert in Seoul that will go ahead despite leader RM being advised to rest his injured ankle.

The Saturday gig, expected to draw around 260,000 people, will be BTS’s first after a hiatus of almost four years while all seven members served compulsory military service. It comes ahead of an 82-date world tour.

On Friday BTS’s management said that medical staff recommended RM, 31, wear a cast and “minimize all physical movement” for at least two weeks after hurting his ankle the day before in rehearsals.

But “the artist himself expressed a strong desire to deliver a performance of the highest quality”, Big Hit Music said.

“Consequently, we wish to inform you that RM’s participation in certain performance elements, such as choreography on stage, will be restricted,” a statement added.

Earlier, BTS released their fifth studio album, billed as reflecting the maturing boy band’s Korean roots and identity.

Streaming giant Spotify said that fans pre-saved the album more than five million times, a record for a K-pop act.

The 14-track “ARIRANG” takes its name from a folk song about longing and separation that is often dubbed South Korea’s unofficial national anthem.

“We gave deep thought to our identity — and how best to express ourselves authentically — across the entirety of our music and performances,” said BTS member Jimin, 30.

“As an extension of that process, we also revisited the significance of our background as a group comprised entirely of Korean members,” he said in a statement.

Ces-Marie Hilo, 40, a fan from the United States, said she listened to the album while waiting to purchase BTS merchandise.

“We are still listening to the album and it’s amazing so far,” Hilo told AFP. “I can hear titbits from their roots but the majority are new sounds from them and a mix of different genres.”

‘Really, really cool’

Excitement, meanwhile, grew in Seoul, with hotels long since booked out and thousands flying in from overseas, ramming home the immense popularity of a multi-award-winning act singing mostly in Korean.

BTS are the music vanguard of a Korean cultural wave, which includes Oscar-winning films like “Parasite” and “KPop Demon Hunters”, hit dramas like “Squid Game”, Nobel-winning author Han Kang, food and cosmetics.

Streets were festooned with purple-and-blue “Welcome BTS & ARMY” signs, referring to the group’s fandom. BTS hoodies, wallets and figurines were on sale at new pop-up stores and convenience shops.

Mara Cristia Yao and Rodessa Ericka Bonon, fans from the Philippines, could not secure their tickets for the Saturday concert.

“We are just going to come to this area anyway. We are figuring out where to position ourselves tomorrow,” Yao told AFP, taking pictures with each other near where the stage was being set up.

“I am watching people from all around the world. That is like, really, really cool. Because we are gathered together for BTS. To support them, to support their comeback, to listen to their new music as well,” said Araceli Cahua, 27, from Peru.

‘Love letter’

After visiting the White House, releasing hugely successful English-language albums and performing at famous venues around the world, the group has chosen a historic stage at home for the landmark comeback concert.

This will be Seoul’s sweeping Gwanghwamun Square, near the landmark Gyeongbokgung Palace, an area that has witnessed centuries of history, including major political protests in 2025.

As well as those present in Seoul — amidst a gigantic security operation — Netflix will livestream the show around the world.

“This is the biggest live musical performance Netflix has ever staged globally,” Netflix executive Brandon Riegg said in Seoul on Friday.

This new album “feels like a love letter to their home country”, Jeff Benjamin, Billboard’s K-pop columnist, told AFP.

“I do think they’ll be remembered the way we remember the Beatles or Michael Jackson — not just as chart-topping acts but as artists whom the industry calculates time in terms of ‘before’ and ‘after'”.