ARMY, you know what time it is. Now that BTS‘ new album ARIRANG has been out in the world for more than 12 hours, Billboard wants to know which of the songs on the project has your heart.
Released Friday (March 20), the LP features 14 tracks — all of which include members of the band on the writing credits, with production from Diplo, Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker, Mike WiLL Made-It and Ryan Tedder. Across “Body to Body,” “Hooligan,” “Aliens,” “FYA,” “2.0,” “No. 29,” “SWIM,” “Merry Go Round,” “NORMAL,” “Like Animals,” “they don’t know ’bout us,” “One More Night,” “Please” and “Into the Sun,” the Bangtan Boys showcase all the ways in which they’ve grown since the last time they dropped a full-length, having developed as soloists and spent time in the South Korean military in the years after they topped the Billboard 200 with 2020’s Be.
But at the core of the album lies Korean history, and the band’s still-unfolding part in it. The title is inspired by a traditional folk song, in which seven Korean men sang for a crowd at Howard University back in 1896 to create the first-known recording of “Arirang,” or so the story goes in a teaser posted by BTS about a week before ARIRANG arrived. More than a century afterward, the seven members of BTS similarly pushed K-culture forward with their crossover success by embarking on an unprecedented run of Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hits in 2020-21.
Now, the group comprised of RM, Jin, Suga, j-hope, Jimin, V and Jung Kook is proving again how much it can achieve, with ARIRANG marking just one step in the band’s comeback journey. But before things really take off with a reunion concert in Seoul and a world tour starting in April, take a moment to choose your favorite song on the new album in Billboard‘s poll below.
