BTS is back! After about four years, the world’s biggest boyband took the stage again and showed the world that they are true to their words. During the BTS FESTA 2022, the septet announced they would be going on hiatus to serve the mandatory military service of South Korea, adding that they would focus on their solo careers in the meantime. They also shared that they would be back again, and now, almost four years later, the group have returned to thrill their fans. Their return has been documented by director Bao Nguyen, who captured some very candid moments as they made their comeback album together in BTS: The Return.
BTS is a highly-popular group with multiple documentaries, a travel show, a game show, impromptu video vlogs, and live sessions. But this time, we get to see them in a different light through the lens of Bao Nguyen. The new documentary takes fans through the journey of making ARIRANG, the tenth studio album by BTS, as its members — RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook worked on it in Los Angeles before their return to Seoul. Here’s what we learned about the K-pop juggernaut from Netflix’s BTS: The Return.
Revelations from Netflix’s BTS: The Return
The South Korean mandatory military service had a huge impact on the boys’ physical and mental health
Spending 550 days of intense training in the national military service was hard for the boys. To fulfil their national duty, BTS’ members had to leave the spotlight for over 3 years, at the peak of their careers. Even though fans were expecting them to be exempted from the mandatory military service for their immense contribution to South Korea’s culture and economy, the reality proved otherwise.
While BTS managed to stay relevant during this time, with solo albums and multiple pre-recorded projects that kept fans engaged as they waited for their favourite idols to make their comeback, it was an extremely difficult schedule for the members to maintain. The exhaustion of returning from the armed forces, only to immediately jump into making a new album in such a hurry, was evident in their words. The group got almost zero downtime between their time in the military and their need to make new music.
Why Jin has no songwriting credits on ARIRANG
When ARIRANG dropped, fans were quick to notice that the eldest member of the group Kim Seokjin aka Jin had no songwriting credits on the album. His being left out of official credits also sparked debate on social media. In the documentary, we see Jin joining the songwriting and the album-making camp much later in LA. By that time, most of the songs were almost done. Jin, being the first member to join the military, had returned and released two solo EPs Happy and ECHO, before embarking on his #RunSeokjin_EP. Tour.
He joined the album-making camp midway, completely exhausted after touring all over the world. He said, “They made a really nice album while I was on tour. Coming in late and not really knowing where everyone’s at is scary, because I have to figure out where I fit into all of this. But having spent the last 12 years together, I’ve kind of known what to do without being told… I’m not even sure where I am.” Bandmate V was quick to reassure him, saying, “Don’t worry, hyung. We can do this!”
The album ARIRANG was made on a tight schedule
In the documentary BTS: The Return, the members of the band are shown to be worried about the album-making timeline. All seven members returned from the military in June 2025, and within just 9 months, they had to complete the entire album, as well as prepare for a world tour.
The album-making session in Los Angeles started in July, just a few days after Suga was discharged from the military. Jin joined them in August after wrapping up solo tour. Keeping the March 2026 deadline in mind, the group avoided taking any long breaks, but they were also worried that they were not taking enough time to create the album they wanted. Jimin said, in a dinner table conversation with his bandmates, “So now we’re rushing, when it’s a special project.”
Concern about English lyrics
Even the world’s biggest boyband is not above criticism. Many K-netizens attacked the idols over having too many English lyrics in ARIRANG. Some criticised the band for becoming too westernised, and so on. However, the documentary shows the members voicing their concerns over there being too much English and not enough Korean in their lyrics, and how they wanted to write more Korean verses. “I think there are too many English lyrics,” Suga says during one meeting with BigHit. RM agrees, saying, “There’s a level of authenticity we need to have here.” But it was the management and Bang Si-Hyuk’s decision to make the album English heavy, prioritising global appeal and a broader audience.
We also saw RM helping to make voice notes for his bandmates in order to help them get the English pronunciations correct.
The impermanence of time
BTS leader RM is one of the most well-spoken persons in the K-entertainment industry. In a beautiful moment in the documentary, RM started talking about time. He said, “In old Greece, there were two ways of thinking about time. One is chronos, and one is kairos. In the military, we had to do the same thing over and over again. Time just passed by. That was chronos. But here in L.A., time with the members — my second family — this feels like kairos. Time really stretches and you really feel…. I don’t know how to say it in English. 무상함 (impermanence) of time.”
Notably, chronos refers to quantitative time, while kairos on the other hand, refers to moments and the quality of time spent.
While RM — who is also known as Namjoon — speaks, the camera cuts back to the pool, where his fellow members are playing around, competing to see who can hold their breath underwater the longest. The wholesome scene really adds depth to his words.
The meaning of ARIRANG
When BTS first revealed the name of their album ARIRANG, many fans googled the meaning and ended up with ‘dear one’ or ‘beloved’. While that’s not an incorrect translation, the traditional meaning of the name and concept of the album goes way deeper.
While the band struggled to pin down a concept for their album, Big Hit executive creative director Boyoung Lee pitched them the idea of ARIRANG and the story of seven Korean men who visited Howard University in 1896, during the Joseon era. We are later shown the concept for the music video of their lead single, “Swim”.
According to reports, three of these seven Joseon men also lent their voices to the first recording of the Korean folk song, “Arirang”. The director explains to the group that ‘ari’ is derived from the Korean term for ‘beauty’, and ‘rang’ refers to a deep longing. For BTS, specifically, the word can mean a longing for their fans and their passion for music.
Trying to explain the meaning behind the word, RM shared that “Arirang” is a song that describes ‘han’ — deep sorrow and longing, which the Korean people sang to overcome pain and suffering. He said, “As a Korean person, the thought of sampling this famous traditional song felt right. That was my first reaction. Then I realised the weight ‘Arirang’ carries. But once we decided to lean into it, we committed all the way.”
‘Arirang’ is about overcoming one’s ‘han’ (한), deep sorrow, with ‘heung’ (흥), which is described as a deep joy and happiness.
Sampling of the folk song “Arirang”
During the comeback performance, which was streamed live on Netflix, BTS opened with the song “Body to Body” which features a sample of the most famous version of the 600-year-old traditional folk song, the “Bonjo Arirang” (Standard Arirang).
In BTS: The Return, we see the members debating over the length of the folk song with Bang Si-Hyuk, the chairman of HYBE. Bang votes for a longer sample of “Arirang”, but J-Hope disagrees. Jungkook also supports his bandmate, with RM jumping in to share that a shorter version is a better fit for the track.
The weight of the crown
BTS currently holds the top spot as the world’s biggest boyband, unrivalled in their impact and influence. As they are always in the public eye, everything the septet does is under strict public scrutiny. In the documentary, the group gets candid about the impact that their fame has had on them and their lives.
In this time, the stress and exhaustion experienced by Jin are made clear. Towards the end of BTS: The Return, RM said, “Being part of a team like BTS is like wearing a big, incredible crown. Sometimes, the weight of the crown can feel so heavy. Sometimes, it scares us a bit too.” Jung Kook goes on to add, “This intense level of fame can be a lot to carry. I’m not really that special. There’s a part of me that wants to be seen as a singer and nothing else.”
Stream BTS: The Return on Netflix.
This story first appeared here.
Note : The information in this article is accurate as of the date of publication.
