BTS is back. But K Pop is not the same.
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Why did BTS go on hiatus and what does their return mean?
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BTS is back. The K-pop supergroup has been on hiatus for four years. They haven't released an album in six. They were the biggest band in the world. And the question is, can they regain their throne or has the world moved on? Today on the pod is the return of BTS and the future of K-pop. Welcome to Switched on Pop. I'm songwriter Charlie Harding. I'm musicologist Nate Sloan. And today to discuss the return of BTS, we have a really exciting special guest. It's Hyejin Lee. Hyejin, welcome to the show.
Hello, hello. Thank you for having me.
Welcome. Hyejin is my colleague at USC. Hyejin is a clinical associate professor of communication at the USC Annenberg School. And I'm going to make everyone jealous right now. Let me tell you the classes that Hyejin is currently teaching at USC in the spring semester 2026. One is called Crooked Studies of K-Pop. reimagining K-pop's dominant discourses through G-Dragon. If you're not familiar with G-Dragon, one of the... The goat. The goat, yes. From one of the OG K-pop boy bands, Big Bang. And Hyejin is also teaching a class called Promoting Idol in the U.S., where students actually get to have hands-on experience promoting a K-pop group in the United States. So, yeah, we're thrilled to have you here, Hyejin, because this is a big topic.
BTS' first album in six years, and it's getting a lot of positive reviews and maybe some negative ones as well. This album is called Are We Wrong? We'll talk about what that means in a moment, but... I think it's representative of what the New York Times says is the band leaning into the K of K-pop, kind of putting Korean music, tradition, language, and culture at the forefront of this album. But at the same time, the BBC's Yuna Koo is asking, is BTS losing its K-pop identity as it aims for a bigger world stage? So... It seems like there's this interesting tension.
What cultural references are present in BTS's new album?
The band is both leaning into its Korean heritage, and at the same time, fans are asking, are they remaining true to their identity? This is a real catch-22. It definitely is. I should probably offer a little bit of background. BTS formed in 2010 by Big Hit Entertainment. They became the best-selling group in K-pop history by many metrics. They have seven members. There's RM, J-Hope, and Suga. They're the rappers. And then we've got Jungkook, Jimin, Jin, and V. They went on hiatus four years ago to serve their mandatory military duty in South Korea. And all of them released solo albums as well. But now they've returned as BTS. They have this new album. They've announced a world tour. Let's listen and hear the tensions that this band is trying to navigate and what it might say about the future of this genre.
And I feel like we have to start with the first track off of Ari Rong.
It's called Body to Body. All right
classic bts in many ways we've got these heavy hip-hop beats and a in-your-face flow by rm and then when we get to the chorus jin and v take over with a soaring vocal
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
Why did BTS go on hiatus and what does their return mean?
0:01–3:33
2
What cultural references are present in BTS's new album?
3:33–11:19
3
How does BTS incorporate traditional Korean sounds in their music?
11:19–16:21
4
What themes of identity are explored in BTS's new songs?
16:21–24:14
5
How do BTS's collaborations impact their music style?
24:14–30:29
6
What does the song 'Body to Body' reveal about BTS's direction?
30:29–38:34
7
How does BTS address global and local audience expectations?
38:34–48:34