Diplo has conformed he is working on BTS‘ forthcoming new album ‘ARIRANG’.
The producer said the record, which is due to land on March 20, is “gonna shock the world”.
He told TMZ: “I just feel so lucky because I’ve been working for three decades and to link up with a group like that, and have them trust me and do some awesome music… honestly, it’s gonna shock the world. Craziest album ever.”
Speaking about working in the studio with the K-pop giants, he said the band were true professionals.
“They’re so hands-on. They’re so creative. I can’t believe it,” he said before adding: “Jungkook no autotune. Perfect voice.”
It is BTS’ first album since 2020’s ‘Be’ and their first release since their anthology LP ‘Proof’ was released in 2022.
It comes after the K-Pop giants recently welcomed in the new year by revealing plans for a new album and a global run of dates.
The record will draw on a similar emotional depth of the folk song it is named after and “take a dive into the sense of yearning that rises up at different points in life, as well as the ebb and flow journeys we all take” it was recently confirmed in a press release.
The album will also “span a wide range of emotions, including love and longing, it is also expected to strike a balance between deeply personal and universally relatable”.
BTS recently announced the cities, venues and dates for their huge world tour in 2026 and 2027. With the trek set to cover 34 regions and 79 live shows, it will be their biggest tour yet.
Dates kick off this April with multiple concerts in Goyang, South Korea, and Tokyo, Japan, before following with dates in North America and Europe. Only two UK shows are lined-up, taking place in London on July 6 and 7 2026.
From there, the band head back to North America, before embarking on more shows in South America, Asia, and Australia. Find all ticket information here and here.
When the tickets went on sale, many fans expressed their joy, frustration an disappointment.
Elsewhere, BTS also announced they will live stream their comeback performance on Netflix, in a new film titled BTS The Comeback Live | ARIRANG.
The stream will be followed by documentary BTS: The Return, premiering on the streaming service on March 27. A statement described it as “an intimate documentary film chronicling the making of the band’s new album” that “offers fans a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the journey behind BTS’s highly-anticipated return.”
Elsewhere, Louis Tomlinson said it was “a bit of a shame” to watch BTS break One Direction’s records, saying he felt like he saw another record eclipsed “every time I logged into Twitter.”