RM has opened up about how the members of BTS were left in a bad mental state during their military service.
Earlier this year, all seven members of the group reunited following their mandatory military service, which forced a hiatus on the band in 2022. Now, RM has detailed a conversation that happened in 2024, a year before the whole group had completed their enlistment period.
Speaking on a Weverse livestream on Thursday (May 28), RM said that a gathering took place at Jimin‘s house. “When Jin-hyung was discharged from the military… at that time, everyone was in a bad mental state,” he said (per an English translation).
According to RM, there were “tears” at the dinner. “We talked about a lot of things,” he said, adding he felt he needed “to work harder to hold this [team] together.”
He went on to say he wanted to make their new album worth the wait for fans, saying: “After making the album, this wait for those who’ve been waiting,” adding: “I wanted to pay back for that.”
Earlier this year, the K-pop icons kicked off their huge 2026 and 2027 world tour at Goyang Stadium in South Korea, and broke out tracks from ‘ARIRANG’ for the first time. That gig saw them debut ‘Body to Body’, ‘Hooligan’, ‘2.0’, and ‘Like Animals’, with RM performing seated for much of the set after spraining his ankle in rehearsals.
NME caught the show and gave it four-and-a-half stars, with Rhian Daly writing: “Throughout, it’s clear that they’re still as committed to BTS as before their enforced break for military service, RM referring to decisions they’ve made so they “can keep doing this for a long time”.
“It’s a sentiment that makes the fireworks-heavy final song, ‘Into The Sun’, feel beautifully optimistic – this might be the end of the show, but BTS’ moment in the sun is far from over.”
The current run of shows are the first tour dates from BTS in three years and will see them cover 34 regions with 79 live shows, marking their biggest tour yet. Find all ticket information here, UK tickets here, and international tickets here.
The band will also be joining Madonna, and Shakira in co-headlining the first ever World Cup Final Halftime Show.
Before kicking off the dates, they held a free concert in Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul, which was livestreamed to over 190 countries on Netflix and welcomed roughly 104,000 fans – breaking the record for the largest-ever public concert in South Korea.
‘ARIRANG’ was given a four-star review from NME, which read: “Much of ‘ARIRANG’ negotiates polar ideas – BTS as heroes or normal people, the buzz of the spotlight and the hush of their private worlds, longing for the euphoric parts of life to continue versus wanting to get off of the ride.”
Since it dropped, BTS have unveiled a surprise hidden ‘ARIRANG‘ track, and NME has created what it considers to be the “dream BTS setlist”. Check it out here.