RM has sprained his ankle ahead of the giant BTS comeback concert tonight (March 21).
- READ MORE: Every BTS song ranked in order of greatness
The K-Pop giants are set to return to the stage at Gwanghwamun Square, in front of the historic Gyeongbokgung palace in Seoul, South Korea, later today, following the release of their fifth studio album ‘Arirang‘, yesterday (March 20).
It will be their first concert as a complete group since October 2022, after all seven members completed South Korea’s mandatory military service. The show will also be livestreamed on Netflix to more than 190 countries.
However, news has broken that RM sprained his ankle ahead of the event. The group’s label, Big Hit, announced the news in a Weverse post, saying that the injury was sustained during rehearsals.
“On March 19, RM suffered an ankle injury and was taken to a hospital to undergo a detailed examination and treatment,” they wrote. The label explained that “a medical diagnosis confirmed a sprain of the accessory navicular, a partial ligament tear, and a talus contusion (which includes ligament damage and inflammation).”
Due to the injury, RM will have to “wear a cast and strictly limit movement for a minimum of two weeks to concentrate solely on his recovery,” according to the post.
Big Hit continued, “RM expressed a firm commitment to deliver a high-quality performance at this symbolic comeback stage at Gwanghwamun, the company, in close consultation with the artist, has made the decision to prioritize the medical opinion to pre-emptively prevent any further strain on his injury.”
The label confirmed that “RM’s on-stage performance, including choreography, will be partially limited,” adding: “We sincerely apologize for any disappointment this may cause, given the high anticipation surrounding this performance.
“Although RM’s on-stage performance will inevitably be limited, he will do his best to participate on stage and engage with ARMY and the audience. We know you have waited a long time for this performance, and we will put our utmost effort into delivering a heartfelt show.”
The stream will be followed by the documentary BTS: The Return, premiering on the streaming service on March 27. The statement describes 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.”
‘ARIRANG’ is the group’s first album since 2020’s ‘Be’ and their first release since their anthology LP ‘Proof’ in 2022.
The album features the likes of Diplo, Kevin Parker, JPEGMAFIA, Mike WiLL Made-It, Ryan Tedder, Flume and El Guincho.
In terms of the members themselves, RM is credited on every track excluding the sixth, ‘No. 29’, while Suga and J-hope have contributed to almost all of them, Jungkook worked on four, and Jimin and V contributed to ‘They Don’t Know ‘Bout Us’ and ‘Into The Sun’ and ‘2.0’ and ‘Into The Sun’ respectively – check out the full tracklist and credits here.