The world knows that the members of BTS spent about two years in the South Korean military, but only they will ever understand how difficult it really was.
RM opened up about the subject in a Weverse livestream on Thursday (May 28), recalling an emotional gathering at Jimin’s house that arose from the bandmates fulfilling their mandatory enlistment periods between late 2022 and June 2025. “When Jin-hyung was discharged from the military [in June 2024] … at that time, everyone was in a bad mental state,” he began, according to the site’s auto-generated English translation.
Around that time, the Bangtan Boys got together at Jimin’s place for dinner, where “tears” ensued, according to RM. “We talked about a lot of things,” he continued, noting that one thing he discussed with his bandmates was how he needed “to work harder to hold this [team] together.”
The band also felt the weight of ARMY’s high expectations for BTS’ return post-military. “After making the album, this wait for those who’ve been waiting,” RM added. “I wanted to pay back for that.”
BTS would eventually reunite in front of the world in 2026 looking stronger than ever, dropping Billboard 200-topping album ARIRANG and embarking on a global stadium tour that’ll wrap in 2027. All but one of the tracks on the project appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 the week of its debut, including No. 25 hit “Body to Body” — which RM revealed on his livestream used to be titled “Body on Body” and was a lot more sensual before moving toward a theme of solidarity.
“It was a very sexy song … the body overlaps with the body, you know what I mean,” he told viewers.
RM also said that he didn’t think the band should have reservations about singing lyrics that are more explicit, as the members — aside from Jung Kook, who’s 28 — are 30 and up. That said, he didn’t think they should go the sexual route just for the sake of it, and ultimately decided “that’s not what we need to do right now.”
The livestream comes shortly after BTS appeared at the American Music Awards in Las Vegas Monday (May 25), where the septet accepted artist of the year, best male K-pop artist and song of the summer for “SWIM.” The group also opened the program with a pre-filmed performance of “Hooligan.”
After wrapping a four-night stay at Allegiant Stadium in Vegas on Thursday night, BTS will continue its ARIRANG World Tour with shows in South Korea.
