After returning from their four-year hiatus, BTS is making sure that ARMY is being fed. The K-pop superstars dropped a new music video for a second ARIRANG song in only two weeks on Wednesday (April 1), and they’re drawing inspiration from a classic film for the “2.0” visual.
The cinematic music video is inspired by South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook’s 2003 film Oldboy. The visual begins with the septet, dressed in sharp suits and leather jackets, exiting an elevator and encountering a group of thugs in a dark, grungy corridor. Rather than fighting with a hammer like the protagonist in the film, BTS’ RM, Jung Kook, V, SUGA, j-hope, Jimin and Jin employ their epic dance skills and music to ward off their opponents.
The video then transitions to a different dark hallway where the band continues its choreographed number, this time without the presence of the thugs. From the corridors, the septet ends up in a dirty bathroom where they dance in front of the mirrors and sing the chorus.
Then, to make it a true “2.0” moment, the K-pop stars return to the elevator from whence they came and quickly change into new, modern outfits — calling back to the song’s lyrics, “We on that brand new” — and close out the video in a high-rise building setting.
The band first teased the new video on Tuesday (March 31) with a 30-second preview. The latest visual comes just days after the album and lead single “SWIM” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and Billboard Hot 100, respectively.
