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ARMY professes love at second sight as BTS comeback takes over Seoul

Published: 20 Mar. 2026, 18:38 Updated: 22 Mar. 2026, 17:29

SHIN HA-NEE
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Greta, a BTS fan from Italy, shows her handwritten message at the Love Song Connect installation at the Love Song Lounge in Yeouido, western Seoul, on March 20. [SHIN HA-NEE]

“What is your love song?” BTS asked its fans, ARMY.

For Greta, the answer is the septet’s Japanese single “Your Eyes Tell” (2019) — a song that, according to the longtime fan, helped her through one of the darkest moments of her life.

“I think BTS saved my life,” the Italian ARMY said Friday as she waited for the group’s new album, “Arirang,” to drop at the Love Song Lounge in Yeouido, western Seoul. The Love Song Lounge event is part of the citywide “BTS The City Arirang” festival celebrating the group’s comeback starting Friday, the day BTS released its fifth full-length album, “Arirang,” its first full group album release in nearly four years.

Greta, who discovered BTS during the Covid-19 pandemic, also named “Mikrokosmos” (2019) and “Magic Shop” (2018) among her favorite songs, but the one she chose to write down on a strip of fabric to hang at the Love Song Lounge’s Love Song Connect section was “Your Eyes Tell.”

A handwritten message at the Love Song Connect installation at the Love Song Lounge in Yeouido, western Seoul, on March 20 [SHIN HA-NEE]

Greta’s love strip fluttered in the chilly spring wind along the riverside park along with hundreds of others written by fellow ARMYs at the Love Song Connect installation of the Love Song Lounge, where fans scribbled down their own “love songs” on pieces of fabric in shades of baby pink, pink and red, forming a giant “Arirang” logo visible from the sky.

The riverside park in Yeouido buzzed with excitement on the morning of BTS’s long-awaited comeback. Fans began lining up early, some arriving more than an hour before the venue opened at 10 a.m. By 10:30 a.m., it took about 30 minutes to reach the entrance.

The Arirang Playground installation at the Love Song Lounge in Yeouido, western Seoul, on March 20 [SHIN HA-NEE]

After visiting the Love Song Connect installation, fans wandered through the sprawling venue, exploring interactive sections such as the Arirang Playground, where visitors could ride bicycles, step on buttons or hop on seesaws to virtually turn up BTS songs playing at the park. At the Message Post Box, messages typed by fans appeared in real time on small digital signboards around the site.

The festival also features a Love Song Live Stage, where 15 indie artists including Okdal and Nerd Connection are scheduled to perform from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m on Friday through Sunday, delivering live performances of love songs.

Maria, a Bulgarian fan who has been an ARMY since 2018, said she feels both excited and nervous about what she expects to be “the biggest comeback ever.”

“It’s a mature concept and a new kind of light for BTS that we haven’t seen before,” she said, referring to the musical themes behind “Arirang.”

Other events of “BTS the City Arirang Seoul” include media facade displays at Sungnyemun Gate in Jung District, central Seoul, and on N Seoul Tower in Yongsan District, central Seoul, as well as a water and light show at Banpo Bridge in southern Seoul from Saturday to Sunday. A drone show is also scheduled to take place at Ttukseom Han River Park in eastern Seoul at 8:30 p.m. Friday.

People pass by a banner for BTS ahead of a comeback concert of the K-pop band near Gwanghwamun Square in Jongno District, central Seoul, on March 20. [AP/YONHAP]

BY SHIN HA-NEE [[email protected]]