Since releasing their first album in 2013, BTS has grown into one of the biggest groups in music.
Their songs and albums have amassed billions of streams and the K-Pop group was the first Korean pop act to receive Grammy and BRIT Award nominations. They’ve addressed the United Nations General Assembly, appeared on TIME’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world and became some of the youngest recipients of the South Korean Order of Cultural Merit.
The band went on a break in 2022 so the members could complete South Korea’s mandatory military service and work on solo projects, and at the start of 2026, they announced their return with a new album, Arirang, which was released on March 20. The following day, a concert, BTS The Comeback Live | Arirang, hosted at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul, South Korea, will be streamed exclusively on Netflix.
A huge world tour, the band’s first since 2022, will then begin on April 9 and include 28 stops in the U.S.
But, what does BTS mean? Here’s everything to know about the name’s origins and how the group members decided on their own names. BTS is an acronym for the name “Bangtan Sonyeondan," which translates to “Bulletproof Boy Scouts." They’re also sometimes called the Bangtan Boys.
One of the group’s members, j-hope, said on the South Korean radio show Kiss the Radio in 2013 that the name represents the group’s desire “to block out stereotypes, criticisms and expectations that aim on adolescents like bullets.”
In 2017, BTS announced that its name would also stand for "Beyond the Scene," to represent growth “from a boy to an adult who opens the doors that are facing forward.”
Comments