BTS Army and K-pop fans in general were in for a huge surprise when the South Korean boy band announced their reunion during a livestream on Tuesday.
All the seven BTS members came together for a livestream on Weverse, an online fan platform owned by their management company Hybe. Jin, RM, V, Jimin, J-Hope, Jung Kook and Suga made the announcement during a livestream. This is the first time they all came together for a live since September 2022.
“We’ll be releasing a new BTS album in the spring of next year. Starting in July, all seven of us will begin working closely together on new music. Since it will be a group album, it will reflect each member’s thoughts and ideas, BTS said in a statement.
We’re approaching the album with the same mindset we had when we first started,” the band added.
BTS will be in the US this month to start working on new music, according to a press release.
Their spring 2026 album will be their first after their studio album “Be” in 2020, their Japanese compilation album “BTS, the Best” in 2020 and their anthology “Proof” in 2022.
The boy band also announced their first world tour in almost four years. The news comes a few weeks after BTS members RM, V, Jimin, and Jung Kook completed their required time in the South Korean military and were discharged.
All physically fit men between the ages of 18 and 28 are legally obligated to serve in the South Korean military for 18 to 21 months as part of a conscription system designed to deter aggression from North Korea.
Suga, the last member to return, performed his duties as a social service agent, an alternative to military service, while the other six members of BTS served in the army. Jin, the oldest BTS member, was discharged in June 2024. J-Hope was discharged in October.
According to South Korea’s law, athletics, classical and traditional musicians, and ballet and other dancers are granted special exemptions if they have won major awards in specific categories and are thought to have enhanced their country’s prestige. Such advantages are not granted to K-pop singers or other celebrities.
However, in 2020, BTS decided to postpone their duty after the National Assembly of South Korea amended the Military Service Act to permit K-pop artists to wait until they were 30 years old to enlist.