Song Review:: BTS: ARIRANG- Hooligan

• Release date: 2026 March 20

• Album tracklist: Body to Body, Hooligan, Aliens, FYA, 2.0, No. 29, SWIM, Merry Go Round, NORMAL, Like Animals, they don't know 'bout us, One More Night, Please, Into the Sun

• Album runtime: 41 minutes

 Okay. Next music video from this album. This one I definitely know I've added to some of my playlists. It's not my favorite of the bunch, but I did like it well enough. I'm really annoyed that the vinyl only song is vinyl only because vinyl is difficult to listen to on the go and I love that song. But, it is what it is.

I love that introduction. It's all old-timey, then spooky and glitchy. Then it turns to what sounds like knives being dragged across each other. Then we get the old-timey and the spooky and the glitchy behind the knives. Even though it's a little grating, I absolutely love this instrumental because it's both elegant and clangy, and I'm fascinated by it. 

I'm less enthused by the amount of rap in this song, as to be expected. But there's a lot of good and interesting contrasts in the vocal sounds. The singing is really high, which balances well with the much lower rapping, and I like how sometimes the vocals match the glitching and kind of stutter. It's enjoyable. The laughing is a bit much when you're listening to this song specifically on repeat, but in the context of the album, it's a good addition.

What's funny is that this was a suggested song after watching Donghae's new song. The two have nothing in common. RM's styling is so good. His stylists deserve a raise this era. And then there's a random woman with a sword. What's not to love about this odd music video? It might be interesting, once there are more live performances, to do a BBS post on this on because the music video has a lot going on, and my brain would like to try to fully analyze this, but this isn't the space for it.