When BTS revealed that their new album would be titled ARIRANG, many Koreans probably had the same reaction. The word felt familiar, but also surprisingly difficult to explain. Everyone knows it sounds deeply Korean, but when someone asks, “So what exactly is Arirang?” the answer is not as simple as it seems. And that is exactly why the title matters. To understand why BTS chose ARIRANG, it helps to first understand that Arirang is much more than just one old song.
Many people casually describe Arirang as “a traditional Korean folk song,” but that explanation only tells part of the story. Arirang is indeed one of Korea’s best-known folk songs, but it is not limited to a single fixed version. In reality, the name refers to a wide family of songs that share a similar refrain, usually something close to “Arirang, Arirang, Arariyo.” Over time, different regions and communities created their own versions, which is why Arirang is often understood not as one song, but as a much larger musical tradition.
That is what makes Arirang so special. Traditional songs are often imagined as something frozen in the past, preserved exactly as they were. Arirang feels different. Its refrain is recognizable, but the verses have changed depending on the region, the singer, and the moment. That means Arirang was never simply stored away like a museum piece. It lived through people’s voices. It could be sung in times of sadness, during work, in moments of longing, or even with a sense of strength and resilience. In other words, Arirang survived because it kept moving.
That is also why Arirang carries such a wide emotional range. It can hold love, loss, homesickness, sorrow, comfort, and endurance all at once. Some people associate Arirang most strongly with the Korean feeling of sorrow and longing, while others hear something more powerful and alive in it. And both responses make sense. Different versions of Arirang sound very different from one another. Some are gentle and lyrical, while others are much more energetic and rhythmic. So it is probably more accurate to say that Arirang is not simply a sad song. It is a song broad enough to hold sadness, along with many other emotions.
Looking at a few well-known lines makes this easier to understand.
아리랑, 아리랑, 아라리요
Arirang, Arirang, Arariyo
This refrain is the emotional and musical core of Arirang. Interestingly, it is often left untranslated even in English because its sound carries so much of its identity. For many international readers, this line works best not as something to decode word by word, but as the iconic refrain of Korea’s most famous folk song.
아리랑 고개로 넘어간다
You are going over Arirang Hill.
At first, this may sound like a simple description of someone crossing a hill. But many people hear more than that in the line. Crossing a hill can feel like moving through separation, distance, or an emotional threshold. That is part of Arirang’s beauty. Even a short line can suggest both a physical landscape and a deeper feeling at the same time.
Arirang is not only important within Korea. It has also been recognized internationally. UNESCO inscribed Arirang on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2012, which reflects just how deeply it is woven into Korean cultural identity. For some people, Arirang may be a song they heard as children. For others, it may be something first encountered in a performance or a cultural event. Either way, the name itself has the power to immediately evoke Korea.
And that is exactly where BTS’s ARIRANG becomes even more interesting. BTS has explained that Korean elements were not just decorative details in this album, but part of its core identity. That means the title ARIRANG is not simply a traditional word chosen for style. It suggests something deeper: an attempt to reconnect with a cultural symbol that feels both old and alive. For international readers, calling Arirang “a Korean folk song” is not wrong, but it also misses why the title feels so meaningful. Arirang is old, but not outdated. It is traditional, but never fully fixed. In that sense, BTS’s choice feels less like borrowing from the past and more like bringing an old symbol into the present in a new language.
In the end, Arirang is too large to be explained as just an old song. It is one of Korea’s most representative folk traditions, a musical language with many regional forms, and a cultural symbol capable of carrying longing, love, grief, and comfort all at once. And now that BTS has brought the name back into the spotlight, Arirang no longer feels like something that belongs only to the past. It feels like a living question again. What does it mean for something to be deeply Korean? And how can something old become new once more? That is part of what makes BTS’s ARIRANG so fascinating.
