Members of K-pop group BTS appear on NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” in New York on March 26 (local time), the band’s first official talk show appearance following the release of their fifth full-length album, “ARIRANG.” Courtesy of NBC
After BTS, one of the biggest names in K-pop, returned last month with its fifth studio album wrapped in Korean cultural symbols, one detail drew particular attention beyond the music — how much of the songs were sung, partly if not entirely, in English?
The group’s latest release, “ARIRANG,” takes its title from Korea’s best-known folk song and threads Korean identity through its visuals, sonic references and even its recent comeback stage at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul.
But behind the scenes, the album reflected a tension that is becoming increasingly visible across the K-pop industry.
In a recently unveiled Netflix documentary tied to the project, BTS’ leader RM was seen raising concerns about the album’s heavy use of English lyrics, questioning whether a project centered on Korean identity could remain “authentic” if much of it was not in Korean. Fellow member Suga also suggested increasing the number of Korean lines. Their label executives, however, emphasized a different priority — global reach.
That exchange landed at a moment when English has become more prominent than ever in K-pop songwriting. From BTS to BLACKPINK and a growing number of newer acts, many recent singles are built largely or entirely in English.
The shift has widened K-pop’s accessibility overseas, but it has also prompted a deeper debate over whether the genre is drifting from one of the very elements that made it distinctive in the first place.
Fans of K-pop boy group BTS wait for the “Spotify x BTS: SWIMSIDE” event at Pier 17 in Manhattan, New York, March 23. Yonhap
For entertainment labels, the commercial logic is clear.
English-language choruses are seen as more immediately legible to global listeners, particularly in the Americas and Europe, where streaming playlists, short-form video content and radio exposure can shape a song’s trajectory. In a market where seconds matter, a hook that does not require translation can offer a clear advantage.
“K-pop artists must balance pressure to appeal to Western audiences and chart on the Billboard Hot 100 with maintaining Korean language and pop traditions,” Grace Kao, IBM professor of sociology at Yale University, told The Korea Times in a recent written interview.
She added that while many American fans say they prefer less westernized K-pop, songs with more English lyrics and TikTok-friendly hooks are more likely to break into U.S. charts.
Listeners have begun to recognize and address that contradiction. Some fans have welcomed the shift as a practical step toward broader exposure, while others say it risks diluting what first set K-pop apart from Western pop.
The concern extends beyond mere language preference. According to industry insiders, the issue is about what, exactly, makes K-pop Korean. Music critic Kim Seong-dae put that argument bluntly in a recent column for a local media outlet.
“If you remove the Korean language, the ‘K’ becomes difficult to define,” Kim wrote. He argued that the growing inevitability of English lyrics reflects “business logic” more than artistic necessity, and warned that it risks blurring “the very foundation that supports K-pop.”
Promotional visuals for K-pop girl group BLACKPINK’s “DEADLINE” album are displayed on a large outdoor screen in China as part of a multi-city campaign marking the album’s release. The group’s latest five-track album was composed entirely of English-language tracks. Courtesy of YG Entertainment
At the same time, some of K-pop’s biggest success stories have shown that Korean itself is not the obstacle it is often assumed to be.
BTS’ “Life Goes On,” performed primarily in Korean, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2020. Earlier in 2012, PSY’s “Gangnam Style,” also overwhelmingly Korean in its lyrics, became a global megahit through its humor, visual identity and cultural specificity rather than linguistic compromise.
There is also evidence that global audiences are not turning away from Korean, but engaging with it more actively. Interest in lyric translation and romanization tools has grown, and following the release of “ARIRANG,” all 14 tracks ranked as the most-viewed lyrics on Apple Music, where such features helped global listeners follow along.
Duolingo, meanwhile, reported that the number of U.S. users learning Korean rose about 22 percent over the past year. Applicants for Test of Proficiency in Korean also surpassed 500,000 for the first time last year.
Those figures point to the heart of the current debate. As the industry leans more heavily into English in pursuit of global success, international fans are showing sustained willingness to engage with Korean language and culture on their own terms.
For now, K-pop remains strong enough to contain both impulses — the push for frictionless global consumption and the pull of the cultural identity that helped spread the genre in the first place.
But as more artists and labels treat English not as an exception but as the default, the questions raised by BTS’ latest release, among others, are likely to extend well beyond a single album cycle.