BTS / Courtesy of BIGHIT MUSIC
Global K-pop icons BTS and BLACKPINK are tapping into national heritage for their major new projects, collaborating with historic landmarks and national institutions to spotlight traditional Korean culture on the global stage.
BLACKPINK will team up with the National Museum of Korea in central Seoul to mark the Feb. 27 release of its new EP, “Deadline.” The quartet became the first K-pop act to launch a large-scale collaboration with the national museum.
The “National Museum of Korea X BLACKPINK” project will begin Feb. 26 for an 11-day run in partnership with the museum and the global music streaming platform Spotify, according to YG Entertainment, the group’s agency, Thursday.
“Deadline” will mark the band’s first full-group project in three years and five months since “Born Pink” in September 2022.
The girl group will provide voice commentary on eight of the museum’s signature artifacts, allowing visitors to hear descriptions of Korea’s historical treasures in the members’ voices.
The museum’s exterior will be illuminated in the group’s signature color of pink to mark the release.
A listening session featuring all songs from the new release will be held Feb. 26, a day before its official release, in front of the digital reproduction of the Gwanggaeto, the Great Stele, located in the museum’s main corridor known as the “path of history.” The memorial stele for the tomb of Gwanggaeto the Great, the 19th monarch of the ancient Korean kingdom of Goguryeo (37 B.C.-A.D. 668), is an iconic national heritage of ancient Korean history.
Reservations on Naver will be required for the pre-release listening, with some time slots allocated exclusively for Spotify Premium users. After the album’s release, anyone can freely take part in the session during the museum’s regular operating hours.
BTS has chosen Gwanghwamun Square, an iconic landmark in the heart of Seoul, as the venue for a free concert on March 21 to mark the release of its fifth full-length album, “Arirang,” named after Korea’s most famous folk song.
BigHit Music, the band’s agency, has stated that the iconic landmark in the heart of Seoul was selected because it matches the symbolic weight the title carries. The performance is expected to dramatically fuse Korean traditional heritage with state-of-the-art stage production.
According to industry sources, the concert will begin inside Gyeongbok Palace, moving through the Gwanghwamun gate and “woldae,” a traditional ceremonial stage located in front of the gate, before reaching the stage set up at the northern end of the square. It reportedly remains undecided whether the procession will be performed live or prerecorded.
BLACKPINK / Courtesy of YG Entertainment
BTS previously performed using the Geunjeongjeon Hall and the Gyeonghoeru Pavilion of Gyeongbok Palace near the square as the backdrops for a special “BTS Week” segment on the U.S. NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” in 2020.
Police estimate as many as 260,000 fans could gather in and around Gwanghwamun Square, although the concert venue itself will accommodate only about 15,000 ticket holders.
The concert will also be streamed live on Netflix to more than 190 countries, giving global viewers a glimpse of Korea’s cultural heritage alongside the group’s performance.
Cultural critic Jung Duk-hyun said the initiatives by BTS and BLACKPINK could have a major impact beyond music.
“If traditional culture is presented purely through promotional materials, people might resist it,” he said. “But when popular artists introduce it naturally, the effect can be far greater. Every move these artists make now forms part of K-culture.”