If you happened to wander through New York’s Times Square this week and glanced up at a billboard that cryptically read “WHAT IS YOUR LOVE SONG?” you might have wondered what the romantic message was all about.
The answer, as it turns out, is all about BTS.
On Valentine’s Day, the seven member K-pop supergroup posted a snippet of an untitled, emotional new ballad on Instagram along with images of people gathering around a giant wall of red roses. As they pulled the flowers out one-by-one and tucked them into commemorative white paper cones with a card reading “My Love Song Is ( ),” the result was a rose-y message: “What Is Your Love Song?” with the BTS logo underneath. The rose-filled walls went up in COEX in Seoul, Covent Garden in London and The Grove in Los Angeles.
Then, earlier this week, they doubled down in a post with a snippet of what sounded like another new tune, a midtempo track on which they sing, “Yeah, just one day, one night,” over more footage of people pulling roses out of displays and the caption, “Nothing but love in this space.”
The previews continued with a brief bit of another new song, an up-tempo pop track cued to footage of the group’s members taking selfies in the snow, dancing, working out and checking their phones, with ARMY encouraged to join in on the “Love” campaign by sharing “your daily moment with full of LOVE,” and a request to replace the music in the clip with “your favorite LOVE SONG.”
What is it all about? On Friday (Feb. 20), the group officially confirmed the launch of the global “WHAT IS YOUR LOVE SONG?” campaign, consisting of large-scale installations in their native Seoul, as well as New York and London to ramp up anticipation for BTS’ upcoming fifth studio album, Arirang (March 20).
According to the release, the intriguing question popped up across the three cities recently in the form of a building in Seoul near the Seongsu Station that was wrapped with the phrase, as well as on billboards in Times Square, large-scale posters across the East Village, Soho and Brooklyn and a projection mapping in Union Square. It showed up in London with the question lighting up LED screens at the Waterloo Station and London Bridge, as well as the Westfield building.
The campaign also showed up on digital platforms including Meta, Spotify, YouTube Music and Weverse with interactive templates and curated playlists hawking the love message. While BTS kept things cryptic at first, the mystery was revealed on Friday to be part of the global campaign to welcome Jung Kook, V, Jimin, Suga, j-hope, RM and Jin back from a nearly four-year hiatus in form of yet another Instagram post featuring footage of fans around the world grabbing their roses set to the tune of a midtempo track on which they sing, “I can make it better/ I can hold you tighter/ I can make it right.”
“A ‘love song’ goes beyond a simple track about love. It’s a song that brings back memories, offers comfort, and gives strength,” read a statement from label BIGHIT Music. “We hoped that ‘WHAT IS YOUR LOVE SONG?’ would inspire everyone to rediscover the song that lives in their hearts.” The release noted that the “LOVE” campaign reflects the central message of Arirang, “an album that encapsulates BTS’ identity and the universality of the emotions they encounter. By inviting audiences to reflect on their own ‘love song’ that evokes cherished memories, comfort, and strength, BTS extend the album’s message beyond music into a shared global experience.”
The campaign is slated to run through Sunday (Feb. 22), with QR codes attached to posters throughout Seoul, New York and London allowing ARMY to visit the promotional stunt’s website and share their own love song. Personalized street posters featuring common local first names — alongside ones incorporating the group members’ names — have also been put up in New York, London and L.A.
In addition to the “Love” blitz, BTS is gearing up to return to the road on their upcoming massive 2026-2027 world tour, slated to kick off on April 9 in Goyang, South Korea in support of their first new full-length studio album since 2022’s Map of the Soul: 7. The Bangtan Boys will also drop a pair of Netflix specials, beginning with their first live show in three years, which will stream on the day after the LP’s release. BTS the Comeback Live | Arirang will debut on the streamer at 7 a.m. ET on March 21, followed by a full-length documentary chronicling their comeback, BTS: The Return, which will premiere on March 27.
As if all of that wasn’t enough, BTS will be back on movie screens around the world on April 11 and 18 with a global live cinema event, BTS WORLD TOUR ‘ARIRANG’ LIVE VIEWING, which will present two of their full-length concerts in theaters.
