Dear Gossips,

A year ago today I was in Seoul with my best friend, Fiona, hiking up to Namsan Tower in the morning, and then drinks in Gangnam later that night. I wish I was there now, because for millions of us around the world, the nucleus of pop culture this week is in Korea, where BTS is staging a free comeback concert on Saturday that will be streamed live on Netflix, one day after the release of their highly anticipated album, ARIRANG.

It is expected that as many as 250,000 people from around the world will be gathered at Gwanghwamun Square on Saturday to watch the performance. Here’s what Incheon airport looked like this week ahead of the event.

And it’s fans of all ages. The Korea Times interviewed a 67-year-old American who made the trip. A kid from Australia came with his entire family. There’s also a 73-year-old man from the US who’s there with his wife. Bloomberg is estimating that this one show could bring in as much as US$177 million for Seoul when you consider the accommodations and other expenses that visitors will be spending on while they’re there. And this is ahead of the tour, which will see BTS playing 82 concerts around the world, with an economic impact in each city that according to Bloomberg might be similar to what Taylor Swift did on The Eras Tour.

Right now, my BTS group chat is basically just… feelings. We are so close. We are staying up tonight for the drop. And there is so much dropping – not just the album but the video for the lead single, “Swim”, and the merch pre-order and the Studio Notes, a livestream where RM, Jin, Suga, j-hope, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook will talk through the songs and the making of the album etc etc.

So, basically, they’re just like… oh, you missed us? OK, since you missed us, now that we’re back, we’ll just TAKE ALL OF YOUR TIME. Because right after the concert in Seoul on Saturday, they’re heading to New York for listening events and back-to-back appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday and Thursday.

For the uninitiated, be prepared for the scale of this comeback. BTS will be taking over your timeline.

Yours in gossip,

Lainey

Photo credits: Jintak Han/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

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