Intro for April 8, 2026

Dear Gossips,

I mean this in the most uncreepy way possible: wonder how much sleep RM, Jin, Suga, j-hope, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook are getting tonight. At the time of writing, it’s around 9pm in Korea, the last night before they kick off their world tour with the first of three shows in Goyang on Thursday. Sure, they performed the livestream concert in Seoul a few weeks ago but that, really, was just a teaser for the main event with the special in-the-round stage on which they will spend close to three hours running through what will likely be an exhaustive setlist to represent the 13 years they’ve been BTS.

Several of the members shared photos from rehearsal yesterday. Here’s j-hope counting down:

What we’re about to see tomorrow has been months and months in the making – and there’s so much making. With the album release and the Netflix live event plus the documentary, it was already enough to drive anticipation. But these people can’t seem to stop with the rollout!

Yesterday they dropped the video for “Hooligan”, not even a week after the “2.0” video came out. So by my count, so far, BTS has given us:

-Four different videos for “Swim” plus the dance practice and the behind-the-scenes feature from filming

-the “2.0” video plus the dance practice

-the “Hooligan” video

-countless social media clips

-countless talk show and other interviews… including Hot Ones to come tomorrow

Plus also yesterday a chaotic prologue to the new season of their variety show Run! BTS 2.0. This was 12 minutes of BTS being BTS – incapable of staying focused during a planning conversation, teasing each other mercilessly, and in the end deciding literally nothing; it was the best kind of nonsense, signature BTS nonsense…which… kinda works with the visuals for “Hooligan”.

This is glam punk BTS, also nonsense, just with a different energy. And this too is what’s familiar to ARMY, seeing the duality of the band, who can be silly and disorganised hooligans one minute and swaggering highly stylised bravado the next – seven fallen angels playing as kings of the underworld, a defiant IDGAF to those who’ve doubted. And a slick thirst trap for those who’ve never left. Jimin’s hair in this video is …doing something inappropriate to me.

But back the point I was trying to make about their relentless output. All of this, without the tour starting tomorrow, would have kept us well fed for weeks. But BTS has decided to flood the zone, their way. The concert starts on Thursday around 6am ET. Then, because a whole ass concert isn’t enough, at 11am ET, we can chase the experience of their first show with them on Hot Ones.

So I guess if they’re not sleeping, we aren’t either.

Yours in gossip,

Lainey