[SPEAKER_00]: Consequence Podcast Network
[SPEAKER_00]: Bora Hay, iconic army.
[SPEAKER_00]: Bora Hay.
[SPEAKER_00]: Since we've talked last, BTS officially announced their full tour, including all of their stops.
[SPEAKER_00]: And they will be here in North America from the end of April to the beginning of September.
[SPEAKER_00]: We are wishing you all good luck with ticketing, the best of luck we're recording this episode on Monday before tickets go on pre-sale.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we're hoping that both you and our future selves get lucky with ticketing.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're very anxious right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: Best of luck, everyone, it's scary.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it's just like looming over us, Kaylee.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think you sent a video of like, you and G, like looking over and creeping behind the members, like, yeah, that's it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like the BTS tickets sales is just like a layer of stress.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's just like hanging out until ticketing happens.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: So best of luck, I hope our future selves have tickets too.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: The global Army membership actually sold out and it has been crazy to see that.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if it's ever sold out before, but it really shows the extremely high demand for BTS pre-sale codes to get those concert tickets and to attend these concerts worldwide.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: When I saw that on TikTok, I thought it was fake.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, no, you can't, it's a virtual membership.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can't sell out a virtual membership.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, it was not.
[SPEAKER_00]: I went straight to the Weaver's app.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was sold out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Surprisingly, the US Army membership is not sold out yet.
[SPEAKER_00]: And neither was the Japan one.
[SPEAKER_00]: So just the global membership, but the for this round of ticket sales, the global membership works for anywhere and everywhere.
[SPEAKER_00]: So like you could use that for North America.
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought that was crazy.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, yeah, I did not know that was a possibility.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I didn't either.
[SPEAKER_00]: Best of luck to everybody.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[SPEAKER_00]: The online membership.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right, right, how you can't run out exactly, um, while best of luck to everybody who is fighting in ticket master today, or, you know, yesterday, whenever you're listening to this episode, we get to talk about Auditon today, and we're excited to get into it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome back, where you're host, I'm Kayla.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm Bethany, and this is Standing BTS.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're favorite and formative, free and grow podcast.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, today we're going to hang out for about an hour.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we are talking about the history of Auditang.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's been announced that Auditang is BTS' new album that's coming out in March, and Auditang has a lot of history and significance in Korea.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we felt like there's
[SPEAKER_01]: No better time than now to just really dive into that history to prepare for the album for when it comes out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: For sure.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it needs to be talked about we're so excited to do so.
[SPEAKER_00]: Before we do, we want to say things Iconics for being here and for supporting us.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can support us even further if you'd like by joining our Patreon at patreon.com slash standing BTS.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thanks for being here for all of your support and of course for listening.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so let's get into Auditang and the history and the cultural significance of it and there's so much to learn and to dig into.
[SPEAKER_00]: BTS' public history with Auditang started at their 2016 K-Con performance in France with M Countdown in which BTS kicked off a medley of Auditang and led it for the first few minutes before other iconic K-pop groups joined in.
[SPEAKER_00]: BTS' performance of it as they were center stage in the opening ceremony here of K-Con, even had choreography to go along with it.
[SPEAKER_00]: This opening performance was amazing.
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought it was such a huge knowing the meaning of adding on now like a huge way to celebrate Korean culture and to see all of these French fans or perhaps fans that you know traveled to be there, screaming and cheering and being so excited hearing the song and seeing all of these amazing
[SPEAKER_00]: K-Pop artists come together to perform the song.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think was such an important cultural moment.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just a side note, too, about this being used as an opening performance.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was also the song Auditang was used during the period of nations during the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, as North and South Korea march together.
[SPEAKER_00]: So,
[SPEAKER_00]: Something the first time that the song has been used is an opener, and I'm sure that it won't be the last, but just very cool to see that BTS have performed the song before.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and I feel like it was such an honor for them to be the ones to sing this song, before all of the other Korean K-pop acts ended up coming in and singing along with them.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like it just says a lot.
[SPEAKER_01]: They also, in this version of Auditong, they added an additional
[SPEAKER_01]: that the verse had protected for a million years, pride and dignity overcame everything.
[SPEAKER_01]: Never once broke in one big step, starting right here with a bright sun rises.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it just feels very intentional that BTS would add this additional verse in there to make it reflect a little bit more of their story and just maybe to reflect some of the stories of the other K-pop acts that are there, just like continuing to have a lot of,
[SPEAKER_01]: pride and dignity, even through some hardships and that they're, I don't know, like looking on to a brighter future, like the bright sun rises, moving forward.
[SPEAKER_01]: Super cool to see it.
[SPEAKER_01]: The choreography is fantastic.
[SPEAKER_01]: As a very prideful seasoned army, I have to say I had not seen this performance until Ali Aradang was announced and then it was blowing up over my feet.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, how on earth have I not seen this performance from BTS when Kalea, you and I have seen performances from them at the 2016 France in countdown.
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, like, how did we miss this?
[SPEAKER_00]: right we've seen other ones from literally the same event but not this one i felt the same way i saw it on my feet and i was like what what how first of all like this is so cool that they've done this but also how have we not seen this before like we are at this point i mean i think we can call ourselves og army for how long we've been in the fandom and just not knowing about this i think
[SPEAKER_00]: like wonderful to still be like discovering new content from them even especially content for ten years ago yeah very cool very awesome and cool that they you know them and the other groups added their own verse to out of yong at the time
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, which is very artyed on to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, this is we'll get into the history of this folk song.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, let's go ahead and do that because where BTS had performed it is really just the tip of the iceberg for all of the tradition and history that the song represents.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we did gather some information from Genu Park on TikTok and also UNESCO's list of
[SPEAKER_00]: This song is a Korean traditional folk song, and it has multiple versions that's been passed down before it was ever written down, it was orally passed down, and it's considered an unofficial national anthem in Korea.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's kind of changed in more through the time and through different regions and communities in Korea have shaped the song in many different ways and it's often referred to as the people song.
[SPEAKER_01]: We got a lot of information too from Hi Boy on YouTube and in his review of Auditong, he referred to Auditong as an emotionally loaded song about
[SPEAKER_01]: So there are three main auditons that are the tunes that are most known, but there are approximately 3,600 versions of auditong that have been officially confirmed and that there are likely many more.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I wonder if like,
[SPEAKER_01]: BTS is already on that they perform like is that thrown in there into the 3,600 confirmed or is it one that isn't even being accounted for so it just shows that like this Folk song has really been adapted many many ways.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean we're talking thousands and thousands of different versions of this song
[SPEAKER_01]: And so it has a simple melody that makes it very easy to adapt and change and seeing along to which again has allowed the song to evolve through all of this time and never being frozen and stuck in one period, you know, like it continues to be relevant and fresh.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, very cool that because of the melody and how people use it, it's kind of called the collective memory of the Korean people and it's a living, breathing, cultural aspect of Korean culture.
[SPEAKER_00]: UNESCO said that it's a great virtue, the great virtue of Arirang itself is its respect for human creativity, freedom of expression, and empathy.
[SPEAKER_00]: Everyone can create new lyrics adding to the song's regional, historical, and genre variations and cultural diversity.
[SPEAKER_00]: To me, really cool for what this song represents in its impact that his had over hundreds of years that perhaps longer that it's been used in saying and evolving and how Korean people use it to express so many emotions, such as longing, sorrow, joy, grief, hardship,
[SPEAKER_00]: Change and Auditoring itself being something that anyone can add their own verse to and you know as long as you have that that chorus the Auditoring chorus You can change the words.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can you know change the tune It's not something that you can complete.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's something that you add to and pass along You don't hold on to it yourself.
[SPEAKER_00]: You add to it and you pass it along and I think that's so beautiful It is very beautiful
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: I feel like there's nothing quite like that.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's unique in that it's a song that's been passed down and it's been adapted.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's just a part of it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I didn't think of a US equivalent really.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, and not only that it's just passed down, but it continues to change and evolve with
[SPEAKER_00]: the times and with the people and like it seems like four Korean people and their identity whatever they're going through at that point in history there isn't Auditoring for that time and for those people and so it becomes like this landmark of its own on like a timeline.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, very special.
[SPEAKER_01]: So for linguistic and symbolic meaning of the song, linguistic, historians believe that Adi meant beautiful and wrong referred to beloved one, meaning that together the term means my beloved one.
[SPEAKER_01]: The first findings of the song go back to a 1756 manuscript.
[SPEAKER_01]: So this has been around for hundreds of years.
[SPEAKER_01]: The legend of the origin of the first arti-dong is a story of a bachelor and a maiden meeting while picking Camilla blossoms by a body of water called Arraghi or Arraghi
[SPEAKER_01]: orangy.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and this is basically where two rivers meet.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this name comes from a Korean word meaning in harmony or to meet.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so the first legend is that the bachelor can't cross the river because it's too high, the water's too high, and so him and the maiden sing the song out of sorrow to one another that they can't be connected because this river is too high for them to get to each other.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then the second legend is he attempts to cross the river, but he ends up drowning on his way and while he's like drowning and dying, he sings out this very sorrowful song audit on.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's a moment that kind of just shows that the longing for one another but not being able to be together.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so even though this song like originally is sorrowful, the song itself is not just sorrowful alone.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a song that has, is very multifaceted in the emotions that it can hold.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, I boy talked a lot about how the song can hold pain and endurance together, and that it allows people to live alongside hardship, and that it's, it's a part of the human experience, but like, both things can exist.
[SPEAKER_01]: the longing, the hardship, but also the enduring through it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's often sung when separation is happening.
[SPEAKER_01]: It acknowledges separation that coincide in, like, it also accepts the loss of that separation, but not losing the connection between the people.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so it's just there's a lot.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's just a lot of meaning for this song like it brings up moments of pride, history, separation, and return to one another.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and you can really see based on like the two versions of like the first added on the, you know, the two legends, whichever one it could have been, how that story can represent those feelings.
[SPEAKER_00]: Especially like the endurance, living alongside hardship, I think, and the separation and return.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's so cool that it has this lore of how it's potentially began.
[SPEAKER_00]: Historians believe that the song spread to soul when workers from gangwon came to the region to rebuild
[SPEAKER_00]: a palace during the Jocen period, so that's about the late 1860s, like early 1870s when this was happening.
[SPEAKER_00]: Another meaning of Adenang developed during that time, or is theorized by linguistic historians from during that time, meaning that it means cannot be separated from loved ones, because it was used by workers as they were being taken by officials from their homes and from their hometowns to go build this palace.
[SPEAKER_00]: So they would be singing this song, you know, on their journey, or as they were working, as a way of feeling connected and close to the love ones that they left behind.
[SPEAKER_00]: We also found some translations of some lyrics.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is just one version.
[SPEAKER_00]: But Adirang Adirang Adirang Adirang Adirang, you are going over the Adirang Hill.
[SPEAKER_00]: My love, if you abandon me, your feet will be sore before you go 10-ree, just as there are many stars in the clear sky.
[SPEAKER_00]: There are also many dreams in our heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: There, over there, that mountain is back to Mountain, where even in the middle of winter days flowers bloom.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's a chorus, like a very well-known chorus of Adedong.
[SPEAKER_00]: And when we read this, and we got to the end of it, we were like, what is more BTS coded than these lyrics?
[SPEAKER_00]: Where even in the middle of winter days, flowers bloom?
[SPEAKER_00]: This is, I mean, these could be lyrics from Spring Day, right there.
[SPEAKER_01]: We were like, it's like, each way of my age part three, but like, it exceeds that, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Auditong, this like connection with these lyrics of, yeah, it's a very BTS coded winter days.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Even then winter days flower.
[SPEAKER_00]: Auditong is their first Korean titled album since the
[SPEAKER_00]: little connection there too.
[SPEAKER_01]: I had not thought of that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Wow, how special.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, but you can see in these lyrics how like there's so many ways that you can translate this, you can see it as like a moment of hope, the fear of separation or the fear of abandonment.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, the mention of dreams in our hearts.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's really very optimistic and right for the future too.
[SPEAKER_01]: Definitely.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is very like BTS going back to just using Auditang as a title for their album.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just very like BTS to use Korean tradition and to never really erase their history and where they come from.
[SPEAKER_01]: We've talked a lot on this podcast about how much they've leaned into their Korean culture and there are, like, in their music and their fashion.
[SPEAKER_01]: They have songs that have provided a lot of Korean elements,
[SPEAKER_01]: Idol, we made anything about it all.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm really think of Dacia Rittah.
[SPEAKER_01]: I feel like Dacia Rittah was like one Korean history lesson when we did that episode They wear a handbag, you know, they just provide a lot of Context to their music with the representation of Korean culture.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, then it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah
[SPEAKER_00]: saying that they are proudly Korean and that's who BTS are to their core.
[SPEAKER_00]: A story kind of related to BTS, we want to talk about the first recording of Adedang and the parallels that the story has to be T.S.
[SPEAKER_00]: because this has been pop it around the internet lately.
[SPEAKER_00]: All information we're going to talk about here is from an article written by Karris Lee titled, before K-Pop there was the Adirang.
[SPEAKER_00]: The first Korean students at Howard University.
[SPEAKER_00]: So this article was written a few years ago.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sure she's wondering why it's getting so much.
[SPEAKER_00]: traffic and hits now.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, she went in like 2020.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, she was ahead of her time, a visionary, but in 1896, seven young Korean men from noble families fled the country after robbing a bank.
[SPEAKER_00]: They fled to Vancouver where they ran out of money, leaving them stranded.
[SPEAKER_00]: These were in Bangalore, Lee Bumsu, Kim Young-Sik, on Jung-Sik, I-Bung-Hoon, and then two unnamed members.
[SPEAKER_00]: But they were stranded there in Vancouver.
[SPEAKER_00]: They had run out of money.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think they stole at the time like 400.
[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't even Korean one at the time that they didn't even use that currency.
[SPEAKER_00]: But, you know, so we can't translate that amount of money.
[SPEAKER_00]: But they ran out.
[SPEAKER_00]: The runaways telegraphed the Korean envoy and minister to the U.S. Suquan Bum.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he sympathized with their story and got them enrolled at Howard University, which is, uh, HBCU in DC.
[SPEAKER_00]: A few stories of them that remain suggests that the students were best known for their musical abilities.
[SPEAKER_00]: They didn't have many English skills.
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of what they could do is English that they picked up over their travels or like my main and communicating through acting things out.
[SPEAKER_00]: But there was one time where they were at like a concert hall.
[SPEAKER_00]: And these men were surrounded by a dozen quote persuasive damsels who begged them to sing.
[SPEAKER_00]: And they did, and it kind of took off like people wanted to hear them sing and were excited about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what they became known for.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, people wanted to hear them.
[SPEAKER_01]: So on July 24th, 1896, an American ethnologist named Alice Fletcher invited three of these Korean students into her home in Washington DC to produce the first recording of the Korean Auditang.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so they ended up recording a total of 11 songs and three of them happened to be the three different versions of Auditong.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so what is so fascinating about this is that today the six-cylinder recordings can be requested at the Library of Congress and their folklore reading room.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can also
[SPEAKER_01]: find out on YouTube, you can go and listen to it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just fascinating to hear Auditong being sung back in 1896 with its first recording and that the recording happened in the states, which is also very fascinating.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, someone in the comments of the YouTube video, if you go and listen to it on YouTube, let's go back to the description.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, but some of the comments of this YouTube video mention that the melody for one of them is the goo adetong and not the itchian adetong so it's interesting and cool that like 130 years later
[SPEAKER_01]: that Koreans today, like, can still identify the tune where it's from, what version it is.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, it just shows that, like, from what we've heard in, from Korean Americans and from Koreans talking about Auditong that, like, when they heard the title,
[SPEAKER_01]: Like there's a lot of emotion that is brought up with it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like they immediately know what it is, they can think of like their mother singing it to them or their grandfather singing it to them or like events that they've gone to where they've heard it being sung.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like there's just such a strong rooted connection like everyone knows it.
[SPEAKER_01]: So you have a comment section head.
[SPEAKER_01]: quite a few armies commenting in it and, you know, from a couple of days ago, you know, it's all real recent when this recording happened in 1896.
[SPEAKER_01]: How cool.
[SPEAKER_01]: To see this like piece of history resurface.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love when BTS like teaches us.
[SPEAKER_00]: history and this is not the first time and it definitely won't be the last but for us to be listening to a recording from 1896 that can only be found like apparently here on this one YouTube link and also in the Library of Congress like yeah how cool and that it has time it's requested
[SPEAKER_00]: Some of the past, there's definitely D.C. Army who had seen time this weekend and they went to the Library of Congress and requested it for sure, for sure.
[SPEAKER_00]: What's so interesting with Aridang?
[SPEAKER_00]: Is it?
[SPEAKER_00]: It obviously has a ton of historical and cultural significance in Korea, but then also weirdly the states, because like we said, the oldest and the first recording of it ever was done in D.C.
[SPEAKER_00]: But another time that this was used in the U.S. was the U.S. Army's 7th Infantry Division adopted Arirang as its official March song in May 1956, after receiving permission from the first president of South Korea's Sigmundry.
[SPEAKER_00]: The division had been stationed in South Korea from 1950 to 1950 to 1971 during the Korean War period and so they asked they obviously learned about Auditoring during their time there.
[SPEAKER_00]: Ask for permission from the Korean President to
[SPEAKER_00]: Use it as their marketing song and use it as their marketing song.
[SPEAKER_00]: So there were for sure like American that's walking around here They may even Still be living and they know this Arirang song from their army days
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, like how interesting to not only love this song as like being a like someone in Korea, adoring this song and just having it be sung to by family members, but then also to be here in the States and like these damsels were like, oh my god, like please sing this song for us.
[SPEAKER_01]: We love it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, let's record this.
[SPEAKER_01]: We love this so much.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then
[SPEAKER_01]: US military to hear it while stationed in Korea and love it so much too, to ask for permission to have it be a part of like a marching song.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and for them to do that, you know that they understood the cultural significance of the song.
[SPEAKER_00]: One at men, maybe they were adding their own verses to it also, which is such a cool idea.
[SPEAKER_00]: Another time that this was adopted in the US was an American composer, John Barnes' chance, based his 1962 and 1963 concert, being composition.
[SPEAKER_00]: Variations on a Korean folk song was the title of it on a version of Adedang that he heard in Korea in the late 1950s.
[SPEAKER_00]: So being influenced by Auditong to create further art back here in the States for it to be played by a symphony orchestra.
[SPEAKER_00]: Very, very cool.
[SPEAKER_00]: And of course, we already talked about that.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is the recording, the original recording, is held in the Library of Congress.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's so much overlap between the US and Korea here with Auditong, like a connection with Auditong, which we didn't expect to discover.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, because we also see when we talk about the parallels with BTS, like BTS is also such a strong connection with like being huge and I mean they're Korean and they're huge in the States like their music is so well-loved here too.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like it just feels like it parallels so perfectly with Adelaan's influence as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, we are the damsels now.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, it's what I said.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, absolutely.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, um, it just sparked so many parallels in our minds to BTS like BTS are also Seven men.
[SPEAKER_00]: They create Korean music that has such impact here their whole story of their career You know, we've talked about their humble beginnings many times
[SPEAKER_00]: and how much they've went through is one of longing and grief and sorrow, much like Auditong, narrates as well, but also what a vast hope and endurance just like the song narrates.
[SPEAKER_00]: We also have talked about and theorized about the impact that their time apart during military service would have on them, and it seems like
[SPEAKER_00]: this feeling of separation from each other, but also from army and from their, you know, their careers could also parallel the original legend of Auditong being separated from army and being separated from each other.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hmm, yeah, it's just separation.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, we really reflected on how much we feel like Auditong is even more fitting for BTS.
[SPEAKER_00]: The term has such a heavy weight to it, but they're journey really resonates with it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And who else would be deserving of taking this song?
[SPEAKER_00]: This Korean folk song was such significance and naming a K-pop album.
[SPEAKER_00]: with this title.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's only BTS who could have done this.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, it's incredible.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you know they're going to do it so well.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to be a phenomenal legendary album that will stand the test of time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely, you know they are.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, let's talk a little bit about what we know about the album so far and what we're expecting.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, on January 16th, there was an OT7 Weaver's live.
[SPEAKER_01]: Definitely go and watch it guys if you haven't already because any OT7 Weaver's live, you need to be watching it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, yes, but BT address that they address that their album title was out and said fans may be wondering what is Aridang or why Aridang now?
[SPEAKER_01]: And they said that the secret will slowly be revealed or will make sense on March 20th.
[SPEAKER_01]: RM went on to explain that they were thinking about quote what makes us BTS and since all seven of them are Korean and that ties them together from the beginning they thought it would be a good idea to have a title that symbolizes Korea too which I think so many fans can really appreciate because we've seen their Korean themes and elements always prominent in their music and so it just
[SPEAKER_01]: It feels really strong going into this album makes this very excited to see what they're going to show it.
[SPEAKER_01]: What else they're going to show us in the album.
[SPEAKER_01]: But he notes that everyone has a different interpretation of the word, but to him it symbolizes whistling this longing and love.
[SPEAKER_01]: Things they all thought about a lot while in the army.
[SPEAKER_01]: He says that it holds all the emotions of life and reflects both joys and sorrows.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a very complex word.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's what we've spent this entire, you know, episode trying to define what is added on and to give us a concept, you know, the cultural understanding of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: His, the way that he described it for his personal meaning of it representing whistfulness, longing and love.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just like,
[SPEAKER_00]: This is H my way, H like they don't have to name it H or H part three for it to be so because is that not like the main themes of emotions that were portrayed in those albums.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's right.
[SPEAKER_01]: A little moment in life.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: How would I just, like, with how they keep describing Ardenang, it just makes me feel like it's like the human experience, it's like the life experience, it's the good, the bad, the longing, the connection, the separation, like it's just a part of humanity of what we go through, the trials and tribulations, but how do you put that into one singular word, Ardenang?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like a matured version of H.Y.W.H.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, they also recalled in their Weaver's Live.
[SPEAKER_00]: They recalled performing Auditang at KCON in 2016.
[SPEAKER_00]: And a couple of them stood up and did the choreo.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think like Jay Hope and Jungle.
[SPEAKER_00]: They were like, oh, you remember the choreo?
[SPEAKER_00]: And they did it, super cute.
[SPEAKER_00]: And they,
[SPEAKER_00]: All commented that they just find it interesting that here 10 years later, they're able to do an album about it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think they feel really grateful and they definitely feel the weight of the meaning of outing on.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, they did not take this name for an album title lightly.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's like they want to add even though in 2016, they added a verse to it.
[SPEAKER_00]: They already added their own verse to Auditong.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now they're like adding a whole series of songs to what is Auditong.
[SPEAKER_00]: Junkuk talked about as well that he designed the album's logo.
[SPEAKER_00]: Those three symbols that we were all last week just wrecked.
[SPEAKER_00]: He never rains about what they could possibly mean.
[SPEAKER_00]: He said, the members kind of tease him about how much he was obsessing over these always on his iPad, like drawing up different versions, but he made four official mock-ups and sent them to the company.
[SPEAKER_00]: The band did address that a lot of armies thought that it was hello and they were like, hello.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why would they think it was hello?
[SPEAKER_00]: They were like, well, if you rearrange it, it looks like hello.
[SPEAKER_00]: and because Jen kept saying hello in that we first live.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Jen was like, what are you talking about?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, he'd never remember doing that.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was like, that's just like an introduction.
[SPEAKER_00]: What are you talking about?
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not convinced he could be playing dumb.
[SPEAKER_00]: It could still be a title on the album or like, really he was just being off the wall.
[SPEAKER_00]: Bye.
[SPEAKER_00]: RM said that actually the symbols of like the red symbols actually represent the consonants of Auditong and he was kind of surprised that nobody put that together that like we should have and maybe Korean Army did put it together and we didn't see it because we're not like on that side of Twitter.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, but he recorded his knowledge, nobody really figured it out.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think Jungkook did a fantastic job with the artistry behind it because it is so cool looking.
[SPEAKER_01]: The symbols, I mean, you can tell that a lot of effort went into it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's, it's the ins out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I agree.
[SPEAKER_00]: It definitely has a big impact.
[SPEAKER_00]: They talked about that they each made over 10 different songs for the album as a group they made over 100 songs to choose from.
[SPEAKER_00]: And they knew they wanted a large album.
[SPEAKER_00]: They were like, this is the first album.
[SPEAKER_00]: First, full-length albums and SMAP of the soul.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, we need, you know, they settled on 14 songs felt like a good amount.
[SPEAKER_00]: And they collectively chose their favorite 14.
[SPEAKER_00]: But they said, those other songs aren't just going to disappear, that some of them might end up on solo albums.
[SPEAKER_00]: Which really stood out to me because Bethany, you and I theorized that the beginning of this year that we weren't going to get any solo albums this year.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the year of BTS.
[SPEAKER_00]: but perhaps a couple of them may have enough songs from these leftovers and also from other ones they may have been making maybe in the latter part of this year they might drop a solo album maybe next year they might drop a few solo albums so we will have to wait and see on that one but it's exciting that they feel like these songs are so good that they had such they could narrow it down they're really proud of these ones and they have even more that they love
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you have to think about when you've got a hundred songs to choose from like there has to be so many like fantastic options but to like narrow it down to the 14 best it makes me very excited for just how magnificent this album is going to be they're doing the best of the best songs for this album
[SPEAKER_01]: Wow, yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: They talked about how there's various emotions that are going to be portrayed in the album.
[SPEAKER_01]: They said they've always listened to this album a lot and that they don't get tired of it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Junkook saying that he usually doesn't listen to albums before they come out, but he is with this one.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like he can't help it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like he likes it so much.
[SPEAKER_01]: He has to go and listen to it and that all of their favorite songs keep changing.
[SPEAKER_01]: That it's just, they love all of it so much that it's hard to pick.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh my god, you're gonna be right you are gonna you're gonna be like text to me the morning it comes out Be like what's your favorite song this one's mine and I'm gonna like oh my god I can't I'm gonna be put into like I'm gonna be oh god I'm gonna have such issues.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm gonna have to like meditate over what my favorite song is to figure it out
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm gonna have to have a therapy appointment just to discover it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do love that they mentioned that they're all listening to the album, and I love how real they were in that moment.
[SPEAKER_00]: They were like, oh, like, sometimes, you know, obviously they're artists.
[SPEAKER_00]: They love all their songs, but like, if you're gonna perform a song on tour for a year,
[SPEAKER_00]: you might get tired of that song you know and they were just like we can't see ourselves getting tired of the song like we're we're listening to it right now even though we know we're gonna tour with it this whole year but like we love it.
[SPEAKER_00]: We can't not listen to it.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I love themselves.
[SPEAKER_01]: Damn it's being addictive.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, it's been addictive.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh my god.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's gonna be.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, dang part of you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yuki says that the album is totally different than their other ones, which makes me very excited.
[SPEAKER_01]: He says it's got some of their style in charm still.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Jim and said that he let his parents even hear it and his dad said that the songs are truly you and that they're becoming adults.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know something about hearing Jim and his dad say that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just like melts my heart.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I thought that was adorable and also like I mean there must just be more mature themes on this album or perhaps like sexier song or something like that that would get him to say that comment, you know, you know, it's becoming adults.
[SPEAKER_00]: either way, just very grown up and very mature.
[SPEAKER_00]: RM says that the album is like this Korean cold noodle dish that he mentioned, which is a noodle dish that's like buckwheat noodles and a mild icy broth topped with various pickled veggies and I looked up with this dish like kind of represents and it's a really refreshing dish and it's a dish where there's not supposed to be any very strong flavors so that all of the different flavors can
[SPEAKER_00]: really shine through naturally, including culture.
[SPEAKER_00]: It also represents longevity, which I thought went along with the theme of Auditang and also hospitality, and this dish is also on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I feel like with RM, he was just saying like,
[SPEAKER_00]: This album is refreshing.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's their true colors shining through.
[SPEAKER_00]: The way he described the dish too was like, you know, it really makes you think while you're eating it.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think that he was saying or communicating it's going to make us think while we're consuming this album, which gives me hopes for like incredible lyrics.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, as always.
[SPEAKER_00]: As he was talking about this, too, John Guck sitting right next to him was like, um, it's not kind of a big hint to relate it to this dish.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't know, maybe he's saying more than we understand that the time was.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that parallel.
[SPEAKER_01]: It might be a lyrics somewhere, maybe so.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe a song title, it might, yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, but it's a big hint.
[SPEAKER_01]: So something related to that, for sure, on the album.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: They definitely are highly anticipating the tour.
[SPEAKER_01]: They all talked about how they can't believe it's been six years and so last world tour that they're both nervous and excited.
[SPEAKER_01]: Arms says that he'll definitely cry when he gets on stage.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like so much, how has it been six years?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, like I know that they did like permission to dance in LA and in Vegas and that one concert in Busan before they enlisted, but as far as like a whole tour, a full-fledged world tour, yeah, I think the last one would have been, uh, speak yourself.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh my god, that hurts to say.
[SPEAKER_01]: Man, rest in peace map of the soul, like I just don't know.
[SPEAKER_01]: gold level soundtrack tickets to the soul.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the kind of energy we're taking in to ticketing.
[SPEAKER_01]: We need others.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: Man, I also for them to say like especially the members who have toured on their own like Jay Hope and Yungi and Jen.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jay Hope mentioned something like it'll be interesting to be on stage back with everyone else, you know, because they've had
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, but just to be able to share the stage again to rely on each other to enjoy, you know, the energy together, I think, will definitely bring all of that emotion forward in each of them with the announcement of the album title, Auditang, the 2026 BTS website has also been updated.
[SPEAKER_00]: It appears as though they are slowly revealing the album cover where it looks like it has all seven members sitting in two rows and all you can really make out right now is
[SPEAKER_00]: like suits, like you can see like a white shirt and a tie in front of it and everything else is kind of grayed out, smoky grayed out.
[SPEAKER_00]: But to me, just seeing this, it's giving Festa family photo.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like every year, we would always look forward to when they posted these photos for Festa and of course this past year, we did not get them because they were not out of the military yet to be able to take these photos.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we got like cute photos of Jen and Jay Hope dressing up as each other's errors,
[SPEAKER_00]: we didn't get the traditional suits sitting straight forward in chair's festive family photo.
[SPEAKER_00]: So fucking iconic to make a photo of themselves, the album cover, because there has never been a photo for them as an album cover.
[SPEAKER_00]: It has always been like a design.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that would be a huge change up.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's also really cool on the website if you're on a desktop and you hover over or if you're on your phone and you click over where the members face would be.
[SPEAKER_00]: They each share a message with us about the album first in Korean and then in English and Bethany, when I tell you when I discovered this, I was freaking the fuck out.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was just hitting, yes.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now obvious.
[SPEAKER_00]: No.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so, I mean, we don't want to tell you guys what it was because you should go and listen for yourself if you haven't because it is amazing just to like, search your ears, their voices, talking about the album, it's very exciting and very cool for them to do this as like teasers to roll it out.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: And also, too, I was just thinking back like,
[SPEAKER_01]: How have they not had an album with their faces on it yet?
[SPEAKER_01]: I just fascinate me.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not to think about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're like, oh yeah, there aren't any albums with their faces on it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's all been designed.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: So album pre-order is already completely sold out on Weaver's.
[SPEAKER_01]: It looks like there's three versions of the album.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's the rooted in music version, rooted in Korea version, and living a legend version.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so each member too has their own vinyl.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we're thinking that the vinyl covers will be like a headshot of each member, since there's a headshot of them all together for the album, and then for all the members to have their own vinyl.
[SPEAKER_01]: It would just kind of like make sense.
[SPEAKER_00]: It would work to have a hat like a silver hat or super beautiful headshot, you know, that's going to flore you when you see it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, cool.
[SPEAKER_01]: But for each of the members, they all have a different color vinyl.
[SPEAKER_01]: Also, RM is silver, gin is pink, Yungi's clear, Hobie's cream, Tay is red, Jim and his burgundy.
[SPEAKER_01]: John Gook is um, orchid, and so yeah, we're expecting that this album is
[SPEAKER_01]: Really, going to be BTS in their roots and celebrating their Korean culture and who they are as individuals and as a group and just Yeah, all of the themes that we see with Auditong like all of the meanings that we give with Auditong like separation, longing, hardship, perseverance like we feel that that's going to be a lot of the themes held within this album.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: I really want to talk about, for a second, to the names of the versions that they're putting out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like rooted in music, rooted in Korea, and living legends, like rooted in Korea is so great for the title of Adedang, rooted in music is so cool because we always talk about, like, why do we love BTS?
[SPEAKER_00]: When people ask us that question, why do you love BTS?
[SPEAKER_00]: They're music.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, yes, there's so many other things that go along with them.
[SPEAKER_00]: They, their personalities are great.
[SPEAKER_00]: They are beautiful people.
[SPEAKER_00]: They are super hot.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, like, really so many reasons to love them, but the core is entertainers.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, right, right.
[SPEAKER_00]: The core of it is their music.
[SPEAKER_00]: And what they make, so I love that they named one, rid it of music.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then like, I love the, like,
[SPEAKER_00]: audaciousness of doing living legend and like acknowledging that that's what they are.
[SPEAKER_00]: And like claiming it and being proud of it instead of like shine away from the weight of that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like that's a change that we saw in them over these last couple of years is that they really like we're like we're gonna own that we have this crown.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think I'm really I'm gonna have to buy all three versions of the album.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, me too.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think so.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I do love that they are claiming to title of living legend.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I mean, it's not even, it's still somehow was humble.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know how to explain it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I think they just, it's the least they can say on us.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, that if they don't.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I feel like if they don't confidently live in that right now That they'll continue to like to have it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sure.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I know I also I know I will be buying Likely at least two of the vinyls like yeah, I mean I mean, I know that I'm gonna see like Jimin and RMs and I'm gonna be like, oh, I need those actually Because I do have a record player.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know who I'm gonna get
[SPEAKER_00]: I might have to get all seven for $225.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, oh, if I'm not, if I wasn't buying tickets this week, you know, yeah, but you kind of think I'm going to put that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, those are just only ones that, especially once they're revealed, I'm going to be dying over them.
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, BTS giving us a lot to look forward to and giving us an entire historic and cultural lesson about
[SPEAKER_00]: the meaning and significance of Auditong.
[SPEAKER_00]: We are so grateful.
[SPEAKER_00]: We are so excited to see what this album holds and to continue to discover the meaning of Auditong through BTS' music.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is what we love.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is what this podcast is like.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is literally what we live for you guys.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: We would love to hear your thoughts on Auditang and BTS' upcoming album, and also reach out to us about your ticket sales experience.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let us know what went wrong.
[SPEAKER_00]: What went amazing?
[SPEAKER_00]: Hopefully, fingers crossed for you all that you got what you wanted.
[SPEAKER_00]: We would love to hear it both in the Spotify comments and also in our Instagram.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can let us know there.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can find links of course for all the things and the resources that we referenced in this episode in the description.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for listening and thanks for standing BTS.