BTS Arirang 2026 X reviews: K-pop boyband, BTS, has officially rolled out its new album, Arirang. Making a comeback after a nearly 4-year-long hiatus, the seven K-pop idols are back to ruling their fans’, the BTS ARMY’s, hearts. While the new BTS album, Arirang has debuted to a Metacritic score of 89, industry standard Pitchfork gave it a 2.1 on 10.
This stark contrast has left the Internet divided as over 1500 user reviews on Metacritic amount to a score of 48. However, seeing the low scores, from netizens and users on third-party platforms, the BTS Army was left disappointed.
‘I have now listened to it six times’ shares fan on X
In a lengthy post answering that defends the positive reviews from Rolling Stone, Consequence of Sound, Clash, and The Gaurdian, a user (@Ya_Za) explained why the BTS Arirang album deserved the high ratings. Sharing that they spent the whole day listening to this album, they wrote, “I think People who study and create music get it.”
The netizen shared that having listened to the album 6 times so far, “I knew this was an album that would be a grower…I think the biggest flaw was the promotion for the album.” At the same time, in a way to neutralise their opinion on the matter, they claimed, “Fans usually forget that there are just that fans. You are not the people who study and design sound. Your criticism are second to the people who study the music. I think this album says well in their discography,” they ended.
Dejected by the poor reviews, another enraged listner on X (@babyjuhoon) lashed out at Pitchfork and claimed, “your website used to be the most relevant one when it came to album reviews, and now you’re just hiring actual trolls who can’t be fair with their reviews? in that case, why didn’t you give the job to a BTS lover then?”
Fueling the conspiracy theory, another user shared, “Crazy how positive reviews of the album are getting so less views.” At the time, several fans couldn’t resist but compare K-pop‘s dominance with millennial pop star Taylor Swift, whose records are being estimated to be shattered by the BTS Arirang comeback.
Tapping into the comparison, a fan wrote on X (formerly Twitter),”Even with the paid reviews, TTPD [The Tortured Poets Department – Taylor Swift’s album] will always be lyrically better than Arirang.”
At the same time, fans from Korea in local discussion forums are reviewing the album withg praises like, “Jimin’s vocals purify everything,” “Why does Jimin’s voice shine”, or facing disbelief while comparing their previous album to BTS Arirang – showing a range of vocals fans have reportedly not seen before. However, several media outlets also claim that BTS Arirang is set to become of the ‘one of the most critically acclaimed K-pop albums of all time.’