Photo Cr: First We Feast/Hot Ones
In this extra special Season 29 finale of Hot Ones, global superstars BTS take on the wings of death as the show’s latest guests — and make history in the process. The award-winning group becomes the first-ever full K-pop band to appear on the series. They also add another milestone to their record-breaking careers as the largest group to participate in Hot Ones history.
The guys discuss truly being in danger of collapsing when they recorded their debut studio album; recording 100+ songs while making their new album Arirang and using a point-scoring system to decide on their favorites; feeling dead, experiencing tinnitus and puffy faces after their 3-hour long concerts; the Seoul 1988 summer olympics song “Hand in Hand” being an inspiration for their new album; and SUGA once being an underground rapper and realizing he had to move from Daegu to Seoul to make it in music.
On the Seoul 1988 summer olympics song “Hand in Hand” being an inspiration for their new album Arirang (2:34):
SUGA: “To be honest, Korea in 1988 held the Olympics that year in Seoul. There was a song called “Hand in Hand.” The title for their official song. So, we thought of doing a 2026 version of that song, and started from there. Then we thought about sampling other music that’s specific to Korean culture. While going through the list, we then landed on “Arirang” for that. We thought it matched well with the song.”
On truly being in danger of collapsing when they recorded their debut studio album (4:19):
RM: “Have you ever heard that a singer or a musician follows their song titles? We were really in ‘danger’ at that time. We were just about to collapse.”
Jin: “But because we experienced that danger back then when things get tough, we remember what we went through and it doesn’t feel so bad in that moment. Isn’t it because of that time and the song that brought us here? I think about it in those terms.”
Jung Kook: “That is exactly right.”
On feeling dead, experiencing tinnitus and puffy faces after their 3-hour long concerts (5:02):
Jimin: “The next morning…”
SUGA: “It’s exhausting.”
j-hope: “Really though, it’s not easy.”
Jimin: “Pretty much dead, afterwards.”
Jung Kook: “The morning after our concert?”
V: “For me, I still wake up with tinnitus in my ear, and can’t hear. It won’t stop.”
SUGA: “Me too. It doesn’t go away immediately.”
Jin: “They say the body swells up when exhausted. After we wake up, we meet for rehearsals. And that’s when I’ll see everyone with puffy faces. And then, well, our faces go back to normal as we near the next concert, so then we’re back to looking great! But puffy in the morning.”
j-hope: “As if I’d eaten something spicy.”
Jin: “Correct.”
On SUGA once being an underground rapper and realizing he had to move from Daegu to Seoul to make it in music (8:25):
SUGA: “I feel a bit shy calling myself an underground rapper. You know, when I was young doing music in Daegu, I would look ahead to perform in Seoul. Daegu hardly had any venues. There was no real way to make money. So, I realized if I want to do music, then I need to head to Seoul.”
On recording 100+ songs while making their new album Arirang and using a point-scoring system to decide on their favorites (12:11):
V: “We each had a lot of opinions.”
Jung Kook: “To put it simply, we all gathered in one place and listened to all the songs— from track number 1 to track 100. All of it. The songs, we’d… We’d discuss while we listened. ‘How is this?’ or ’Thoughts on this.’ Almost in a pure fashion.”
V: “He’s right.”
Jung Kook: “And then we’d pick based on that.”
V: “And if I remember correctly, we had a point-scoring system.”
Jung Kook: “Right, right.”
Reaction to Da Bomb hot sauce (15:48)
