[talk] The Zane Lowe Interview: Where It All Began

Zane Lowe — Apple Music's Global Creative Director — and ARMY absolutely has every reason to respect him. He has one of the most important track records of any interviewer in the BTS universe, having been one of the very first Western music hosts to sit down seriously with the group and actually engage with their music as music — not as a novelty.

When ARIRANG dropped on March 20, 2026, the world's first major long-form interview with all seven members went to Zane Lowe. He joined BTS at HYBE in Seoul, South Korea, to discuss their long-awaited return to music. The band shared their journey to making the record, coming back together after completing military service, and the special bond they share as a group, breaking down the tracklist, collaborators, and the sound behind their tenth studio album. The interview runs 46 minutes.

The conversation went deep. RM explained the choice of the title ARIRANG: "We want to cling to the world where we are rooted. Since we are all Koreans and we are proud of where we came from, I think the song has very universal lyrics and melodies. Everyone has nostalgias and sadness and longings, so I think great art mostly brings a personal thing into a universal thing. So if we bring Arirang into 2026 in our own ways, we thought that we could bring it to the world."

On the collaborators, Jung Kook described working with El Guincho on "Hooligan": "I got to listen to a lot of the tracks and I was really wowed by just how fresh and new it was. One of the first thoughts I had was, 'Wow, you can approach a song like this?' I felt a lot of pressure about how to make the best use of it. It was a totally different vibe. A whole new vibe."

J-Hope also shared a tender moment: after finishing his military service, V attended Jin's solo concert as a guest and was moved to tears. "It always gets emotional," J-Hope said, reflecting on how much they had missed performing together.

Through the interview, RM explained that the album title carries centuries of meaning — the traditional Korean song represents longing, an emotional thread tied to home, love, and memory. During their time in the military, those themes became more personal. Distance from fans and from the stage brought a deeper awareness of where they came from.

This was not an interview for the sake of publicity. It was a document of seven artists returning to the world with something to say. And Zane Lowe — as always — was ready to listen.