"ARIRANG (아리랑)" — What This Word Means to Korean People
A Guide for BTS ARMY(Fans)
As a Korean who has lived in Korea my entire life, I witnessed firsthand how people around me reacted when BTS announced that their fifth studio album would be titled Arirang. Surprise. Deep emotion. And a hint of tension. "Wait, they actually went with Arirang?" "Will Arirang even land with a global audience?" — these were the things I kept hearing. To understand the weight behind those reactions, you first need to understand what these three syllables mean in the country called Korea.
This piece is an attempt to peel back the layers of the word "Arirang" from a Korean perspective, so that you, ARMY, can feel the album on a deeper level.
Arirang Is Not "a Song." At Least, Not a Single One.
If you search "Arirang" from outside Korea, you'll usually get one melody. But for Korean people, Arirang is not a singular noun.
There are roughly 3,600 regional variations of Arirang. Gangwon Province has Jeongseon Arirang. Gyeongsang Province has Miryang Arirang. Jeolla Province has Jindo Arirang. Each has its own melody, its own lyrics, its own context. The one thing they all share is a single refrain: *"Arirang, Arirang, Arariyo."*
This matters because Arirang is not a song that someone composed. There is no composer, no original version, no copyright. For hundreds of years, ordinary people sang it while tending their fields, crossing mountain passes, and saying goodbye to loved ones — each adding their own story to the melody. As one folklorist put it, "Arirang is not a song you own. It is a song you carry."
Compare it to your favorite pop song. A pop song has a songwriter, a producer, a release date. Arirang has none of that. What it has instead is 600 years of time and the entire Korean Peninsula as its stage.
The Mystery of the Word Itself
Here's the fascinating part: nobody actually knows what "Arirang" means.
One widely cited theory is that in ancient Korean, ari (아리) meant "beautiful" and rang (랑) meant "beloved" or "the one" — making Arirang something like "my beautiful one."
Another theory holds that ari meant "long" and rang is a shifted pronunciation of ryeong (嶺), meaning "mountain pass." Under this reading, Arirang simply means "a long pass" — a distant road that must be crossed.
There's also the theory that it comes from arida (아리다), a word meaning "to ache deeply in one's heart." In that case, Arirang refers to the feeling itself — the sting of longing.
The fact that there is no definitive answer actually reveals something essential about Arirang. The word refuses to be pinned to a single meaning. Depending on who is listening, it becomes love, or farewell, or resistance.
An Emotional Language Written into Korean DNA
One thing I've come to realize over the years is this: Korean people don't learn Arirang. They just know it.
Yes, it's formally taught in schools. But most Koreans already know the song before that. It was the melody their grandmother hummed in the kitchen. The song relatives sang together during holidays. The tune that echoed through the stadium during a national team match on TV. Arirang is woven into the fabric of Korean life like the air we breathe.
When UNESCO inscribed Arirang on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2012, one of the key reasons was precisely this — that Arirang does not stay in one region but is continuously recreated across communities and generations, transmitted in endlessly diverse forms. In 2014, North Korea's Arirang was separately inscribed as well, carrying the symbolic weight that Arirang belongs to both sides of the divided peninsula.
There is a Korean emotion called han (恨). It cannot be precisely translated into English — it is a tangled mixture of sorrow, longing, resentment, and quiet acceptance. Arirang is the oldest way of releasing han through sound. A song you sing so you won't cry. A song you sing even while crying. When Koreans shed tears while singing Arirang, it's not because the melody is sad. It's because within that melody, they hear their own history and the memories of their family.
Arirang at Every Turning Point in History
There's a reason Arirang is called Korea's "unofficial national anthem." This song has been present at the most painful moments of modern Korean history.
The Japanese Occupation (1910–1945) — During the era when Japan sought to erase the Korean language and Korean culture, Arirang became a song of resistance. When director Na Woon-gyu's film Arirang was released in 1926, the song spread across the country as a symbol of the independence movement. In an age when Japan forced Koreans to change even their names, singing Arirang was itself a declaration: *"I am Korean."*
The Korean War and Division (1950–Present) — After the war scattered families and split the peninsula in two, Arirang became a song of separation and the hope for reunification. The "Arirang pass" in the lyrics became the 38th parallel. The "departing beloved" became the family members who would never be seen again.
The 2000 Sydney Olympics — When the athletes of South and North Korea marched together for the first time in history, the song that filled the stadium was Arirang. Koreans who remember that moment still get a lump in their throat.
The 2002 World Cup — When Korea wrote its miracle run to the semifinals, Arirang rang out among the millions of citizens flooding the streets.
Arirang is the song Koreans reach for in their darkest hours — and in their proudest ones.
So When BTS Chose "Arirang" as Their Album Title — What Happened in Korea?
To be honest, the reaction among Koreans was not simple.
On one hand, there was profound emotion. Here was a group that performs on the world's biggest stages choosing to reach for the deepest root of Korean culture instead of another English-language title like "Dynamite" or "Butter." It felt less like an album title and more like a cultural statement.
On the other hand, there was a certain unease. The weight of the name Arirang is simply enormous. One professor said in an interview that her first thought was, "They've bitten off more than they can chew." Since Arirang belongs to no one and everyone at the same time, attaching it to a single commercial product felt inherently risky.
But when the album actually dropped, much of that unease turned into respect. In the bridge of the opening track, "Body to Body," a choral arrangement of Arirang performed by musicians from the National Gugak Center filled the air. On "No. 29," the tolling of the Divine Bell of King Seongdeok — designated National Treasure — resonated for one minute and thirty-eight seconds. BTS had not simply borrowed Arirang. They had reinterpreted its spirit — the stories of ordinary people, the partings and reunions, the journey over the pass — through the lens of their own narrative.
Seven members who completed their military service and came back together as one. A story of enduring the time spent apart from their fans. A story of crossing the "Arirang pass." When you think about it — could there be a more Arirang narrative than that?
Things ARMY Should Know
Listen to Arirang. Search YouTube for "Jeongseon Arirang," "Miryang Arirang," and "Jindo Arirang" — one at a time. They share the same name, but they'll sound like entirely different songs. That diversity itself is the essence of Arirang.
Ask a Korean friend about Arirang. Everyone will tell you a different story. A memory of their grandmother singing it. Hearing it at a school sports day. Some might just smile and say, "It's just... Arirang." Inside that "just" is 600 years of weight.
Understand why BTS's choice was brave. Naming an album "Arirang" is not like an American artist titling their album "The Star-Spangled Banner" or a British artist going with "God Save the King." Arirang is older than any national anthem. It belongs not to a government but to the people. It is perhaps the only cultural symbol shared by both North and South Korea. To place that name atop their own art is an expression of enormous responsibility.
In Closing
When I was young, I thought of Arirang as just an old folk song. Years later — after learning history, having deep conversations with friends, sitting around the table together during holidays — I finally understood: Arirang is not a song. It is a vessel for emotion.
In times of joy, in times of sorrow, in times of pride, in times of longing — Koreans reach for Arirang. They change the lyrics, they change the rhythm, but the refrain — *"Arirang, Arirang, Arariyo"* — they never change.
BTS choosing this name was not simply about showcasing something Korean. It was a way of saying: *"We have crossed this long pass, and we will cross the next one together with you."* And that is exactly the same story that Korean people have been telling for 600 years, every time they sing Arirang.
Arirang never ends. It is simply passed on to the next person.
If this piece helped you, remember just one thing when you listen to BTS's album: what you're hearing is not only the story of seven artists. It is the latest version of a story that Korean people have been singing while crossing mountain passes for over 600 years.