Racism and xenophobia are not common topics for K-pop songs. However, BTS’ new album, "Arirang," — No. 1 for the second week in a row on the Billboard 200 charts — has an exception in its song titled "Aliens."
Because I am not a Korean speaker, I didn’t catch the subject matter until I read the lyrics. I wasn’t the only one.
At a Spotify BTS event that I attended in New York City on March 23, host Suki Waterhouse played a lighthearted game with BTS titled, "Alien or Normal" where the bandmates had to answer a series of questions with one of those words. I don’t think Spotify knew that the song was about racism either.
In modern usage of the word aliens, we might first think of extraterrestrials, but that use arose only in the 20th century. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services website defines "alien" to include a stateless person and is synonymous with "foreign national." The etymology is from the Latin "alienare," related to something that is estranged or treated as strange or foreign. In everyday language, calling someone an alien can be seen as derogatory.
The BTS song "Aliens" — No. 47 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated April 4 — is about the racism and xenophobia that BTS has faced. There are many translations online, but I refer to that on Genius.com.
In mix of Korean and English, Suga raps: "Born different, seven aliens (Ayy, ayy)/ Green with jealousy, those civilians (Ayy, ayy)/."
J-Hope continues with the refrain: "Hello, this your, hello, this your new honey/ Clap and shake it to Jungmori rhythm/ Oh my God, do I look too funny?/ So what? Just move for me, yeah, move for me."
Jungkook adds a verse that refers to Hangeul and the Korean custom of taking one’s shoes off when entering anyone’s home. The aim here is to center Korean norms instead of the usual marginalization of Korean and Asian habits. To this point, when BTS appeared on the "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," the band gave him a pair of slippers. "From thе Ka-Na to the Ha, watch and learn from us/ Yeah, wе aliens/ If you wanna hit my house, shoes off at the door/ Yeah, we aliens."
V’s section also establishes the East as the focus, as he continues: "The nerve on you, shameless/ Show some respect, we aliens/ Out of the East, the sun's risin'/ Aliens, aliens."
RM continues: "It goes, let me, honey, talk about the business/ Everybody know now where the K is/ How far are we taking this? Dammit/ Still cursing us out? Misfortune turns into blessings/ Pardon me, Mr. Kim Koo, tell me how you feel/ I'm the only one who can speak English, but that is how we kill/ You guys with those big eyes say/ Are they for real? For real?"
RM references Kim Koo, a Korean statesman who advocated for the independence of Korea from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule. According to the website Korelimited, he famously said: "I want our nation to be the most beautiful in the world. By this I do not mean the most powerful nation. … The only thing that I desire in infinite quantity is the power of a noble culture. This is because the power of culture both makes ourselves happy and gives happiness to others."
This notion was previously quoted in an acceptance speech by RM in 2019 and he returns to it in this verse. Korea is now a center of cultural production, but BTS and other Koreans still have to deal with insults. Here, he refers to one common denigration of East Asians as having small eyes and refer to Westerners as "those with big eyes," again recentering the discussion around Koreans with Westerners at the margins.
As the face of K-pop in the West, BTS has borne the brunt of many insults — however, they are also fortunate because their fans often attack the perpetrators of these insults. For example, in 2021, German radio station Bayern3 DJ Matthias Matuschik called BTS "some crappy virus that hopefully there will be a vaccine for soon." He was later forced to issue an apology and, after fan protest, his show was canceled. There have been many incidents like this.
At the October 2025 APEC summit in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, RM’s speech described the racism BTS faced earlier in their career. He stated, "When we said, 'We are artists from Korea,’ they didn’t ask us about our music, they asked, 'Are you from North Korea or South Korea?'"
While Jimmy Fallon has been very supportive of BTS since the group's first appearance on his show, during the March 25 episode in which the boy band appeared, echoes of the past reemerged. During the warmup for the in-studio audience, comedian Seth Herzog asked, "Anyone here from up north?" Guests at the taping report he implied one of the bandmates is from North Korea. The show and Herzog have since released an apology.
BTS later performed lead single "Swim" as well as "2.0" on the show. It’s too bad the group didn’t also perform "Aliens" — or at least provide everyone with its lyrics.
Grace Kao
Grace Kao is an IBM professor of sociology and professor of ethnicity, race and migration at Yale University. The views expressed here are the writer’s own. — Ed.
khnews@heraldcorp.com
