With the lifting of social distancing and the start of a full recovery to daily life, the music industry is gradually regaining its vitality. Major stars are leading this atmosphere by stepping forward.

Global groups like BTS and BLACKPINK, along with artists like PSY and Lim Young-woong, who have secured massive fandoms, are sequentially releasing new albums and beginning their all-around domestic and international activities. With major stars, who were sidelined for two years due to the pandemic, simultaneously announcing their return to activities, the music scene is expected to be hotter than ever.

Among these, BTS is garnering the most attention. They recently finished their concert in Las Vegas and will be making a comeback on June 10th. According to their agency Big Hit Music on the 25th, they will release a new album simultaneously worldwide on that day and continue their global activities.

This will be BTS's first physical album release in 11 months, since the single CD containing "Butter" and other tracks in July of last year. It will be their first full-length album in 2 years and 4 months, since their 4th full-length album "MAP OF THE SOUL: 7" released in February 2020. As they have primarily released full-length albums in Korea, it is expected that they will release a full-length album with more than 8 songs this time as well.

A new world tour is also anticipated along with the album release, drawing significant interest. According to data recently released by the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute, an analysis suggesting that BTS's concerts in Korea after the post-corona era could have an economic ripple effect of up to 200 billion won per event has become a topic of discussion.

The eyes of fans worldwide are also focused on BLACKPINK's comeback. According to an industry insider, BLACKPINK is planning to release a new album as early as June. Recently, member Jennie appeared on a YouTube channel and mentioned, "We're making a comeback soon. Please wait," which garnered attention.

BLACKPINK's new album will be their first in 1 year and 6 months since "THE ALBUM" released in October 2020. Notably, BLACKPINK set the record for "1 million pre-orders for a girl group album" with this album, a record that remains unbroken to this day. Since their group activities, they have met fans through solo endeavors and acting by Jennie, Rosé, Lisa, and Jisoo. The biggest question is what kind of success they will achieve with their full group activities after such a long time.

Prior to them, PSY will also release his 9th full-length album at the end of this month, after a two-year hiatus. Lim Young-woong, the "hero of mothers," will release his first full-length album on May 2nd. His first full-length album since "Mr. Trot" is generating high interest from fans. In particular, as he has been dominating various music charts with songs like "Love Always Runs Away," "Starry Night," and "Hero," it is highly likely that he will achieve an "all-kill" with his full-length album, comparable to idol stars.

These are English translations of articles from our GTTOUR Japanese website.