Super Bowl director to lead BTS ARIRANG show

Global event director Hamish Hamilton, who staged last year’s Super Bowl halftime show in the United States, will lead BTS’s comeback performance in Gwanghwamun, Seoul.

Netflix announced on Feb. 4 that Hamilton, hailed as the "king of live events," will direct “BTS Comeback Live: ARIRANG,” scheduled for 8 p.m. on March 21. The British director has overseen major productions including the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony and high-profile award shows such as the Oscars, Grammys and Emmys.

Hamilton drew widespread attention last February for directing hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime performance. On Feb. 1, he also directed the awards segment in which BTS’s “Golden,” featured in the Netflix animated series K-pop Demon Hunters, became the first K-pop song to win a Grammy.

BTS’s comeback performance will be broadcast live on Netflix to more than 190 countries, and tens of thousands of fans are expected to attend in person. Seoul city authorities said they will monitor crowd density in real time through the Disaster and Safety Situation Center, implement non-stop subway passes at nearby stations, and crack down on illegal street vendors. Safety messages in multiple languages will also be displayed on screens and electronic boards at Seoul Plaza to accommodate foreign visitors.

The group’s fifth full-length album, Arirang, which is set for release a day before the Gwanghwamun performance, is already attracting global attention. According to Big Hit Music, the album had been “pre-saved” more than 3 million times on Spotify as of Feb. 4, just 19 days after the comeback was announced on Jan. 16. The record for pre-saves remains Taylor Swift’s 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, which reached about 6 million pre-saves before its release in October last year.


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