Jin’s rock turn teased
BTS member Jin described leaning into a rock style that may shape the group’s next album, according to a Rolling Stone interview that’s been circulating online. (x.com)
Jin said he has “always wanted” more rock-adjacent music in his solo work, and Rolling Stone tied that instinct to BTS’ current group era. (rollingstone.com) In Rolling Stone’s April 15 interview, Jin said he “tend[s] to like rock-adjacent genres” and made “more requests than usual” while shaping songs, including asking for a louder, more intense sound. (rollingstone.com) The interview landed two days after Rolling Stone’s group cover story on April 13, part of an eight-cover May package built around BTS’ 2026 reunion. The magazine said the seven members met writer Brian Hiatt in Seoul in mid-February. (rollingstone.com; youtube.com) BTS are not teasing a hypothetical comeback anymore. The group released *Arirang*, its first full-length studio album in more than five years, on March 20, 2026, after the members’ military-service hiatus and solo releases. (rollingstone.com; ca.rollingstone.com) That makes the Jin clip travel differently online: fans are reading it as a window into how BTS are redistributing influence inside the group after years of separate projects. BTS said in 2025 that the next group album would reflect “each member’s thoughts and ideas,” and Rolling Stone reported the members lived together in Los Angeles for two months while making *Arirang*. (ca.rollingstone.com; rollingstone.com) Jin’s rock turn did not appear out of nowhere. Rolling Stone’s 2025 review of his solo album *Echo* said the record moved through synth-pop, metal, and country, framing him as a member with unusually explicit rock ambitions. (rollingstone.com) The group project around him is also broader than BTS’ 2020 album *Be*. Rolling Stone’s March preview of *Arirang* listed 14 tracks and collaborators including Kevin Parker, Flume, JPEGMAFIA, Mike WiLL Made-It, Ryan Tedder, El Guincho, and Teezo Touchdown. (rollingstone.com) BTS paired the album with a large-scale return to the road. Rolling Stone reported an 82-date world tour beginning April 9, 2026, after a free March 21 concert at Seoul’s Gwanghwamun Square and a March 27 Netflix documentary release. (rollingstone.com) So the Jin interview is less a stray teaser than a piece of BTS’ reunion rollout: one member describing the sound he pushed for, while the group is already presenting a post-hiatus album and tour as the product of all seven members’ input. (rollingstone.com; ca.rollingstone.com)
