At the time, I didn’t know who sang it. I didn’t know anything about them. But the sound lingered in a way things sometimes do when they’re meant to be. Some people find BTS in a single moment, like a spark catching fire. For me, it was different. Like hearing a familiar voice you didn’t know you’d been listening for. They were there before I realised, woven into the spaces between everyday moments.

It wasn’t overnight. It was little moments, building slowly. Songs that once played in the background have settled into something more. Somewhere along the way, their music made a place for itself inside my everyday life, asking nothing, offering everything. A steady presence on days that didn’t always make sense. A quiet reassurance that even without realising it, something out there already understood the parts of me I hadn’t yet put into words.

BTS didn’t stay in the background for long. Somehow, without trying, they found the places in me that needed them most.

And once they’re there, they stay for as long as we need them.

Over time, I started seeing it wasn’t just me. There were others too. An entire world of people pulled together by something that went deeper than music charts or award shows. We didn’t all look the same or live the same lives but we understood something unspoken: this wasn’t just about liking a band. It was about belonging. About being part of something built on trust and growth and a kind of loyalty that doesn’t waver just because the world outside doesn’t always understand. 

That’s ARMY.

It isn’t about being the loudest. It isn’t about getting everything right. But it’s real. It’s staying up late for livestreams we barely understand. It’s crying when a song says exactly what you didn’t know you needed to hear. It’s cheering for each other across oceans. It’s carrying stories and hopes that maybe no one else would have noticed if BTS hadn’t put them into words first.

And being an Aussie ARMY has its own kind of strength woven into it.

There’s some distance between us and Korea but it’s not as far as it could be. Concerts don’t come to us easily. Events, fan meets – they usually happen somewhere else. But it never stopped us. If anything, it made the connection stronger. We learned to travel. To stream even when the hours didn’t quite line up. To find each other in small corners of cities and online spaces and say, I’m here too. You’re not alone.

We don’t need to be close to feel close. The music does that for us. BTS does that for us.

Because love like that doesn’t rely on proximity. It relies on presence.

And now, after all this time, we’re standing on the edge of something again.

Not an ending.

Not a beginning either.

Something bigger – the next chapter waiting for us.

Soon, they are back. Not just in solo projects or updates but together. All seven.

It doesn’t feel like a comeback. It feels like coming home.

We miss them. We celebrate their solo chapters, love every new sound and new side they share. But seeing them together again – the way they naturally fall into step with each other, the way the room seems lighter when they’re side by side – makes everything feel a little closer to how it’s meant to be.

The thought of hearing their voices together again, seeing them share the same stage, knowing they write new songs again – side by side, it’s almost too much and somehow exactly enough.

We’re going to be whole again.

Because what we carried through the waiting, the loyalty, the memories, the quiet promises we made by just staying, was always leading us back to this moment.

In some ways, it feels like we’ve been growing with them all along, each finding our own way but never losing step.

BTS shows us that strength isn’t about being the loudest. It’s about holding onto who you are, even when the world tries to make you forget. It’s about showing up, not just for them but for ourselves and for each other.

So when they return soon, we won’t just be welcoming a band back to a stage.

We’ll be welcoming back something we never lost.

A family we built without meaning to.

A love that was always bigger than distance or time.

And whether you’re hearing BTS for the first time today or whether you’ve been walking this road for years, some things don’t change.

The music that found us still does.

And we’re still here.