BTS’s “Hooligan” has surpassed 100 million YouTube views, but the most interesting question is not how many people watched it. It is why so many viewers felt they had seen this version of BTS before.
Released on April 8, 2026, the music video for “Hooligan,” a track from the group’s fifth studio album ARIRANG, reached 100 million views on October 14. It became the third music video from the album to achieve the milestone, following “SWIM” and “2.0.”
For many fans, the achievement is another celebration of BTS’s global popularity. But the song has also revived a fascinating conversation about the group’s musical identity.
Some listeners hear echoes of “Not Today,” “MIC Drop,” “Fire,” and “ON.” Others believe “Hooligan” represents something darker, stranger, and more experimental than anything BTS previously attempted.
So which interpretation is closer to the truth?
Is “Hooligan” bringing back the old BTS, or showing us what that BTS has become?
Why Does “Hooligan” Remind Fans of “Not Today”?
The comparison begins with the music video.
In “Not Today,” BTS appeared as a group confronting overwhelming opposition. Its choreography, large-scale formations, and dramatic atmosphere transformed a defiant song into a visual statement about resistance.
“Hooligan” creates a similarly confrontational atmosphere.
Instead of presenting the members through a conventional pop-video aesthetic, director Hannah Lux Davis places them in a dark, theatrical environment filled with masked dancers, imposing architecture, sharp visual transitions, and coordinated movement.
The video also makes striking use of red, a defining color of the ARIRANG album’s visual identity.
The result feels less like a traditional music video and more like a scene from a dystopian action film.
That similarity has not gone unnoticed.
In fan discussions and reaction videos, viewers repeatedly mentioned “Not Today.” Some pointed to the aggressive staging. Others focused on the sense that BTS was once again performing as a unified force rather than simply showcasing seven individual personalities.
But there is an important distinction.
“Not Today” emphasized collective resistance against external obstacles.
“Hooligan” feels less concerned with escaping opposition and more interested in embracing an unruly, unpredictable identity.
The earlier BTS challenged the forces trying to stop them. The BTS of “Hooligan” appears comfortable being the disruptive force itself.
That is an interpretation of the video’s imagery, not an officially confirmed storyline. Nevertheless, it helps explain why the two productions can feel familiar without communicating exactly the same message.
The “MIC Drop” Connection: Confidence Without Permission
Another frequent comparison is “MIC Drop.”
Released during BTS’s rise to international prominence, “MIC Drop” became one of the group’s clearest expressions of confidence in the face of criticism.
Its attitude was direct: BTS no longer needed to convince everyone of its worth.
“Hooligan” carries a related sense of self-assurance, but expresses it through a different musical language.
Where “MIC Drop” relied on a relatively direct hip-hop structure and memorable confrontational imagery, “Hooligan” experiments with abrupt textures, unusual vocal delivery, rhythmic interruptions, and a deliberately chaotic atmosphere.
The sound is not designed to be universally comforting.
Its energy comes partly from refusing to settle into predictable patterns.
This may explain why listeners who love the rebellious side of BTS have embraced the song, while others find it difficult to connect with.
The resemblance to “MIC Drop” is therefore more about attitude than exact musical composition.
Both songs project confidence.
But “Hooligan” seems less interested in proving that BTS has succeeded and more interested in demonstrating that success has not eliminated the group’s appetite for experimentation.
A Fan Called It “Season 2” — and That May Be the Best Description
One of the most revealing reactions came from a viewer featured in an overseas reaction compilation.
After watching “Hooligan,” the reactor compared BTS’s older music videos to the first season of a series and described the new production as a second season with a dramatically expanded budget.
The comparison is humorous, but surprisingly insightful.
BTS’s earlier music videos established a recognizable visual vocabulary: intense group choreography, cinematic confrontation, dramatic styling, and the suggestion that the members were part of a larger story.
“Hooligan” brings several of those elements back.
However, it presents them with a different level of technical polish and a more elaborate visual language.
The editing moves rapidly between intimate close-ups and monumental group compositions. Costumes shift between futuristic streetwear and theatrical silhouettes. The video’s darker imagery is heightened by its carefully controlled lighting and color.
The production does not merely imitate the past.
It reassembles familiar elements into something more extravagant.
That is why the “Season 2” comparison works.
“Hooligan” feels like a continuation of BTS’s visual identity, but not a remake of any single earlier era.
The Surprising Origin of “Hooligan”: Jung Kook and j-hope
The creative history of the song offers an even more important clue.
In an interview with Esquire Korea, j-hope explained that Jung Kook was already developing “Hooligan” when he joined the group’s Los Angeles recording sessions.
Rather than starting from scratch, j-hope worked with Jung Kook on the existing structure and discussed how the song could fit BTS as a group.
RM later offered additional insight into the track’s development in his ARIRANG behind-the-scenes discussion.
According to RM, “Hooligan” emerged from the creative work associated with Jung Kook and j-hope, with contributions and revisions from other songwriters and producers.
He characterized its direction as alternative hip-hop and described the track as an unusually strong candidate during the album-making process.
This matters because it challenges the idea that “Hooligan” was simply an attempt to recreate BTS’s old image.
The song developed through the members’ contemporary creative interests.
Jung Kook’s musical instincts, j-hope’s performance-centered approach, and the group’s collaborative production process helped shape its identity.
Its connection to older BTS songs may therefore be less about deliberate nostalgia and more about the persistence of a shared artistic personality.
Even after years of individual musical exploration, certain instincts remain recognizable when the seven members work together.
Why the Music Video Feels Like a Dystopian Film
The video’s director, Hannah Lux Davis, has previously worked with international pop artists including Ariana Grande and Doja Cat.
For “Hooligan,” the production uses scale and theatrical imagery to create an atmosphere of controlled disorder.
Masked dancers appear in large formations. The members occupy imposing spaces. Floating figures and unsettling visual compositions make the world seem detached from ordinary reality.
These elements invite interpretation.
Are the masks symbols of conformity? Does the chaotic setting represent public scrutiny? Is the group asserting its identity against expectations?
Such readings are possible, but they should not be confused with confirmed explanations from the director or BTS.
What can be observed is the video’s consistent contrast between individual presence and collective movement.
Each member receives distinctive visual moments, yet the most powerful scenes often depend on the group and its surrounding dancers moving together.
That tension has always been important to BTS.
The group contains seven recognizable personalities, but its identity is also built around what happens when those personalities unite.
“Hooligan” turns that relationship into a visual spectacle.
Why Some Fans Love the Song — and Others Miss the Old BTS
Not every listener experiences “Hooligan” as a triumphant return.
The reactions reveal an interesting divide.
Some fans describe its beat as addictive and its aggressive energy as exactly what they missed from BTS. Others praise the darker styling, rap-heavy sections, and unexpected vocal choices.
There are also listeners who find the lyrics repetitive or the production overly chaotic.
A few longtime fans have expressed nostalgia for the emotional and melodic qualities of earlier songs such as “Fake Love” and “Black Swan.”
These reactions are not necessarily contradictory.
They reveal that different fans have different ideas about what makes BTS sound like BTS.
For one listener, the group’s identity lies in rebellious hip-hop.
For another, it lies in emotionally vulnerable songwriting.
For someone else, it is the balance of vocal melody, rap, choreography, and personal storytelling.
“Hooligan” emphasizes certain parts of that identity while placing others in the background.
Its reception shows that returning to a recognizable sound does not automatically mean returning to every fan’s favorite version of the group.
That question deserves its own discussion, especially as listeners continue debating the song’s lyrics, vocal distribution, and experimental production.
Why “Hooligan” Could Only Exist After BTS’s Solo Era
There is another reason to resist calling “Hooligan” a simple return to the past.
The members who recorded it are not the same artists who made “Not Today” or “MIC Drop.”
During their period of individual activity, BTS members explored different musical identities, from alternative and experimental hip-hop to pop, R&B, and more introspective songwriting.
Those experiences inevitably changed what each artist could bring back to the group.
The result is not necessarily a completely new BTS.
It is a BTS whose members have developed separately and are now combining those experiences.
This is particularly relevant to “Hooligan,” given the documented involvement of Jung Kook and j-hope in its early development.
The track’s unusual textures and performance-focused energy suggest a creative process interested in pushing the group’s boundaries, not merely restoring an earlier formula.
Perhaps the most meaningful aspect of “Hooligan” is that BTS can revisit its rebellious identity without becoming trapped inside its own history.
The Real Meaning of 100 Million Views
On October 14, 2026, “Hooligan” became the third ARIRANG music video to surpass 100 million YouTube views.
The milestone demonstrates sustained interest in a song released more than six months earlier.
But view counts alone cannot tell us why a work resonates, nor can they settle debates about artistic quality.
What makes “Hooligan” worth examining is the conversation surrounding it.
The video has encouraged fans to revisit earlier BTS eras, compare the group’s changing musical identity, and reconsider what they expect from a seven-member comeback.
Its success is not just a story about numbers.
It is an opportunity to ask what artistic continuity means for a group that has already lived through several distinct chapters.
Final Verdict: Not a Return, but a Reinvention
So is BTS’s “Hooligan” a return to the group’s old sound?
Partly — but that description does not go far enough.
The song reconnects with the defiance, hip-hop energy, and theatrical group performance that helped define BTS’s earlier years.
Its music video recalls the dramatic visual language of “Not Today” and the confidence of “MIC Drop.”
Yet its experimental production, unusual vocal textures, and elaborate dystopian imagery point toward something different.
“Hooligan” is not BTS trying to become its younger self again.
It is BTS using familiar instincts after years of artistic change.
The difference matters.
Nostalgia asks an artist to repeat what audiences already love.
Reinvention asks whether those same qualities can produce something unexpected.
And perhaps that is the most interesting answer to the question raised by “Hooligan.”
BTS did not have to abandon its past to move forward. It found another way to use it.
Sources and Further Reading
- Soompi — BTS’s “Hooligan” Becomes Their 3rd MV From “ARIRANG” To Hit 100 Million Views (October 2026).
- Yonhap News Agency — Coverage of the “Hooligan” music video and director Hannah Lux Davis (April 8, 2026).
- Esquire Korea — j-hope interview discussing the creation of “Hooligan” (April 2026).
- RM’s ARIRANG behind-the-scenes discussion (May 2026).
- BTS “Hooligan” official music video and publicly available fan reactions.
Fan interpretations and comparisons in this article are presented as audience readings, not as confirmed statements of artistic intent.