True Taste Korea

Merry Go Round

  • Why Did BTS’ ‘Merry Go Round’ Take Three Months to Reach YouTube?

    BTS fans finally got something on September 25 that many had been waiting months to see:

    the official “Merry Go Round” music video on YouTube.

    But there was one unusual detail.

    The music video was not actually new.

    “Merry Go Round” had originally premiered on Spotify on June 19, 2026 — more than three months earlier.

    So why did BTS wait so long to put the video on YouTube?

    The short answer is:

    We know why it appeared on Spotify first. We do not have an official explanation for why the YouTube release took more than three months.

    And that difference matters.

    “Merry Go Round” Was Originally a Spotify Exclusive

    When the music video arrived in June, it was promoted specifically as a Spotify music video.

    Spotify Korea described it as available “only on Spotify,” while reports at the time said the video was created through a special collaboration between BTS and the streaming platform.

    That meant many fans could not simply open YouTube and watch the MV the way they normally would with a major BTS release.

    Access also depended on Spotify’s music-video availability and Premium access in supported markets.

    For one of the world’s biggest music acts, that was an unusual rollout.

    And ARMY noticed.

    Fans Kept Asking: When Is It Coming to YouTube?

    The wait quickly became a discussion among fans.

    When BTS later prepared the video for “Normal,” Reddit users were still talking about “Merry Go Round” being stuck on Spotify.

    Some fans were frustrated that such a visually detailed BTS video had not received the wider YouTube release they expected.

    Others simply wondered whether it would ever be uploaded there at all.

    Then something interesting happened.

    “Normal” also debuted through Spotify — but its exclusive window was very different.

    “Normal” Makes the Three-Month Wait Even More Interesting

    In July, Spotify officially explained that selected music videos could debut first for Premium subscribers in its beta markets.

    For “Normal,” that early-access period lasted only 48 hours before the video reached a wider audience.

    That naturally raises another question.

    If “Normal” could move from Spotify to YouTube after a short exclusive window, why did “Merry Go Round” remain away from YouTube for more than three months?

    At the moment, there is no confirmed public answer.

    There could have been different promotional plans, different agreements or simply a different release strategy for the two videos.

    But without an official statement from BTS, BIGHIT MUSIC or Spotify explaining the delay, those possibilities remain speculation.

    The YouTube Release Changes the MV

    Not artistically.

    But in terms of who can actually see it.

    The Spotify release made “Merry Go Round” part of an experiment in how fans consume music videos.

    The YouTube release makes the video much easier for BTS’ enormous global audience to discover, replay, share and discuss.

    And that matters especially for this particular MV.

    “Merry Go Round” is packed with details that invite repeated viewing:

    the “You Never Walk Alone” carousel,

    RM and the coffin,

    the horses,

    the isolated rooms,

    and the final reunion of the seven members.

    Those details are exactly the kind of material ARMY has spent years analyzing frame by frame.

    Now the discussion can happen around a platform where BTS music-video analysis has traditionally flourished.

    So Why Did It Take Three Months?

    For now, the most accurate answer is surprisingly simple.

    Because “Merry Go Round” began as a Spotify-exclusive project — but the exact reason that exclusivity effectively kept it away from YouTube for more than three months has not been publicly explained.

    What we do know is that fans noticed the absence.

    They asked about it.

    They complained about it.

    And now, finally, they can watch the video where many expected to find it in the first place.

    Perhaps the funniest part is that a song about going around and around finally completed its own circle.

    Three months later, “Merry Go Round” has arrived on YouTube.

    The delayed YouTube release is only one of the questions surrounding BTS’s “Merry Go Round.” The music video has also sparked discussion about its recurring imagery and hidden messages. For a closer look at its visual symbolism, read why the carousel says “You Never Walk Alone” in BTS’s “Merry Go Round”.

  • Why Are There So Many Horses in BTS’ ‘Merry Go Round’ MV?

    At first, the horses in BTS’ “Merry Go Round” music video seem like an obvious choice.

    It is a song about a merry-go-round.

    Of course there are horses.

    But look more closely and something feels strange.

    These are not simply colorful carousel horses attached to poles.

    Some appear distant and unreachable. Others seem almost wild. The members watch them, encounter them and eventually ride with them.

    That has led ARMY to ask an interesting question:

    Why are horses so important in “Merry Go Round”?

    A Horse Usually Represents Freedom

    Horses are often associated with freedom.

    The image of a horse running across an open field is almost the opposite of being trapped.

    A carousel horse, however, has a completely different existence.

    It appears to be running.

    It moves up and down.

    It travels constantly.

    But it never goes anywhere.

    After hundreds of circles, it ends exactly where it began.

    That makes the horse an almost perfect symbol for the central idea behind “Merry Go Round.”

    The official lyrics describe everyday life as being like a carousel or a hamster wheel.

    BTS keeps moving.

    But the ride will not stop.

    The MV Turns That Idea Upside Down

    Fans on Reddit quickly noticed the contrast.

    In one discussion about the video, viewers interpreted the real horses as symbols of a freedom the members can see but cannot always reach.

    That reading becomes particularly interesting when compared with the carousel itself.

    A carousel horse has no choice about where it goes.

    Its path has already been decided.

    Round and round.

    Again and again.

    A real horse can leave.

    It can change direction.

    It can run somewhere completely new.

    That difference may be one of the keys to understanding the video.

    Are the Horses About Military Service?

    Some Reddit fans have taken the symbolism further.

    They connect the horses and the repetitive carousel with the members’ military service.

    RM has discussed the military experience in relation to the inspiration behind “Merry Go Round,” and fans have consequently examined the video through that lens.

    Military life is built around schedules, rules, repetition and duty.

    From that perspective, the carousel becomes an unusually effective metaphor.

    You wake up.

    You follow the schedule.

    You perform your duties.

    You sleep.

    Then the cycle begins again.

    Some viewers therefore see the free horses as representing something temporarily beyond the members’ reach.

    But this remains a fan interpretation of the imagery rather than an officially confirmed explanation for every horse in the video.

    There May Be a Bigger Meaning Than the Military

    The symbolism also works without limiting it to military service.

    BTS have spent more than a decade living inside another kind of cycle.

    Albums.

    Promotions.

    Concerts.

    Flights.

    Interviews.

    Expectations.

    Success itself can become repetitive.

    That does not mean BTS are rejecting their career or their success.

    Rather, “Merry Go Round” seems interested in a feeling almost everyone eventually recognizes:

    What happens when you keep moving but no longer feel like you are going anywhere?

    That is why the horse works so well.

    It can represent both movement and confinement.

    Everything depends on whether it is free to choose where it runs.

    Then the Ending Changes the Meaning

    There is another fascinating detail fans noticed.

    The horses near the end do not behave like traditional carousel horses fixed to poles.

    They appear untamed.

    They can move freely.

    And yet they move together.

    One Reddit interpretation describes this as an important transformation: the cycle may still exist, but the confinement does not.

    That creates a very different image from the lonely carousel horse.

    Freedom does not necessarily mean running away from everyone.

    It can also mean choosing who you run beside.

    And that idea fits the larger story of the music video remarkably well.

    For much of “Merry Go Round,” the BTS members are separated.

    Eventually, they find one another again.

    The ride has not necessarily disappeared.

    Life will probably keep spinning.

    But now they are moving together.

    Maybe the Horse Is the Real Question

    A carousel horse and a wild horse can both run.

    Only one gets to decide where it is going.

    That may be why horses appear again and again throughout “Merry Go Round.”

    The question is not simply whether BTS can escape the ride.

    It may be something more universal:

    Are you moving because you chose a destination — or are you simply going around because the ride never stopped?

    And perhaps the final horses offer an answer.

    You do not always have to stop moving to become free.

    Sometimes freedom begins when you can finally choose the direction.

    The contrast between wild horses and carousel horses becomes even more intriguing when we consider the words written on the carousel itself. Explore why BTS’s “Merry Go Round” carousel says “You Never Walk Alone” and how that message connects to the group’s earlier music and imagery.

  • Why Is RM Standing on a Coffin in BTS’ ‘Merry Go Round’ MV?

    There are plenty of strange and unsettling images in BTS’ “Merry Go Round” music video.

    But one of the darkest belongs to RM.

    He appears alone in an isolated space that looks almost buried underground.

    And beneath his feet is something that looks unmistakably like a coffin.

    It would already be a disturbing image on its own.

    Then RM delivers one of the song’s most striking lines:

    “My bed is my coffin.”

    So what does the coffin actually mean?

    The Answer May Begin With the Lyrics

    “Merry Go Round” is not really about an amusement park.

    The carousel is a metaphor for a life that keeps repeating itself.

    The song describes growing older while still carrying the same worries, living through similar days and feeling unable to escape the ride.

    RM’s verse takes that exhaustion somewhere even darker.

    His bed becomes a coffin.

    His world is compared to caffeine.

    His thoughts repeat until he is effectively thinking about trying not to think.

    Put together, the images suggest a person who desperately needs rest but cannot truly escape the cycle — even when lying in bed.

    The place that should provide rest begins to feel like another place of confinement.

    Why Put RM Literally Above a Coffin?

    This is where the music video makes the lyric much harder to ignore.

    Instead of leaving “my bed is my coffin” as an abstract line, the video appears to give it a physical form.

    RM is separated from the others.

    The space around him feels enclosed and underground.

    The coffin is beneath him.

    That visual led fans on Reddit to focus on the scene immediately.

    Some interpreted it as the lowest point of the cycle represented by the merry-go-round: a place where exhaustion, isolation and endless thought have become almost suffocating.

    But that is a fan interpretation, not an official explanation from BTS.

    And an important detail comes next.

    RM does not remain there.

    RM Eventually Walks Back Toward the Members

    One of the most emotional transitions in the video comes when RM finally moves toward the other BTS members.

    That changes how the coffin scene can be read.

    If the isolated space represents being trapped alone inside your own thoughts, his movement toward the members offers a striking contrast.

    Isolation becomes reunion.

    One becomes seven.

    The person who appeared buried away from everyone else is no longer alone.

    Several fans on Reddit specifically mentioned becoming emotional when RM walked toward the other members.

    That may also connect to the larger visual language of “Merry Go Round.”

    Every member appears to be dealing with his own strange version of the same endless ride.

    Their circumstances are different.

    But eventually, they come together.

    “My Bed Is My Coffin” Is Bigger Than One Scene

    The coffin also fits the song’s central contradiction.

    A merry-go-round looks cheerful.

    It has lights, music and childhood memories attached to it.

    But you can ride it for hours and never actually go anywhere.

    A bed should mean rest.

    But RM calls his bed a coffin.

    Something comforting becomes something frightening.

    That contrast appears throughout the song.

    The melody can sound dreamy while the lyrics describe pain, exhaustion and an inability to escape.

    Even the official lyrics ask whether someone going around and around is actually happy.

    That is why the coffin may be one of the most important images in the entire video.

    It turns the emotional exhaustion of the song into something we can physically see.

    But There Is One Detail That Changes Everything

    RM is not left beside the coffin when the video ends.

    He finds the others.

    And that makes the scene feel very different from a simple image of despair.

    The merry-go-round may still be spinning.

    The problems may not magically disappear.

    But RM is no longer facing them alone.

    For a BTS music video that brings back the words “You Never Walk Alone,” that may be the detail worth remembering most.

    RM’s coffin imagery is one of the most haunting moments in “Merry Go Round,” but it is not the only symbol worth examining. The carousel itself carries a message that may offer another way to interpret the music video. Explore why BTS’s “Merry Go Round” carousel says “You Never Walk Alone” and how that message connects to the group’s larger visual storytelling.

  • Why Does BTS Keep Bringing Back the Same Carousel? From ‘Spring Day’ to ‘Merry Go Round’

    If the carousel in BTS’s “Merry Go Round” music video looked familiar, there is a good reason.

    ARMY has seen it before.

    Not once, but across three very different moments in BTS history:

    “Spring Day” in 2017.
    “Yet To Come” in 2022.
    And now “Merry Go Round” in 2026.

    Nine years have passed since the carousel first became one of BTS’s most memorable visual symbols.

    So why does BTS keep bringing it back?

    It Started With “Spring Day”

    In the 2017 “Spring Day” music video, Jungkook appears near an old amusement park ride carrying the words:

    “You Never Walk Alone.”

    The image feels lonely.

    An amusement ride normally represents childhood, laughter and excitement. But here, the ride is empty and abandoned.

    That contrast fits “Spring Day” perfectly.

    The song is filled with longing for someone who is no longer beside you, while still holding onto the hope that winter will eventually end and spring will return.

    The carousel therefore became more than background scenery.

    For many fans, it became part of the visual language of the entire You Never Walk Alone era.

    Then It Returned in “Yet To Come”

    Five years later, BTS brought the carousel back.

    The “Yet To Come” music video was filled with visual references to the group’s past, and the abandoned “You Never Walk Alone” carousel appeared again.

    That made sense.

    “Yet To Come” was a song about looking backward without believing that the story was finished.

    BTS had already experienced enormous success, but the song insisted that their “best moment” was still ahead.

    The carousel now carried another layer of meaning.

    It was no longer simply an image of youth and longing.

    It had become a piece of BTS history.

    And Now the Carousel Is Moving Again

    That is what makes “Merry Go Round” so interesting.

    The carousel is no longer just something the members stand beside.

    It becomes central to the entire music video.

    The members appear separated, moving through strange spaces and dealing with their own struggles before eventually coming together.

    Then the final reveal changes everything.

    The structure containing them is itself a giant carousel, endlessly moving across the sea.

    The metaphor matches the song directly.

    Life keeps spinning.

    We grow older, but some worries remain.

    We work, struggle, smile as if everything is fine and repeat the same routines again tomorrow.

    This time, BTS is not simply looking at the carousel.

    They are inside it.

    Reddit Fans Noticed the Connection Immediately

    ARMY discussions on Reddit quickly connected “Merry Go Round” with both “Spring Day” and “Yet To Come.”

    One recurring idea is particularly interesting:

    BTS rarely brings back such a recognizable image without giving it a new meaning.

    In “Spring Day,” the carousel was associated with youth, absence and waiting.

    In “Yet To Come,” it became a bridge to BTS’s past.

    In “Merry Go Round,” the members seem trapped inside the cycle itself.

    That interpretation has not been officially confirmed by BTS, so it remains a fan reading.

    But the visual progression is difficult to ignore.

    The Same Carousel, But BTS Is No Longer the Same

    Perhaps that is why the carousel works so well as a recurring BTS symbol.

    A carousel always returns to where it started.

    But the person riding it is never exactly the same.

    In 2017, BTS were young men singing about separation and waiting for spring.

    In 2022, they looked back at everything they had achieved while wondering what would come next.

    In 2026, they returned as older artists confronting another question:

    What happens when life keeps moving, but sometimes feels like it is taking you in circles?

    The carousel has returned again.

    But nine years later, BTS — and ARMY — are looking at it with different eyes.

    Maybe that is the point.

    The ride can bring you back to the same place.
    But that does not mean you are the same person who started the journey.

    The carousel is more than a recurring visual motif in BTS’s music. It also connects to the group’s message of companionship and emotional support. For another perspective, explore why the carousel in BTS’s “Merry Go Round” says “You Never Walk Alone” and what those words may mean.

  • BTS ‘Merry Go Round’: Why Does the Carousel Say ‘You Never Walk Alone’?

    BTS finally released the “Merry Go Round” music video on YouTube on September 25, 2026, months after the video first appeared as a Spotify Premium exclusive.

    But for longtime ARMY, the biggest question may not be why it took so long to reach YouTube.

    It is this:

    Why does the carousel in “Merry Go Round” say “You Never Walk Alone”?

    That phrase is anything but random in BTS history.

    The Carousel Looks Very Familiar

    The “Merry Go Round” video is filled with images of repetition, isolation and emotional exhaustion.

    The members appear trapped inside routines that keep circling back on themselves. That fits the song itself: growing older without necessarily escaping the same worries, questions and pressures.

    Then there is the carousel.

    Fans quickly noticed the words “You Never Walk Alone” written across it.

    For ARMY, that immediately brings back memories of BTS’s 2017 album You Never Walk Alone and, especially, the era surrounding “Spring Day.”

    A Reddit discussion about the video pointed out something even more interesting: the carousel imagery did not disappear after that era.

    It later resurfaced in “Yet To Come.”

    And now it is back again in “Merry Go Round.”

    That makes it difficult for many fans to see the carousel as just a beautiful piece of set design.

    Is BTS Connecting Three Different Eras?

    There is no official explanation confirming that “Merry Go Round” is a direct sequel to “Spring Day” or “Yet To Come.”

    That distinction matters.

    But the visual connection is hard to ignore.

    You Never Walk Alone was deeply associated with youth, friendship, loss and continuing forward through uncertain times.

    “Yet To Come” looked backward at BTS’s past while also promising that their best moment was still ahead.

    “Merry Go Round,” however, feels different.

    Instead of simply moving forward, the song asks what happens when life feels like it is moving in circles.

    You grow older.

    Your surroundings change.

    Years pass.

    But some worries remain.

    That is exactly why bringing back the carousel now feels so powerful.

    Reddit Fans Are Looking for the Meaning

    When the video originally appeared on Spotify in June, fans were already trying to decode its symbolism.

    One Reddit discussion interpreted the video as showing people trapped in an endless emotional cycle while pretending to others that everything is fine.

    Another focused specifically on the returning carousel and argued that BTS rarely brings back such recognizable imagery without a reason.

    Now that the video is freely available on YouTube, many more viewers can finally examine those details for themselves.

    And perhaps that is the most interesting part of “Merry Go Round.”

    The carousel keeps turning.

    BTS has changed.

    ARMY has changed.

    More than a decade has passed since the group’s early years.

    Yet the words remain:

    You Never Walk Alone.

    Maybe the message is not that life eventually stops going in circles.

    Maybe it is that even when it does, you do not have to ride alone.

    The message “You Never Walk Alone” also echoes the emotional connection BTS has built with listeners through earlier songs. One of the clearest examples is “Spring Day,” whose enduring popularity has earned it a remarkable nickname. Read why BTS’s “Spring Day” is called the Zombie Queen to explore why the song continues to resonate with fans years after its release.