Analytic Dreamz: Notorious Mass Effect - "BTS (방탄소년단) ‘MERRY GO ROUND’ OFFICIAL MV"

Episode Date: September 26, 2026

Linktree: ⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/Analytic⁠⁠Join The Normandy For Ad-Free NME, Additional Bonus Audio And Visual Content For All Things Nme+! Join Here:⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://ow.ly/msoH50WCu0K⁠⁠ In this segment of Notorious Mass Effect, Analytic Dreamz examines BTS’s official Merry Go Round music video, released September 25, 2026, after its June Spotify debut from the fifth studio album ARIRANG. The black-and-white visual uses carousel and spaceship imagery to match lyrics about burnout, responsibility, and a cycle that will not stop. Analytic Dreamz also details the ARIRANG world tour’s completed North American run: 31 sold-out shows in 12 cities, about 1.92 million attendees, and four Los Angeles dates drawing roughly 282,000 people. Coverage includes BTS ranking No. 1 in Q3 cumulative tour ticket sales for November 13, 2025–August 12, 2026, with reported revenue near $465.8 million.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/analytic-dreamz-notorious-mass-effect/exclusive-contentPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Shepard promise me you'll tell them to subscribe for free content. Ladies and gentlemen, it is time to get into objectively the biggest music group in the industry right now. As of course over here at notorious Mass Effect, getting into the gaming and music IPs that notoriously affect the masses. Safe to say we've been putting immense respect on BTS to the point where I will have to point out that a certain somebody, you know what I'm saying? I'm just saying a certain somebody came out and told y'all that BTS would have the biggest first week sales of the year of 2026. And ladies and gentlemen, seems like I was correct. They're crazy. Oh, come on, Driske.

They ain't got to do all that. But definitely make sure to rate this five stars as specifically. When you look at BTS's army ring, it came out the gate with 641,000 first week sales. And of course, some of the music connoisseurs out there were probably. probably say to themselves, well, you know, first week sales isn't everything. And some musicians would probably co-sign that. You ever realize that those musicians are basically struggling? I mean, you know, they're putting on for the family. But anyways, when it comes to first week sales specifically, a lot of artists try to say it doesn't matter. Oh, first week sales is not that important.

And then you come to realize, with BTSR ring having objectively speaking, the biggest first week sales of 2026. Ladies and gentlemen, we're not months into 2026. It seems like when you look at the analytics, you know, hence my name, the biggest debut on global Spotify charts in 2026 so far is the track swim, which is from, hold up now.

I know that ain't who I think it is. Not the album, Rory Ring. I know that ain't who I think. So when you look at the first week sales and then you look at the particular track swim, having objectively the biggest first week, the biggest global Spotify engagement, As far as 14.64 million, of course, the second closest is patient zero by Taylor Swift.

When you look at the actual numbers as far as comparing them throughout the year, because, you know, people who say first week sales isn't everything, it's a very distinct difference between acts who have a phenomenal first week sales and continue that momentum versus acts who do not have a high first week sales. Because you come to realize that with BTS specifically, they continue that momentum and to having some of the biggest impact in the music industry

as far as 149 songs overall having 100 million Spotify streams which is the first group slash Asian act to accomplish this right and then of course when you look at 9 billion streams in this year alone beating their 2021 record you come to realize that not only do they deserve

all the awards that they are about to get but when I reported them going against the Grammys back when I reported it. I reported this August 13th, I believe. No, no, no. I reported this July 30th, 2026, when I talked about BTS boycotting the Grammy Recording Academy. And, of course, the CEO had to respond

because the BTS is just not an artist, just not a group of musicians you want to ignore, right? Especially with their fan base that goes by the name of Army. But then they continued as far as Paul Star coming out and saying that BTS had the biggest show currently. As far as $465 million generated, 2.3 million tickets garnered and 38 shows in total. And they're still going, ladies and gentlemen.

And then that's not even it. Taylor Swift, who, of course I consistently call the biggest gangsteering in the music industry, typically leaves BTS, but as of right now, BTS ranks high amongst other stars in the music industry and specifically they sit near the top as far as live revenue

and K-pop cultural elements every single year but this particular year they have the biggest tour and of course revenue-wise I just laid it out but individually they went crazy as far as Junk Cook

Jay Hope V even to the point where a lot of artists like the Kill of Roy I think even Lotto tried to get a track or did get a track Title VII with one of the members, I think it was V. But basically, individually, they had

such a notorious mass effect that when they came together, I already knew that they was going to have one of the best first week sales in the music industry. And then guess what happened? So as far as continuing that, the reason why we're talking about them again today is because, ladies and gentlemen,

the music video for the track Merry Ground Out officially came out. And of course, that music video is currently the most watched video on YouTube. Granted, it did just come out, but when you look at BTS and how long the album came out, for it to garner this much attention for the music video is beyond impressive, as analytic dreams video on Spotify to see the video along with the audio. And as you can see right here, when you look at the actual numbers, of course, I'm not going to play the music video

for copyright reasons, but when you actually look at the music video, 3.9, basically 4 million views in one day. So the reason why this is so impactful as far as me, showcasing this is because this is just a minute detail and accomplishment as far as BTS's 2026 impact. Now, I have came out and said multiple times that I believe Ella Langley will probably end up being the MVP of the year of 26. But when you look at BTS specifically, you come to realize that not only are they culturally relevant from the own region, which, you know, a lot of the statistics specifically as far as the songs that's the top performing off of the album arring is swim and then of course you have multiple other tracks as far as merry go round i believe

i had the whole list i don't know what it went but um let me see yeah swim okay here we go followed up by body the body followed up by hooligan followed up by 2.0 followed up by fya and then followed but by normal. Those are the best performing tracks, objectively speaking, from the album, AriRang. Now, getting into my subjective take about BTS, I personally enjoyed the Pleas track. That's one of my favorite tracks of the year. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, as far as the music I cover, I listen to a good majority of it. And of course, I had a dime in the Ari Ring because I already enjoyed the member specifically. My favorite one, Pulse, is probably Junkukh from BTS but as far as collectively

I do like them as a whole I like them individually I like Jung Jay Hope I like V I like a lot of the artists off of BTS but anyways getting back into the album R-ring My favorite track I've said this multiple times is please my favorite track in the year

of 2026 they don't know about us I also like that particular track off of the album and of course body to body is pretty solid I mean production wise this album is top tier it definitely reminds me of Travis Scott's AstroWorld from a production standpoint as far as the uniqueness and how many layers each and every beat has on this particular album. There's no beat on this album that you can listen to and say to yourself, man, they really didn't put that much time into it, right? Every single beat off of this

album is phenomenal. So with that being said, getting into my consistent take on K-pop musicians having the best choreography in the music industry just consistently across the board. As far as the average, there's other genres. As far as choreography and then there's k-pop as far as choreography that the average actually is a little bit more discrepancy the average as far as k-pop musicians just having top-tier choreography whether it's jenny from black pink uh whether it's new jeans whether it's just black pink as a whole whether it's btas uh there's other groups uh whether it's straight kids i mean there's so many different k-pop musicians i could list out that have top-tier choreography that you just come to realize it's very much a priority

when choosing who's going to be the next star in K-pop land because they have to have certain things down as far as the package from a package standpoint. It reminds me of early 2000s R&B as far as you only getting the limelight if you had a certain image and you was able to accomplish certain things, aka Usher, being able to sing, dance and the ladies loving him, things of that nature. Like it has to be a whole package. So anyways, the reason why I say that is because. Because as far as the choreography in this particular music video, of course, I watched it.

And it's phenomenal. It definitely deserves the attention is getting that I think it was going to be number one on YouTube. Well, at the gate, of course. We'll have to see how long it stays in the top 10 or top five of the most watched videos on YouTube. Because, of course, Rosie, another K-pop artist we just covered, she has a particular track called New Trick. And that music video is still the 34th most played music video in the world. world. So, of course, when you're looking at a lot of these different musicians, you come to R-Sawa Dika, yeah, here we go. Okay, and then Lisa, another member from Black Pink, Sada Dika,

which is also one of my favorite K-pop tracks in the year of 2026. That's the 55th most watched video on the world. The reason why, I mean, on YouTube, the reason why I'm saying this is because I believe the effort in the choreography definitely does not go unnoticed from just a general fan because you can see the effort they put into the music video's time and time again, which is why when you look at the merry-go-round music video that just came out, you come to realize that this is part of, of course, the marketing strategy, but the black and white music video and the imagery and ultimately showcasing BTS members being abandoned on a spaceship.

I'm like, not only are they having top-tier choreography, but then they have the plot too? I mean, what can't they do? All right, my fault. My fault. So anyways, when it comes to the year of 2026, I'm not. I believe it is definitely Ella Langley and BTS. I wouldn't be mad at people saying BTS is the MVP of the year of 2026. I just look objectively at it and seeing that the engagement for Ella Langley is literally something we've never seen before.

Choosing Texas objectively is one of the most successful tracks of all time. Think of Old Town Road. Think of a bar song, Tipsy, and just times it by two or three. Because, you know, you only would be disrespect for those songs like accomplishments. But basically, choosing Texas is something we've never seen before. So I personally, from a superstar to superstar perspective in comparison, you know how you have to get into the minute details like in sports. But I'm like, well, this superstar doesn't have this. This superstar doesn't have that.

For Ella Langley and BTS, they do so many things at a high level that the difference between the two to me is Ella Langley just breaking all type of records as far as the all time records. because of course, BTS is breaking records, but Choosing Texas is objectively one of the most successful tracks of all time, which of course, because we cover the games and music IPs that notoriously affect the masses, I reiterate that just because you sell a lot, does not mean you make it

the highest quality of music and just because you don't sell. Does not mean you make just trash abysmal garbage. The two do not correlate, but when it comes to comparing superstars, I think it's the perfect lip-mits scale, especially in this discussion, when both artists as far as Ella Langley and

BTS are so magnificent in their own right as far as their particular genre. So getting back into BTS. The main thing when it comes to the World Tour is doing phenomenal right now. Of course, when it comes to the North American run, it consisted of 31 shows, 12 cities,

approximately 1.9 million attendees every show sold out. Every single one. The four Los Angeles concerts alone drew approximately 282,000 people. So ladies and gentlemen, when getting into BTS, obviously there's all type of objective analytics I can get into how they are just notoriously affecting the masses. But I definitely wanted to focus on the music video being out right now.

When you look at the imagery like I just got into specifically, when you look at the tour going on right now, and of course they just, they are slated, I believe. no no they just appeared at the i heart award show not war show but it was like some type of festival yeah the i heart radio music festival they show up uh there at what it showed up and showed out basically they had four songs as far as btas 2.0 no no they performed swim they performed 2.0 they perform mic drop fyaa and then of course it streamed on disney plus slash hulu and iHeart radio so when it comes to btsy they end up not only notoriously affecting the masses. Not only do they subjectively have one of my favorite albums of the year, but objectively,

I believe they're having such a notorious mass effect that when it comes to the Grammys and the BTF beef, which I've talked about a plethora of times, I believe there's a real discussion that needs to be had with the Recording Academy and the voters on why bigger acts keep excluding their music, whether it's the weekend, whether it's Morgan Wallen, whether it's Drake, whether it's BTS, there's a lot of top-tier acts with drawing their music or not even submitting their music and is taken away from the credence, the prestige of the Grammys, in my opinion. That would be like Ryan Coogler or Christopher Nolan not submitting for the Emmys, right?

You start to realize, like, hold up now, all of the top-tier artists, not like middle of the road, not like towards the top, the top-tier artist. Morgan Wallen is one of the biggest artists in the world with. I mean, I think it's, what's his best performing track? Right now when it comes to Morgan Wallen, his best performing track is the Ben by now track, which is literally the third most play track in the world. Of course, when you come to albums, Morgan Wallen has the fourth most play album in the world without the problem and then one thing at a time, which is the 12th most play album

in the world. So when I'm talking about these acts as far as Drake, as far as Morgan Wallin, as far as BTS, as far as the weekend, we're not talking about middle of the road or towards the top. We're talking about the top artists in the world with drawing the music or not even submitting. So I think that's a real discussion that needs to be had when it comes to the Grammys versus the biggest

music stars. So, what that means it? Ladies and gentlemen, let me know if you listen to the Merry Go Round music video. Make sure to click my link to you on my bio to follow me on my social media. And of course, if you're on Spotify, comment down below, what is your favorite track offer Arby Ring?

And also, will you be going to one of the dates as far as BTS This is R. R. R. Rang tour.