BTS released the music video for Merry Go Round from their fifth full-length album ARIRANG, on June 19, 2026. According to BTS and the official description, the song reflects on repetitive cycles in life and draws inspiration from the members’ experiences during their military service. The black-and-white music video follows the members as they move through separate rooms inside a carousel, before eventually reuniting.
Near the end, the setting is revealed to be a giant carousel floating in the outer space, tying directly into the song’s central metaphor. The video has sparked extensive discussion among fans, many of whom have connected its imagery to BTS’ earlier works, including Spring Day, Film Out, Fake Love, Blood Sweat & Tears, Wings, the The Most Beautiful Moment in Life storyline and more.
7 symbolic details in BTS’ Merry Go Round MV – From horses and hallways to shadows and storms
Beyond the most obvious references, viewers have highlighted several symbolic details throughout the video. Many interpretations connect the story to military service, while others focus on themes of memory, emotional burdens, reunion, and BTS’ long-running narrative universe.
Fans have also pointed out recurring motifs such as doors, labyrinth-like hallways, newspapers, horses and the Big Dipper constellation. Some even noticed visual parallels to Film Out, while others linked specific scenes to Spring Day and HYYH.
Here are seven of the details from the music video that you might have missed:
1) RM’s bed resembles a coffin and reflects isolation
One of the scenes from music video where RM was delivering his rap lines “My bed is my coffin”, featured the rapper standing near a bed that many viewers described as coffin-like. Several viewers suggested that the bed symbolizes emotional exhaustion and the feeling of lying awake while repetitive thoughts continue to circle endlessly.
Others also viewed it as the temporary disappearance of RM the artist during military service before his eventual return. Fans also connected this imagery to his own comments about struggling with insomnia during military service.
When at the final scene the carousel was shown in the outer space, there was only one room that remained brightly lit, which some interpreted as representing sleepless nights and constant overthinking. While the other members occupied darker environments, RM appeared trapped in a cycle of sleeplessness.
2) SUGA’s newspaper storm may symbolize pressure and intrusive thoughts
SUGA’s room in the music video contained one of the video’s most chaotic sequences. Papers swirl violently through the air in his room as dark clouds gathered on the ceiling, thunder and lightning struck around him.
Some viewers linked the imagery in the scene to the wide media attention and criticism SUGA received after his electric scooter incident near his residence in August of 2024. Many fans interpreted the swirling newspaper clippings as a metaphor for heavy media coverage and scrutiny. The lightning flashes have additionally been viewed as resembling camera flashes, reinforcing theories about public pressure and distorted perceptions of identity.
The scene was also been compared to themes explored in his solo track Amygdala, which dealt with themes of trauma, anxiety and mental health. The storm imagery created the feeling of thoughts spiraling out of control, while the black cloud overhead suggested emotional burdens that remain impossible to escape. Together, these elements create an atmosphere of mental overload and emotional turbulence.
3) The black substance following Jin could represent emotional burdens
Scince the beginning of BTS’s Merry Go Round music video, a mysterious black liquid-like substance appears throughout Jin’s scenes and later reappears above SUGA. Rather than interpreting it as a physical or external threat, many viewers believe it symbolizes fears, loneliness, uncertainty, grief, guilt, or personal anxieties.
Some have compared it to the Jungian concept of the “shadow,” which represents the hidden emotions people carry within themselves. The substance follows Jin through hallways and corridors but disappears once he reaches the other members. This has led some fans to interpret the moment as a visual representation of finding comfort and healing through reunion.
4) The carousel’s representation of life’s endless cycles and it’s connection with the Big Dipper
The carousel in the Merry Go Round music video, serves as the video’s most important symbol. Many fans and BTS members alike have likened the carousel to the repetitive routines of military service and the recurring cycles of adulthood, work, and personal challenges. This theme is reinforced by SUGA’s lyric, “A carousel in the same daily routine/It’s just like a hamster on a wheel.”
However, another interpretation emerged by the video’s conclusion. After spending most of the music video isolated in separate rooms, rather than escaping the carousel, the members eventually reunited within it. For some fans, the message suggested that the cycle continued, but the members chose to move forward together rather than escape it.
The appearance of the Big Dipper constellation further reinforces this interpretation as per fans. The constellation holds special significance for BTS and has appeared in various forms throughout their history.
Some fans viewed its inclusion as a symbol of the group’s complete reunion after military service. The final image suggests that the carousel continues moving which means the cycle remains unbroken. Yet now the members are no longer facing it alone.
5) j-hope’s horses may symbolize freedom that remains out of reach
Like the carousel, horses appear throughout the music video. Traditionally, horses symbolize freedom, movement, strength, and independence. Many viewers also linked them to 2026, the Year of the Horse in the Chinese zodiac, which also brings BTS’s reunion and comeback as a group.
j-hope’s room in the music video also contains several horse images. However, in his room the horses on the wall only create the illusion of movement because they never actually go anywhere. Many viewers interpreted the horses as representing freedom that remained just beyond reach. They appeared free but remained trapped within the same cycle.
A separate theory linked the horses to Jin. As the first member discharged from military service, he represented freedom from the perspective of members still serving.
A scene showed Jin ans Jimin standing on two sides of a screen with horse’s image. Some viewers suggested that Jimin’s looking at the horse symbolized looking toward the member who had already crossed that barrier and was waiting for everyone else to return.
6) The doors may connect directly to Film Out and BTS’ larger storyline
Doors appeared repeatedly throughout the Merry Go Round music video. Many fans drew parallels to BTS’s 2021 Film Out music video, where the members passed through different doors while a house gradually destructed over time.
Some theories suggested that Film Out, which was released before the member’s military enlistment, was designed around the idea of the members eventually entering military service and later finding their way back to one another. In Merry Go Round, released after their discharge from the service, the members, passed through doors before gathering together.
Several viewers also interpreted the doors as representing memories, timelines, eras, major life transitions or beginning of a new chapter. The motif appeared in several earlier BTS projects such as The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Wings, Love Yourself, Map of the Soul and Proof.
7) Jimin’s carousel scene echoes Spring Day and the fear of losing memories
Jimin’s scenes have drawn comparisons to the carousel featured in Spring Day and its You Never Walk Alone era imagery. While the carousel in the 2017 music video was often associated with waiting, loss, and longing, Merry Go Round appears to revisit the symbol through the lens of separation and reunion.
In the new music video, Jimin was seen following a miniature version of the carousel. Some viewers interpreted Jimin’s pursuit of the carousel as a reflection of longing for the moments BTS once shared together. Amid the isolation and routine of military service, the scene appeared to evoke memories of youth, friendship, freedom, music and togetherness the group shared.
BTS’s Merry Go Round music video is now streaming exclusively via Spotify’s K-Pop ON! Hub.
Edited by Adrija Chakraborty
