BUSAN, South Korea — Some 55,000 fans packed into Asiad Stadium in this southeastern port city on Saturday (Oct. 15), creating havoc in South Korea’s second most-populated city, to watch BTS‘ massive free “Yet to Come” concert. That number included thousands of the superstar K-pop group’s loyal fans, known as the ARMY, who couldn’t get their hands on highly coveted free tickets to the 90-minute event.

BTS’ Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook partnered with Weverse to livestream the festival-style show. During packed concert, the boy band delivered 20 songs, including popular tracks “Dynamite,” “Fire,” “Spring Day,” “Save ME” and “Yet to Come.”

At the height of all developments surrounding BTS is Jin, 29, the group’s eldest member who is expected to join the military service by the end of the year if no sudden amendments are made to the country’s compulsory draft legislation. In the midst of the political drama — and an announcement over the summer that the group would be taking a hiatus to pursue solo projects — BTS has taken on the role of ambassador to the World Expo 2030, which Busan is hoping to host.

“This is three years worth of roaring and cheering for us. It’s been three years since we could scream at the top of our lungs for the boys,” Elle Kwak, who attended the show with two friends, told Billboard. “The concerts in Seoul earlier this year were quite underwhelming, as it was tortuous to not be able to clap or make noise for the members on stage. We could see it was hard on the members as well.”

The three Permission to Dance on Stage – Seoul concerts, which took place in March, strictly prohibited any loud noise and clapping from the audience due to COVID-19 restrictions at the time.

Like many other fans who were also sitting on the ground or setting up base near the entrance gates, Kwak and her friends watched the show from their smartphones outside of the stadium, as they weren’t one of the lucky fans to grab a hold of a golden ticket. Instead, they came with blankets, warm coats and mufflers to withstand the chilly weather.

For fan Ash Hackworth, the concert reminded her of the time that BTS headlined London’s Wembley Stadium.

“Just like in 2019, this is a festival of the world coming together,” said the 32-year-old, who is from Los Angeles. “The excitement is what brought me here, and it’s what will keep me dancing even from outside the stadium. It’s also special that this will be the last time to hear some songs being performed for the last time as RM mentioned in a live stream a couple of days ago.”

Regardless of the air of uncertainty surrounding the group’s future, Hackworth remains optimistic.

“I’m looking forward to the second stage of the group,” she said. “J-Hope’s solo rock album was awesome, so I can’t wait to hear all the other members’ solo projects.”

In a surprise announcement near the end of the event, Jin revealed that he would become the second member to release a solo project.

“I got the opportunity to work with someone I like, so a single will come out soon,” the singer said to screaming fans.

But others have expressed that they want more from BTS and, consequently, HYBE, the parent company of Big Hit Music, BTS’ label.

“What we really want is a world tour,” Kwak and her friends said. “It was the pandemic and then politics that got in the way of BTS touring the world. But we are always ready to follow them around the world if there ever is a plan to do that.”

And while the <Yet to Come> concert provides a long-awaited reconnection with the group, sentiments towards BTS being “used” remain on the minds of many fans.

“Almost every ARMY knows that even this concert is a way to use the members for a political cause,” Kwak said. “But the fans are staying calm and making sure there aren’t any troubles with the concert as we don’t want the members to face any more criticism, regardless of how bad Busan is managing all its guests and the venue sites.”

When it was originally announced in the summer that the concert would take place at Busan’s Ilgwang special stage, ARMY members were vocal in opposing the move after visiting the site and estimating the safety risks of holding a mega-event at such a crowded area of the city. After receiving many more complaints, local officials decided to change the venue to Asiad Stadium.

On Saturday, there was about a three-hour delay for thousands of fans entering the stadium due to a mix-up of tickets.

But at the end of the day, there were more tears of happiness than of sadness. In the series of closing remarks by all seven members, BTS showed a will to continue group activities well into the later years of their careers.

“I think we’re in a phase where we need your trust,” said J-Hope, who was first to open up about the future of the group during remarks.

“Although it’s so sad that the concert is ending already, it’s not like we only have today. We will continue for 30 years … and even perform when we are 70 years old”, Jimin said with a laugh.

For Asaka Inoue and her mother, this last part of the concert was what gave their trip from Tokyo a happy ending.

“I was a bit afraid that there would be a sad announcement during the concert, but I was relieved to hear how the members said they were committed to continue staying as a group,” said the 26-year-old, who took days off from work to travel to Busan for four days with her mother.

RM capped the night off with what every ARMY was hoping to hear from their “idols” all night long. “All seven members have the same thoughts right now. We will continue to make and perform music if you give us your trust, like Jimin said,” RM said.

Busan is one of four cities in the running to host the World Expo, a world’s fair proposed to take place in 2030. Other cities being considered are Rome; Odesa, Ukraine; and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Bureau International des Expositions will vote on the winning host country next year.

In July, BTS were appointed honorary ambassadors for Busan’s World Expo 2030 bid. The band was chosen “because they understand the importance of the World Expo and share the same values,” according to a statement from BTS’ record label Big Hit.

Wonho is putting his all into his latest single.

The K-pop superstar returned with an emotional new single “Don’t Regret” on Friday (Oct. 14). Exploring a rock sound for the first time in his solo career, the track sees Wonho encouraging listeners not to regret memories from the past, but instead recognize that they have created the current moment. Told through a love story, “Don’t Regret” was co-written and co-produced by Wonho alongside his longtime collaborator Brother Su who has worked on singles with the likes of BTS, BLACKPINK, Monsta X and more.

“Don’t Regret” is accompanied by a music video that sees Wonho forgoing the intense choreography and showmanship he’s known for in his visuals and instead stripping down to simple clothing and scenery to tell his story. At one point, Wonho goes full-on rock star as he performs alongside a band in front of a burning building.

Alongside “Don’t Regret,” Wonho released the new song “On & On” that features rising Korean rapper YUNHWAY. The dance-focused cut has a hint of melancholy that blends well with YUNHWAY’s smoky and airy delivery. The new songs follow Wonho’s summer single “Don’t Hesitate” from August.

Watch “Don’t Regret” below:

Organizers and artists performing at KAMP LA 2022 predicted it would be “the biggest K-pop event in U.S. history” — but the two-day festival set for Los Angeles’ Rose Bowl this weekend is quickly seeing its plans shift for the worse.

Over the last 24 hours, online chatter has intensified that most of the scheduled artists on the KAMP lineup were not photographed departing South Korea from any of its international airports. Adding to the fuel were social media posts from KAMP artists like BamBam and Jeon Somi, both of whom hinted at delays in their travel plans to the U.S.

According to a source, an organizer with the festival shared internally on Friday (Oct. 14) that multiple artists were having visa issues and will be unable to perform at KAMP LA 2022 this weekend. In the same internal communication, the organizer said they plan to offer refunds.

Of the 15 artists scheduled to perform at KAMP LA, only boy band iKON and soloist Chung Ha have been photographed departing Korea from Seoul’s Incheon International Airport over the last 24 hours. Five members of the boy band Super Junior were also photographed leaving Incheon, but not the full band.

Meanwhile, fellow boy band P1Harmony appear to be in the States already, having shared a photograph from their visit to San Diego radio station Channel 93.3 on Friday morning. Three members of girl group aespa are also in the U.S., having attended NCT 127‘s concert at Newark’s Prudential Center on Thursday.

A representative for P1Harmony confirmed with Billboard that the band is planning to perform at KAMP, with rehearsals scheduled for Friday.

Billboard has reached out to KAMP for an official comment, as well as various reps for artists scheduled to perform.

KAMP LA was announced in August with a lineup also including Monsta X, Kai, Zion.T and girl group Lapillus. The mega-concert is a joint production from KAMP Global (the South Korea-based entertainment brand that aims to bring K-pop globally through festivals, live events, immersive experiences and artist representation) and partnership brand Eventim Live Asia.

The walls that separate genres are coming down, which is a good thing in many ways. But it complicates things for the screening committees that decide where records should compete in the annual Grammy Awards process.

Here are some albums that probably gave the screening committees pause – and where they are competing in the 65th annual Grammy Awards process.

Demi Lovato’s Holy F*ck, Avril Lavigne’s Love Sux and Tears for Fears’ The Tipping Point are all on the line between pop and rock; all are competing for best rock album. Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres and 5 Seconds of Summer’s 5SOS5 are also somewhere on that line; they are competing for best pop vocal album.

Florence + the Machine’s Dance Fever is vying for best alternative music album. Two previous albums by the English indie rock band – Ceremonials and How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful – were nominated for best pop vocal album.

Zach Bryan’s American Heartbreak topped Billboard’s folk, country and rock album charts — and reached No. 5 on the all-genre Billboard 200. At the Grammys, it’s competing for best country album.

Lizzo’s Special and Beyoncé’s Renaissance danced on the line between pop, dance and R&B. Special is competing for best pop vocal album. Renaissance is vying for best dance/electronic music album. Bey won best contemporary R&B album three times (for Dangerously in Love, B’Day and I Am…Sasha Fierce) and best urban contemporary album twice (for Lemonade and Everything Is Love, a collab with her husband Jay-Z as The Carters.

The line between R&B and progressive R&B is often blurry. The Grammys have classified Summer Walker’s Still Over It and Chris Brown’s Breezy as R&B, but have slotted Steve Lacy’s Gemini Rights and Brent Faiyaz’s Wasteland as progressive R&B.

Taylor Swift’s Red (Taylor’s Version) is vying for a nod as best country album. The original Red album was nominated in that category nine years ago but lost to Kacey Musgraves’ Same Trailer, Different Park. In terms of genre album awards, Swift has won best country album once (for Fearless) and best pop vocal album once (for 1989).

Jason Aldean is competing for best country album with Macon, Georgia, a combination of his two single-disc albums Macon (released on Nov. 12, 2021) and Georgia (released on April 22).

The Encanto soundtrack, which topped the Billboard 200 for nine weeks, is competing for best compilation soundtrack for visual media, not best pop vocal album.

The four Latin albums that made the top 10 on the Billboard 200 in the Grammy eligibility year (Oct. 1, 2021, through Sept. 30) are competing in three different categories. Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti and Daddy Yankee’s Legendaddy are vying for best música urbana album. Romeo Santos’ Formula Volume 3 is competing for best tropical Latin album. Eslabon Armando’s Nostalgia is vying for best regional Mexican music album (including Tejano).

Several stars didn’t submit their albums for Grammy consideration, for a broad range of reasons. Silk Sonic didn’t submit An Evening With Silk Sonic. They probably figured (correctly) that they were amply rewarded last year when they won four Grammys for “Leave the Door Open” and they would be better off letting other artists have some Grammy shine. No artist wants to run the risk of having people say, “Haven’t they won enough?”

Drake and The Weeknd didn’t submit Honestly, Nevermind and Dawn FM, respectively. They are probably still nursing past disappointments. Drake, one of the most successful musicians of the past 15 years (and, really, in recording history) has won just four Grammys. (As noted, Silk Sonic won that many earlier this year alone.) The Weeknd was inexplicably snubbed in the year that he released “Blinding Lights,” one of the biggest and most universally admired hits of recent years — though, for the record, has also collected four Grammys over the years.

Other albums that aren’t to be found on the entry list include Meek Mill’s Expensive Pain, Roddy Ricch’s Live Life Fast, Lil Durk’s 7220, Rod Wave’s Beautiful Mind and Tory Lanez’s Sorry 4 What.