Yesterday morning, global social media was left stunned when BTS was officially announced as one of the three headlining performers for the halftime show of the FIFA World Cup 2026 final. However, less than 24 hours later, the internet was ѕнσ¢кed once again when one of the artists with the most Billboard Hot 100 No.1 songs in history — Drake — υиєχρє¢тє∂ly mentioned BTS directly in a rap line from his ninth studio album, ICEMAN.
The lyric, “I’m feeling like BTS ‘cause it took the whole career for me to be so discovered,” from his latest track Make Them Cry spread across social media platforms at lightning speed!
ARMYs’ first reactions ranged from complete ѕнσ¢к to overwhelming excitement, with comments like: “Did he just say BTS?”, “Drake is rapping about BTS in his new song?”, “Not someone else but BTS, and that came out of Drake’s mouth?”, “Waking up and seeing Drake mention BTS,” and “I’m not hearing things, right? He said BTS so clearly",...
But it seems that after the fans, even the main subjects of Drake’s rap line — the BTS members themselves — were just as ѕнσ¢кed!
Recently, V uploaded a short video on Instagram showing him and j-hope listening to Drake’s new track “Make Them Cry.” In the clip, the two were completely vibing with the rap song, enjoying the music with effortlessly cool energy. However, the moment the lyric mentioning BTS played, both V and j-hope suddenly stopped and reacted with expressions that basically screamed, “Huh?” and “Really?” in a hilariously confused way.
V also added a caption consisting of nothing but a single “?” as if to emphasize just how surprised he was. Not long after, Jimin reposted V’s video and added multiple question marks of his own, showing that the BTS members had absolutely no idea Drake would mention the group in his new song and were just as confused as the fans. More than anything, though, fans could also tell how genuinely excited they were about suddenly being name-dropped by Drake.
The BTS members’ reactions also made fans laugh because it perfectly mirrored the internet’s mood earlier that morning when the lyric was first revealed. ARMYs flooded social media with comments reacting to the υиєχρє¢тє∂ crossover moment: "They act like they didn't know, it finishes me. But actually it's their reaction for the first time hearing that", "The 10 minutes when everybody on tl was confused if it's a diss or shout out", "Me when I hear someone say BTS on the street", "They're the funniest person alive", "Not them going "what did I just hear"", "They cannot believe their ears. Drake you will be dealt with",...
Meanwhile, as the lyric began circulating online, some people initially debated whether Drake was shading or dissing the group. However, many official music accounts and major ARMY fanbases quickly clarified the context, explaining that Drake was actually relating to BTS’s journey and acknowledging the кσяєαn superstars’ incredible rise into a global phenomenon despite coming from a small company with very little power in South кσяєα’s entertainment industry.
At the same time, many rap fans pointed out that this kind of wordplay is extremely common in hip-hop. Drake was believed to be rhyming “career” with “кσяєα,” similar to what Nicki Minaj previously did in the song IDOL. Before Drake, rappers such as J. Cole, Doechii, and Wale had also mentioned BTS in similar ways to express admiration for the group’s global influence.
On the other hand, BTS and Drake have a long history of showing mutual respect and admiration for one another. RM once revealed that Drake was one of the artists who helped him discover his singing abilities back in 2009 and heavily influenced his later musical direction. At the Billboard Music Awards 2019, Drake praised BTS by saying, “You guys are the most famous people in North America right now.” and even promised to personally host the group when they returned to ¢αиα∂α.
In a 2019 interview with iHeartRadio, BTS also named Drake first when asked which artist they most wanted to collaborate with. Meanwhile, Drake even included a video of j-hope doing the “In My Feelings” dance challenge in the song’s official music video.
Now, with Drake υиєχρє¢тє∂ly mentioning BTS, the BTS members responding with adorable reactions of their own, and even tagging Champagne Papi’s producer account, fans can practically already see a very promising future collaboration between the two global artists!
