BTS completed their first concert night at Stanford Stadium, California (USA) on the 16th (local time). Immediately afterward, major media outlets across the region simultaneously published highly positive reviews. Inoue analyzed: "BTS in 2026 is completely different from the BTS that performed at the Oakland Arena in 2018. This tour placed more emphasis on individual members' live vocals and mature themes rather than strict choreography" and added praise: “For the BTS of today, there are still many new eras left ahead.”
Jim Harrington, a pop critic for the Mercury News, confidently declared it "the biggest pop culture event to unfold in the Bay Area this year." Kiren Kaur of RIFF Magazine, a music-specialized media outlet in the Bay Area, commented, "Returning to the Bay Area after eight years, BTS was bigger, more intense, and emotionally expanded than ever."
In addition, the dedication and love of ARMYs were also acknowledged: "Fans handed out homemade stickers, cards, and merchandise, and the lightsticks across the entire stadium glowed in synchronized colors." U.S. media widely agreed that the Stanford performance was not merely a K-pop concert, but a cultural moment that would be recorded in the history of αмєяι¢αn pop music.
Amid the global au∂ιєnce enjoying BTS’s vibrant musical celebration, an incident involving the track “Come Over” — a hidden track from the newly released ARIRANG album — briefly interrupted the emotional flow!
According to reports from the ARMY community on the 17th, a fake account brazenly uploaded the song to Spotify, while also registering copyright roles as main artist, producer, composer, and lyricist in an attempt to appropriate all revenue from the track. The account used BTS’s profile image, labeled itself as “BTS,” and uploaded two remix versions of the song—acapella and instrumental—of this currently trending track.
Not stopping there, the account was also seen sharing the track across other platforms such as YouTube, Apple Music, and Amazon, clearly indicating an intent to exploit royalty revenue. In addition, sonme other accounts exhibiting similar behavior have also been spotted on Spotify.
Upon discovering the issue, fans immediately called for coordinated reporting of the impersonating accounts and submitted complaints to BigHit/HYBE via complaints center: protect.hybecorp.com, as well as directly through Spotify, in order to resolve the situation promptly and protect SUGA’s authorship rights.
Several large fanbases also voiced strong outrage, with one account stating: “This is why an official streaming release matters. Arguments like ‘someone will upload it anyway’ may seem harmless, but it creates room for plagiarism and others to profit from artists’ work. BTS and Yoongi deserve proper credit for their artistry, not for their work to be reuploaded and monetized by others. Please help us report the audio and the fake profile using the link below.”
While the reporting campaign spread rapidly across social media, BTS also made a subtle “statement” regarding SUGA’s authorship during the Stanford concert. Specifically, after performing Come Over at the end of the second night, RM introduced the song by saying: “Alright that was ‘Come Over’ by little big boy SUGA,” triggering a mαѕѕive wave of cheers from more than 50,000 fans.
In fact, this has long been RM’s signature way of introducing the track at concerts, as a tribute to SUGA as the genius producer behind this hidden masterpiece. At the Tampa concert, he once introduced it as: “That was ‘Come Over’, 32 years old, young and rich, SUGA.” On another occasion, he said, “You already know the song. It’s ‘Come Over’ by SUGA,” while j-hope also chimed in with, “It’s SUGA’s ambitious masterpiece.”
However, in the context of the ongoing copyright controversy, RM’s remark was quickly circulated by fans as a powerful reaffirmation of SUGA’s absolute authorship of the song!
Meanwhile, ARMY also expressed frustration, arguing that Spotify has not been effectively controlling impersonation and unauthorized reuploads, thereby enabling profit-driven exploitation. The situation became even more sensitive as just a day earlier, Spotify faced backlash for incorrectly reporting achievement data between Drake and BTS, followed by an apology that many deemed superficial and unconvincing.
At present, the situation continues to be closely monitored by fans worldwide, with many sharing additional opinions: "We need to bring this situation to the attention of BIGHIT/HYBE so that they can take the necessary measures about the situation", "We condemn the illegal unauthorized use of “Come Over” without HYBE’s consent and urge immediate action regarding its unauthorized distribution and use", "Seems he/she uploaded to YT and Tindal too. The nerve of some!! Please report to Hybe", "Good lawd, they are unbelievably stupid", "It’s also on Apple & Amazon Music. So there is money involved", "Oh my, this is baaaaddd!!",...
