Music reviews: BTS, Luke Combs, and Grace Ives

‘Arirang’ by BTS

★★★

“Comebacks don’t get bigger than this one,” said Rob Sheffield in Rolling Stone. The world’s biggest band, after a hiatus during which all seven members fulfilled their mandatory South Korean military service obligation, has returned “stronger than ever” with the group’s first album since 2020. The record’s first half is “one up-tempo stomp after another, loaded with hip-hop braggadocio,” while the second half “stretches out in more interesting directions.” And though the lyrics mix Korean and English...