The internet has exploded in the last 24 hours with news that BTS will be taking a hiatus in order to pursue solo projects. It has ARMY members wondering...has the K-pop band broken up? Not exactly, say representatives of the group.
It all started when the group released footage from their annual Festa event. In the video, band member Suga said in Korean around the 21-minute mark, “We’re going into a hiatus now.” He continued, “We have to talk about the direction we’re taking.”
Fellow BTS member RM elaborated, “We did ‘Dynamite,’ ‘Butter,’ ‘Permission to Dance,’ ‘Life Goes On,’ and I realized the group has definitely changed. We have to accept that we’ve changed. For me, it was like the group BTS was within my grasp until ‘On’ and ‘Dynamite,’ but after ‘Butter’ and ‘Permission to Dance,’ I didn’t know what kind of group we were anymore.”
RM added: "I always thought that BTS was different from other groups, but the problem with K-pop and the whole idol system is that they don't give you time to mature."
A representative for Hybe, the entertainment company that represents the band, issued a statement on the status of the group. "To be clear, they are not on hiatus but will take time to explore some solo projects at this time and remain active in various different formats," they said.
Additionally, in the Festa video, Jungkook promised, “We’re each going to take some time to have fun and experience lots of things. We promise we will return someday even more mature than we are now.”
It seems like the band has not broken up, and while their hiatus will be a proper break with no official end date in sight, it won't be a huge indefinite hiatus seen by the likes of BROCKHAMPTON or ABBA. This may be the biggest hiatus BTS has taken, but it isn't the first.
Back in 2019, the group took a month-long break from the spotlight that a representative said at the time was an “opportunity for the members of BTS, who have relentlessly driven themselves towards their goal since their debut, to recharge and prepare to present themselves anew as musicians and creators.” Then in December 2021, Big Hit Music announced BTS were taking an “official extended period of rest.” The band returned a few months later to perform at the 2022 Grammy Awards.
ARMY, of course, has been on the top of each member's mind. Jimin said, “We can’t help but think of our fans no matter what — we want to be the kind of artists that are remembered by our fans. I think now we’re starting to think about what kind of artists we each want to be remembered by our fans. I think that’s why we’re going through a rough patch right now, we’re trying to find our identity and that’s an exhausting and long process. Our fans know us and we know us.”
J-Hope even gave ARMY clarity that this definitely does not spell the end for the group, also revealing he’s already begun work on his solo material. “I think that change is what we need right now,” he said. “It’s important for BTS to start our second chapter.”
BTS officially debuted in 2013. The band's members – Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook – are now nearly 30, having spent several years together reaching global success and becoming one of the world's most well-known music groups. They recently dropped an anthology album called Proof and visited the White House to discuss the issue of anti-Asian hate crimes and discrimination with President Biden.
Watch BTS' Festa video below.
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Article Image: The members of BTS on the red carpet of the 2017 American Music Awards. (Jean_Nelson via DepositPhotos.)
