The seven-piece Korean boy band BTS made a surprising announcement on Tuesday when they told fans that the band would “pause” indefinitely, allowing each member to pursue solo projects.
The announcement was made during a recorded one-hour FESTA dinner to celebrate BTS’s ninth anniversary since their debut.
The members, RM, Jin, SUGA, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook, were recorded eating and drinking in a casual setting, while openly discussing the band’s journey, success and rise to unprecedented international fame. .
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About 20 minutes after dinner, Suga, 29, broke the news.
“We’re going on a break now,” he said, according to a Billboard translation.
The group’s leader, RM, 27, then explained the decision, adding that he was grateful for the formation of BTS.
“It made me think I’m happy to just be together,” RM said in Korean. “I started with music and became BTS because I had a message for the world.”
After the members revealed the hiatus, a spokesperson later clarified to Billboard that BTS (aka Bangtan Boys) is not on hiatus.
“To be clear, they’re not on a hiatus, but will be taking the time right now to explore some solo projects and stay active in a variety of formats,” the statement told Billboard.
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In the BTS FESTA video, RM discussed how COVID-19 affected the band, who released several new singles during the pandemic, including Dynamite† Butter† Permission to dance and life goes onall of which topped the Billboard charts.
It was during the pandemic that RM said he realized “the group has definitely changed”.
“I didn’t remember what kind of group we were,” said RM.
He went on to discuss the K-pop industry as a whole, saying the industry didn’t give artists “time to mature”.
“You have to keep making music and keep doing something,” he explained.
“Somehow it has become my job to be a rap machine and recreate music and speak in English for the group,” RM continued. When interviewed abroad, RM normally acted as the group’s spokesperson, conversing in English.
He added that while he and the other members are still looking forward to dancing and rehearsing as a group, they are all “exhausted.”
RM promised the band would reunite, claiming, “Right now we’re out of our way and I just want to take some time to think.”
BTS thanked their fans, who are called ARMY, for their support over the years.
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“We can’t help but think about our fans, no matter what — we want to be the kind of artists that are remembered by our fans,” Jimin, 26, said in Korean.
“I think that’s why we’re going through a difficult period right now. We are trying to find our identity and that is a tiring and long process,” he said. “Our fans know us and we know us.”
“It’s important for BTS to start our second chapter,” added J-Hope, 28.
On social media, ARMY and BTS supporters celebrated and lamented the news.
Further details about future BTS collaborations or the solo projects were not disclosed on Tuesday.
Last week the band released a retrospective compilation of three discs called Proof.
On May 31, BTS visited the White House to meet with President Joe Biden to discuss Asian inclusion and representation and address anti-Asian hate crimes and misinformation.
Members of South Korean pop group BTS of Bantam Boys, (L to R) V (Kim Taehyung), JK (Jeon Jungkook), Jimin (Park Ji-min), RM Rap Monster (Kim Namjoon), Jin (Kim Seok- jin), J-Hope (Jung Ho-seok), and Suga (Min Yoongi) speak at the daily press conference at the White House on Tuesday, May 31, 2022, in Washington, DC. BTS met US President Joe Biden to discuss Asian inclusion and representation, and to discuss the recent rise in anti-Asian hate crimes.
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