BTS isn’t breaking up, but they are going on a break.
The Korean pop band made a surprise announcement Tuesday that they’re going on an indefinite “hiatus” so that members Jin, Jimin, RM, J-Hope, Suga, V and Jungkook can work on their own solo projects.
“The group has definitely changed,” RM said at FESTA, an annual celebration of their debut, adding he “didn’t know what kind of group we were anymore.”
“Whenever I write lyrics and songs, it’s really important what kind of story and message I want to give out, but it was like that was gone now,” he said. “I don’t know what kind of story I should tell now.”
Jimin also admitted the group has been going through a “rough patch” while its members try to “find our identity.”
“The hardest thing is writing lyrics,” Suga said. “I have to talk about something that I really feel, but right now, I’m just squeezing it out because we have to satisfy people’s wants and the listeners. It’s so painful, but that’s just how this job goes.”
BTS’ label, however, denied that the group is taking a hiatus, saying instead that they simply “will be focusing more on solo projects at this time.”
The news comes just days after BTS released their three-disc anthology album “Proof,” which includes highlights of their discography, three new songs and several unreleased demos.
Since debuting in 2013, the band has released nine studio albums and sold more than 30 million copies. They’ve been nominated for best pop duo/group performance twice at the Grammys — for “Dynamite” in 2021 and “Butter” in 2022 — but lost both categories.
The group didn’t go into detail about their individual plans, but J-Hope is already set to headline Chicago's Lollapalooza this summer as a solo act.
“We’re each going to take some time to have fun and experience lots of things,” Jungkook said. “We promise we will return someday even more mature than we are now.”
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