Beloved K-Pop band BTS have announced they’re taking an indefinite hiatus to work on solo projects.
The group announced their decision in a pre-taped special that was shared as part of FESTA, an annual celebration tied to the anniversary of the group’s debut.
The gang gathered in the home they first lived in as a band and all seven members, Jin, Jimin, RM, J-Hope, Suga, V, and Jungkook, reminisced about the past while discussing their plans for the future.
Suga said: “We’re going into a hiatus now. Should we talk about why we’re not doing the FESTA or making content?”
A spokesperson for the band later told Rolling Stone, “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.”
RM also discussed how much he’s enjoyed being in BTS and how he was proud of their work together, however he admitted that “the group has definitely changed,” and he “didn’t know what kind of group we were anymore.”
He added, “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. I don’t know what kind of story I should tell now.”
RM went on to discuss the problems with K-Pop as a whole and “the whole idol system,” saying the ongoing pressure to make music doesn’t give artists “time to mature… there’s no time left for growth.”
He later added, “Right now, we’ve lost our direction, and I just want to take some time to think.”
Jimin admitted the group has been going through a “rough patch” as it tries to “find our identity, and that’s an exhausting and long process.” Suga backed his mate up, saying, “The hardest thing is writing lyrics… 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.”
The announcement comes just days after the group released their latest project, the “anthology album” Proof.
