A parenthesis or a separation? saying to themselves “exhausted”the influential K-pop group BTS announced on Tuesday, June 14, a “pause”. The sudden announcement of this “pause” was launched at an internet-streamed dinner party to mark the band’s ninth anniversary. The latter has become so important on a global scale that he has already been invited twice to address the United Nations, in 2018 and 2021, about climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a very relaxed and informal style, the seven in jeans and T-shirts converse around a beautiful wooden table, with bottles of wine and beer, surrounded by purple and blue balloons.
One of them, RM, 27, explains with tears in his eyes and a lump in his throat that after several nominations for the Grammy Awards, the awards of the American music industry, they “no longer know which group they form” exactly, adding that some members are “exhausted”. “I always thought BTS was different from other groups (…) but the problem with K-pop and the whole ‘star system’ is that you don’t have time to mature”, continues the young man. But according to RM, the group “must constantly produce music and do something”. “In ten years, I have changed and I need to think and have time for myself”blows the artist.
One of his partners, Suga, announces that BTS “will now take a break”. Another, Jimin, 26, adds that the septet “trying little by little to understand” what happened to them and “to think about the memory that everyone wanted to leave to their fans”. Jimin also acknowledges that BTS “is going through a difficult patch, (that he) look for (his) identity, a long and exhausting process”. At the end of the dinner, the members of the group crush a few tears and express their gratitude to their fans, grouped under the banner “army”.
BTS, which released an anthology album on Monday (proof), had already announced “breaks” in 2019 and 2021. But this time, the group “needs change” and desire “start a new chapter”insists J-Hope, another member of the septet.