BTS Announce Indefinite Hiatus

After dropping their ambitious anthology album Proof last week, pop superstars BTS have revealed that their next chapter will begin with an indefinite hiatus. The news comes a day after the South Korean septet celebrated their ninth official anniversary as a group on June 13th, 2022.

During the BTS ‘Festa Dinner’– a sit-down, non-scripted format where the band reflect on the past year, learnings and more– the members announced they will be taking time off as BTS to focus on individual projects and will be releasing solo albums as opposed to mixtapes. According to the group, rapper J-Hope will be the first member to release an official solo album, followed by rapper Suga, and then vocalist Jung Kook. J-Hope will also be the first member of BTS to appear solo at an international festival with his upcoming headlining set at Lollapalooza 2022.

“We’re each going to take some time to have fun and experience lots of things,” stated Jung Kook during the livestream about the hiatus. “We promise we will return someday, even more mature than we are now. So I just hope that you can give us your blessing.”

Solo activities, however, does not mean disbandment. BTS have plans to reunite and release music as a group in the near future and continue their hit variety series, RUN!BTS. Leader and rapper RM said, “What I do know for sure is that we’re BTS and we made it here thanks to you [ARMY]. We never know how long we’ll be together, but I do hope we last long. And even if we can’t perform as well as we did in the past, I always want to be RM of BTS.” All seven members shared what being in BTS means to them during the emotional, tearful livestream and promised that there are lots of things for their fandom to look forward to over the next few months.

During the pre-recorded event, the group discussed various other topics including their living arrangements. BTS all opted to live separately a while ago, but according to the members, the distance only brought them closer. They shared various memories of their time in the current dormitory–including shooting the music video for their 2020 single “Life Goes On”– as their lease on the apartment finally ends this year.

The septet also looked back at their evolution as musicians and shared plans for how they want to grow further as artists. “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,” vocalist Jimin said. “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.”

Meanwhile, the group’s fandom ARMY reacted to the announcement on social media by trending #ThankYouBTS and #DearBTS to express their love and support for the group and upcoming solo activities.