BTS’s Hiatus Isn’t Like One Direction’s Split

Picture Supply: Getty / Astrid Stawiarz

On June 14, a day after BTS’s ninth anniversary, the K-pop group announced they’re taking time off from making music as a group to focus on their solo careers. Unveiled throughout their annual FESTA banquet, the massive announcement got here on the heels of their latest, relatively dialed-back comeback — an anthology album called “Proof,” launched on June 10. Although the group members made it clear they don’t seem to be breaking apart and can return to creating music as a bunch sooner or later, the announcement generated combined reactions from the viewers. Whereas followers have been shocked initially, they largely welcomed BTS’s resolution to reset. However, many media retailers blew the state of affairs out of proportion, alleging the announcement would possibly translate into the septet going their separate methods for good.

A couple of hours after the massive announcement, investor panic triggered the stock value of BTS’s record label, HYBE, to dip by 28 percent, sweeping away a whopping $1.7 billion of its market value. The leisure firm shortly set the report straight, releasing an official assertion that clarified that BTS isn’t disbanding. “To be clear, they don’t seem to be on hiatus however will take time to discover some solo tasks at the moment and stay lively in numerous completely different codecs,” one representative told Pitchfork.

Whereas the unique English subtitles for BTS’s FESTA dinner noticed Suga say, “We’re going right into a hiatus now,” they have been swiftly adjusted to say, “We’re taking a brief break now.” For those who seek the advice of a dictionary, a “hiatus” is, by definition, a break. So why the handwringing over the phrase? The final uneasiness surrounding the time period “hiatus” can little doubt be traced again to a different influential boy band’s dissolution: One Direction.

Picture Supply: Getty / Kevin Kane

After Zayn Malik left the band in March 2015, the group went on as a foursome and put out yet another album earlier than asserting an “prolonged hiatus” a number of months later in August 2015, implying they’d in the future come again collectively. “They’re taking a hiatus to allow them to work on particular person tasks for some time, however they don’t seem to be splitting up,” a source informed E! News on the time, including, “They’ll stay collectively and plan to work collectively sooner or later.” However years and years handed, and it grew to become clear that what they extra possible meant by hiatus was “we’re disbanding.” Both they actually did intend to reunite sooner or later initially and later deserted the thought as their solo careers took off, or they solely used the idea of a brief hiatus to melt the blow for his or her thousands and thousands of followers. One other X Issue group, Fifth Concord, would later seemingly comply with go well with utilizing the identical sport plan in March 2018.

Contemplating the comparatively latest evolution of the phrase “hiatus” in fashionable tradition, it is comprehensible why folks exterior the BTS fandom see BTS’s break as them happening the identical highway as 1D. However there are fairly a number of obtrusive variations between One Path’s “indefinite hiatus” and BTS’s that ought to reaffirm anybody’s religion that BTS will be again.

Essentially the most telling signal that BTS’s break is short-term is actually in black and white: BTS is still under contract with their label, HYBE. RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook renewed their contracts with the South Korean firm in 2019 for an additional seven years – till 2026. One Path’s contract below Simon Cowell‘s now-virtually defunct report label Syco Music had already expired on the finish of 2015, with every member aside from Louis Tomlinson signing with different labels shortly after they introduced their “hiatus.” So whereas 1D definitely may have continued their actions below completely different labels, there was not any contractual obligation to. BTS, nonetheless, continues to be a bunch signed below the identical label, so it is onerous to think about they will not inevitably ship one other album as a bunch when the time is correct.

That is to not counsel anybody is twisting BTS’s arm, although. When One Path break up in 2016, cracks throughout the group dynamic had lengthy develop into obvious after Malik left the group a 12 months earlier. “There was by no means any room for me to experiment creatively within the band,” he informed Fader about his resolution in December 2015. In a May 2022 no-holds-barred chat on the “Impaulsive With Logan Paul” podcast, Liam Payne revealed that the inner pressure amongst One Path’s members had reached a excessive level, making the idea of a reunion far less likely.

Compared, BTS’s group dynamics and camaraderie seem inimitable. One Path’s temporary assertion asserting their hiatus stands in stark distinction to BTS’s hour-long dinner, throughout which the members tearfully mentioned why it is time to take a break, all whereas reaffirming how a lot they’ll stay part of each other’s lives till the time to reunite musically arrives. Because the worldwide information media spiraled, RM took to Weverse on June 15 to, once more, insist BTS isn’t disbanding, criticizing media retailers for misinterpreting BTS’s phrases. “As clear as it could have been to those that truly watched it, we defined all through the entire broadcast that this isn’t the tip for us — JUST like the title of the song ‘Yet To Come’ suggests,” he wrote, in keeping with a translation by Koreaboo. Later, Jungkook filmed a VLIVE the place — between bouts of karaoke — he reassured followers that “BTS is without end.”

Not solely have the members already been noticed hanging out a number of occasions of their free time (J-Hope and Jimin were spotted enjoying a soccer match on June 14, whereas Suga and J-Hope recently visited HYBE Insight to meet up with artist Tom Sachs), however the members additionally dedicated to assisting one another with their solo ventures. (Jimin explicitly invited Suga to function on his in-progress debut album throughout the FESTA dinner.) In, maybe, the last word present of solidarity, no less than 5 of the members have confirmed they’ve gotten a friendship tattoo in the form of a “7” someplace on their physique.

Picture Supply: Getty / Emma McIntyre

Furthermore, BTS’s resolution to place group actions on maintain isn’t as sudden as it might seem. Group hiatuses are usually not unusual within the Okay-pop trade. Followers are conscious that, barring any vital adjustments to Korea’s necessary army enlistment legal guidelines, BTS’s oldest members will quickly must enlist within the Korean army for round 20 months, as all Korean males between the ages of 18 and 28 should. A 2020 amendment to the existing Military Service Act allowed members of BTS to delay their enlistment until the age of 30. With Jin and Suga (each aged 29) approaching 30 quickly, there’s an opportunity the “Butter” singers determined to place group actions on the again burner to not solely permit every member to discover their artistry, but additionally to facilitate the members’ enlistment. Their break additionally makes excellent sense on this context.

Western boy band conventions usually dictate that group members tapping into their potential as solo artistry means the tip for the group as an entire — particularly if members discover enduring success as a soloist (suppose Harry Kinds from 1D, Camila Cabello from 5H, or Justin Timberlake from NSYNC) — however that is not the case within the Okay-pop trade. It is not unusual to see Okay-pop bands department out into solo tasks whereas persevering with with intermittent group actions. Some Okay-pop teams who’ve ventured into solo actions (be it singing or appearing) whereas persevering with group actions embody BLACKPINK, GOT7, Tremendous Junior, and Large Bang, amongst others. BTS members have additionally already dabbled in solo tasks whereas nonetheless producing music as a bunch, every having contributed to an unique soundtrack, subunit collaborations, or mixtapes over time. Following the most recent hiatus, followers can count on full-length solo albums from every member, beginning with J-Hope’s “Jack in the Box.”

One of many highlights of the ninth FESTA dinner conversations was BTS getting candid concerning the burnout they have been experiencing working tirelessly to pump out unique music as a bunch whereas fulfilling their tight schedules. BTS has launched 9 studio albums (plus six compilation albums) of their 9 years collectively, on high of 5 live performance excursions (three of which have been worldwide), numerous endorsements, and press appearances — all whereas additionally releasing solo ardour tasks right here and there. They admitted, nonetheless, that their artistry would possible take successful ought to this sample proceed. As RM said during the FESTA dinner, “I would like BTS to go on for a very long time. We have now to undergo this to do this. I would like it to final lengthy, and for BTS to final lengthy, I feel I’ve to retain who I’m.”

Picture Supply: Getty / Michael Kovac

The underside line stays — whether or not BTS decides to return again collectively as a bunch to make music in a month, a 12 months, or perhaps a decade from now, they’re simply as a lot a unit now as they’ve all the time been, albeit in a brand new type. Their downtime is a chance to decelerate, permit themselves to method issues in another way, and discover themselves in a brand new gentle. Whereas the choice might have invited many unwarranted comparisons to earlier boy group separations, their emotional messages to ARMYs and honest assurance that this is not the tip of the highway have solely bolstered ARMYs’ perception that after they do come again, they are going to be stronger, extra mature, and even higher variations of themselves as they attempt to succeed in new heights nonetheless. In spite of everything, one of the best for BTS is but to return.