Before beginning his military service late last year, BTS member Jin opened up about the toll the group’s busy schedule had on their mental health.
When the group was named Artist of the Year at the 2018 Mnet Asian Music Awards, Jin said: “I remember early this year. We were mentally struggling at the beginning of the year. While talking amongst ourselves, we even considered disbanding.”
In a chat taped last December and used in the June 10th episode of Suga’s online show Suchwita, Jin was asked about what he said.
“That was when we were promoting 'Fake Love' and every month, we only had a day and half [to rest]. I got really mad over that half day,” Jin recalled. “For about three months, we only had one day off each month.
“The agency said we had to work like that in order to make it, and we knew that wasn’t entirely wrong. That’s why we worked so hard, but mentally and physically it was too hard on us. We just wanted to let it all go, we were like, ‘I can’t do this anymore, let’s stop here.’”
Jin said his comment “could’ve sounded negative” but he wanted to be honest with BTS fans. “It’s not an easy thing to talk about,” he added.
“It was true that we had thought about it. Everything turned out okay in the end.”
When the members of BTS announced last June that they were taking a break to focus on solo projects and their mandatory military service, RM spoke about problems with K-pop and “the whole idol system” and the pressure on artists to create content. He said there is no time for artists “time to mature.”