BTS is not over, according to one of its members.
“When you are famous, staying on top is very difficult,” RM told Spain’s EFE, “but I think BTS will make it. It will come together again when we finish our military service, and we will look for new synergies between us to enter a second phase.
“But, in any case, nothing lasts forever.”
RM and his BTS mates announced last June that they were taking a break.
While some pop groups have resumed following hiatus announcements, many have not: *NSYNC announced a “temporary hiatus” in 2002, the members of One Direction told fans in 2016 they were going on an “indefinite hiatus" and, in 2018, Fifth Harmony announced it was going “on a hiatus … in order to pursue solo endeavours.”
South Korea’s conscription law requires most males to register to start 18 months of military service by the time they are 28 – but a 2021 amendment allows pop stars who have received government medals to apply for deferment of their military service until they are 30. Jin, the oldest member of BTS, enlisted late last year.
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RM, who will turn 29 in September, told EFE he is going through a “hard time on a human level” but believes the break will be good for him as an artist. “Some great work is born in personally chaotic moments,” he explained.
“After 10 years as a member of BTS, I didn’t know who I was and I wanted to know. I started out as a teenage rapper, then BTS came along and it was all very intense. Now that the group is inactive, I’ve gone back to thinking about the beginnings and the real reasons why I joined BTS.”
RM continued: “K-pop and K-drama are in fashion, so, ironically, I am at the centre of the trend at a time when I feel the need to step away from that and have time to think and create with a more timeless outlook.