The South Korean group BTS announces a break in its career
Sylvie Claire / June 15, 2022
The K-pop group BTS, one of the most influential on the planet and recently hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden, announced Tuesday a break for each of the seven young men in the group to focus on their own careers.
The announcement, which made the effect of a bomb, was made during a dinner broadcast online to mark the anniversary of the boy band formed by seven South Korean artists in their twenties, considered ambassadors of a part of the youth around the world and extremely popular, including the United States.
By 2021, BTS had annual revenues of more than $1 billion, driven by online content and album sales.
One of the seven, RM, 27, explained that after several nominations at the Grammy Awards, the music industry's awards, they didn't know what group they were exactly, adding that some of the members were exhausted.
I always thought that 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, continued the young man to the millions of fans and the global music industry.
RM emphasized that as a band, BTS had to keep producing music and doing something.
In ten years, I have changed and I need to reflect and have time for myself, concluded the artist.
The group was invited to the White House by President Biden on May 31 to speak out against racism against Asians in the United States. The American presidency had said that they see BTS as ambassadors of youth who spread a message of hope and optimism in the world.
The septet has already been invited twice to address the United Nations, in 2018 and 2021, specifically about climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic.