This news isn’t going down smooth like butter.
BTS‘s band members—who include RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook—announced they are taking a hiatus in a video posted to social media on June 14.
“We’re each going to take some time to have fun and experience lots of things,” Jungkook said. “We promise we will return someday, even more mature than we are now.”
While the K-pop stars didn’t note how long the hiatus will last, they expressed their desire to explore solo projects. “I always thought that BTS was different from other groups, but the problem with K-pop and the whole idol system is that they don’t give you time to mature,” RM said per NME’s translation. “You have to keep producing music and keep doing something.”
Still, the decision wasn’t an easy one. “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. I think now we’re starting to think about what kind of artists we each want to be remembered by our fans,” Jimin added. “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.”