K-Pop icons BTS have announced they are going on an 'indefinite hiatus' so each member can focus on solo projects.
According to Billboard, the seven-man band revealed the shocking news about 20 minutes into a FESTA dinner, where they sat around joking and reminiscing about their time together.
Band member RM got serious and said the group 'have to accept that we’ve changed' and that he 'didn’t know what kind of group we were anymore'.
What each member of the group will get up to on their hiatus is not yet clear, nor is when they'll all get back together again.
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This move comes just a matter of days after the band released Proof, their first ever anthology album.
Also released on the same day (10 June) was hit single 'Yet to Come (The Most Beautiful Moment)', which if the title is any indication means there is still more to expect from BTS in the future.
The bombshell news was dropped so casually by Suga, who just said 'we're going on a hiatus now' out of the blue.
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Those comments were followed up by RM, with the 27-year-old saying he was 'glad we're BTS' and wondering what he would have done if the band had never formed.
However, he did stress that he'd changed as a person over the years since the band had formed and felt as though he needed some time by himself to work out who he was.
He said: 'They don’t give you time to mature, you have to keep producing music and keep doing something.
'And it’s not just about music and work. So I need to think and have some alone time and then those thoughts can mature into something uniquely mine.'
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Jimin said the band 'can't help but think of our fans' at a time like this and said he hoped they'd understand they were all 'going through a rough patch' on the 'exhausting and long process' of finding their own identities.
This in no way means the end of the band forever, as J-Hope declared there would be a 'second chapter' for the band.
He is likely to be the first of the group to perform solo as he is due to headline Lollapalooza 2022 next month.
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The group took extended breaks in 2019 and 2021 in order to recharge their creative batteries, but sometimes to really go away and work on yourself the group needs to be put on hiatus.
BTS have sold over 30 million albums, making them the best selling artists in South Korean history, while they have played sell-out gigs to massive arenas such as Wembley Stadium in London and the Rose Bowl in California.
On top of that, they are the youngest ever recipients of South Korea's Order of Cultural Merit for their part in spreading the nation's language and culture throughout the world with their music.
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Topics: Music
Joe Harker