BTS is the most nominated group at the MTV VMAs this evening, but Jin, Jimin, J-Hope, V, RM, Suga, and Jungkook did not reunite in Newark, New Jersey, to physically attend the ceremony. The reason is very understandable: BTS is currently focusing on solo projects, and it’s a long way for the South Korean group to travel for an event.
J-Hope and Jin did post on their individual Instagrams this weekend, giving a hint of their whereabouts—and how far they are from the New York City area.
It’s possible, like the boys have for other U.S. award shows, that BTS pre-recorded acceptance speeches together from Korea. BTS is up for Best K-Pop Song (“Yet to Come (The Most Beautiful Moment)”), Best Group, Best Metaverse Performance, Best Visual Effects with Coldplay for “My Universe,” and Best Choreography (“Permission to Dance”),
BTS’s company HYBE announced that the boys were taking a break from group projects in June, clarifying talk of them going on hiatus. “BTS are not taking a hiatus. Members will be focusing more on solo projects at this time,” the spokesperson said.
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J-Hope reiterated this during a July interview with Variety.
“When we talked about the temporary break, or focusing on solo projects, we really just were trying to be honest with how we feel and what we want to pursue going forward,” he said. “I was a little surprised that people took it in a different way than what how we expected them to receive or understand that news. I think there was a little bit of loss in translation as we conveyed that message. And definitely we’re not on hiatus. The team is going to remain active.”
“We just learned a lot and we grew together as a team over the last decade, and I believe that was the Chapter One for BTS,” he continued. “So for BTS to sustain longer and to even leap forward, we thought that Chapter Two was definitely needed. So although we grew together and we worked together as a team for the last 10 years, now perhaps it is our time to grow and to pursue what we wanted to do as individuals and focus more on personal growth as individuals. So we would like to embrace and experience many different things as we work on solo projects.”
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“But that does not mean we are putting a stop on BTS group projects, of course,” he noted. “So we expect that after gaining all these experiences and having individual projects, we will have a greater synergistic effect as a team, and we believe that that is the sustainable and healthy way for us to grow as a team. So I think we are on the verge of starting the Chapter Two for BTS—and going forward, we will definitely be working on group projects as well as solo projects. As you mentioned, that there will be a concert in October, and this event will be very meaningful to us as well. So I just hope that there’s no misunderstanding about where we are going and what kind of directions we’re taking as a team.”
Alyssa Bailey is the senior news and strategy editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of celebrities and royals (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton). She previously held positions at InStyle and Cosmopolitan. When she’s not working, she loves running around Central Park, making people take #ootd pics of her, and exploring New York City.
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