Members of BTS (provided by Big Hit Music)
BTS’ sudden announcement that it is taking a break from activities as an ensemble has many wondering what’s behind the K-pop juggernaut’s decision to step back. So far, it appears that the announcement was based on the determination that after all the identity struggles and creative issues faced by the act during its race to the top of the pop world in the nine years since its debut, the members have reached a point where they need some time off.Over the past few years, BTS has topped the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart multiple times with the songs “Dynamite,” “Butter,” and “Permission to Dance.” The group has also won various honors at the American Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, and elsewhere.But the members have also described confronting some questions about who they are in the process.Leader RM spoke about this in a video posted on the group’s YouTube channel on Tuesday night.“For me, it was like the group BTS was within my grasp until ‘ON’ and ‘Dynamite,’ but after ‘Butter’ and ‘Permission to Dance,’ I didn’t know what kind of group we were anymore,” he said.As RM’s remarks indicate, the teen-oriented “bubblegum pop” style of songs like “Butter” and “Permission to Dance” was not what the members aspired to. When they debuted as a hip-hop group in 2013, their songs carried the messages that they wanted to express. But their recent focus on popular appeal appears to have left them feeling conflicted over who they are as artists. “Whenever I write lyrics and songs, it’s really important what kind of story and message I want to give out, but it was like that was gone now, I don’t know what kind of story I should tell now,” RM said.
