Emotional BTS Tell Fans They're Taking a Break to 'Figure Things Out'

J-Hope, 28, said the group “should spend some time apart to learn how to be one again”.

“I hope you don’t see this is a negative thing,” the artist implored fans. “And see that it’s a healthy plan.”

“It’s not that we’re disbanding – we’re just living apart for a while,” said Suga.

Jungkook, 24, said, “We promise we will return someday even more mature than we are now”, and asked for the “blessing” of fans.

ARMY’s online reaction was tearful but supportive, with tens of thousands of comments quickly posted under the YouTube video.

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“I can’t imagine how much pressure they felt these latest years. Being called the biggest band in the world, having all that responsibility... must be overwhelming,” one fan wrote.

“I really love how honest they are here,” wrote another.

“They are also people like us. They get exhausted and worn out. They deserve to rest and enjoy what they love to do,” the commenter added.

BTS has said they were going on short breaks before, first in 2019 and later in December 2021.

The news comes just days after the group released “Proof”, an anthology album that included a new single, “Yet To Come (The Most Beautiful Moment)”.

J-Hope, who is slated to headline Chicago’s Lollapalooza on his own later this summer, said in the clip that time apart could help BTS “become a stronger group”.

'Confusing'

BTS’s label enjoyed a surge in profits despite holding fewer concerts during the pandemic.

But their messaging around the band’s next steps was “confusing” and “not clear”, Lee Moon-won, a K-pop culture commentator, told AFP.