BTS TO PAUSE GROUP ACTIVITIES

[Anchor Lead]

Korea’s world-famous idol group BTS has decided to put its group activities on hold after having been together for nine years. The seven members of BTS will take time off to reflect on themselves and work on their individual projects before returning to their fans fully charged.

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Their get-together started casually without a setup or a pre-written script. They laughed and talked about shared memories from the past nine years before speaking about what they really had in mind.

[Soundbite] RM(BTS Leader) : "Up until 'Dynamite', I felt like I had my team in the palm of my hand, but I couldn’t figure out what kind of team we were ever since 'Butter' and 'Permission to Dance'."

BTS was the first Korean boyband to top the Billboard main singles chart, win several Billboard and American Music Awards and even receive Grammy nominations. They practically rewrote Korean pop music history. But even while enjoying such glory, the members worried about the direction of their music and the absence of individual growth.

[Soundbite] RM(BTS Leader) : "I have lost direction and I want to stop here and gather my thoughts. But when I say that out loud, I feel like I’m being very rude and not living up to our fans’ expectations."

They also talked about how hard it was to create something new and original.

[Soundbite] Suga(BTS Member) : "The hardest thing is writing the lyrics. I can’t write. I have nothing to say. I should have written about my feelings and my stories, but I was scraping the bottom of the barrel."

So they decided to suspend their group activities now, following the impressive sales of two million copies of their new album. The members will turn their focusto solo projects.

[Soundbite] Jung Kook(BTS Member) : "If we take some personal time, we could experience many different things and grow personally before returning to our fans."

BTS fans all over the globe were saddened at the members’ honest and sincere confession but nevertheless sent their full support and good wishes.