How will BTS’ military service affect their careers? Bang Si-Hyuk gives his opinion

The next chapter for BTS will be one of growth and change.

Bang Si-hyuk, founder of Big Hit and chairman of HYBE, gave an interview to CNN’s Quest on Business, in which he spoke about the current decline in the BTS group’s activities during the members’ South Korean military service and reassured their future plans.

“From a career perspective, no artist would be happy about such a long hiatus against their will. I think that’s a different issue from the mindset that we’re faithful and happy to serve the country. But BTS and I have been talking about it since early 2018.” Bang Si-hyuk said in an interview when asked about the members’ military commitments.

“So it’s been discussed at length, and we’re not done yet. »

“We were ready to make this a turning point in her career,” said the producer.

“Of course they needed this break after such intensive work. They can’t remain the BTS of today, but they need to grow and change as artists. »

The oldest member of the group, Jin, reported for military service in December 2022 and his colleagues saw him leave.

J-Hope has officially begun the draft process for military service, Big Hit announced in February, becoming the second band member to do so.

Bang acknowledged the impact of the split from BTS, which was announced last June during the group’s 9th anniversary celebrations, and expressed hope that K-pop as a whole can continue to grow and develop globally.

BTS intends to ” [revenir] again as a group by 2025,” Big Hit said in a statement at the time.

“K-pop isn’t as popular in the market as you might think. Overall, it doesn’t take up a large portion of the market. On the other hand, Latin music and Afrobeats are growing very fast.

So, where we are, there is more urgency to increase exposure. For this I take over labels and management companies in America in order to be able to build up this infrastructure”, He explained and admitted that his “main concern” is that interest may run out over time.

“If you look at our export indicators and the continued growth, the slowdown in growth is actually very clear. It would be fortunate if it was a temporary phenomenon caused by BTS being drafted into the military, but I doubt it.” Bang partially answered.

Since BTS retired from group activities to focus on solo projects for now, the members have kept busy – from being ambassadors to luxury fashion houses to album releases and various TV shows.

Following the official solo releases of J-Hope, Jin and RM, Jimin will be the next member to release his album, the six-track EP Face, on March 24th. J-Hope released a special collaboration entitled “On the Street” with J. Cole on Friday, March 3rd.

Suga, meanwhile, will kick off his first world tour, Agust D (an encore of his debut mixtape and solo track of 2016), on April 26 in New York City before concluding in Japan.

And V currently stars in the 10-episode cooking and travel reality series Jinny’s Kitchen alongside Korean actors Lee Seo-jin and Jung Yu-mi, and real-life friends Choi Woo-sik and Park Seo.-joon.

HYBE Chairman Bang Si-Hyuk discusses BTS and the future of K-Pop. pic.twitter.com/uUwwaegVLm

— Quest Means Business (@questCNN) March 2, 2023

Though it’s hard for ARMYs to let BTS members go, it seems like they’ve been talking about it for a long time.

The band travels, plans and plays non-stop for what feels like an eternity and we hope they can come and go safe and fresh.