Recently, the news that BTS will suspend group activities has become the biggest discussion in the world. It even impacts both the stock and financial markets.
BBC News also wrote an article about this with the title "BTS hiatus 'not as severe as' One Direction". Besides, the writer also mentioned some aspects surrounding the members' solo work and especially Jungkook.
Lucy Ford - Western entertainment journalist and also known to be a super fan of BTS. She had a detailed sharing about issues related to BTS's group activities and solo activities when entering the 10th year with Radio 1 Newsbeat.
In the article, BBC raised the issue by referring to One Direction's decision in January 2016. But the author also thinks that BTS chapter 2 will have a slightly different way of operating in the K-pop world. compared to western bands.
The author then quotes Lucy Ford as saying that in K-pop, it's really not uncommon for groups with seven, eight, or nine members to have thriving solo careers but still stay active. group regularly. In addition, Lucy Ford also said that BTS is the first person to show the difficulties that the group is facing for fans to understand.
Lucy says it's "massively rare" for a K-pop group to say they're redefining themselves. Because K-pop artists are often associated with a certain positive image when appearing in public.
With BTS, however, they speak openly about the pressures of a global pop career. "In many ways across their career, BTS have been sort-of industry leaders," she said.
In addition, Lucy Ford also mentioned that it is important that she appreciates the appearance of the BTS members as new solo artists. Especially including Jungkook.
She listed that Jungkook's previous solo releases had a good effect. Recently Jungkook released his solo song Stay Alive produced by Suga. It's been streamed more than 115M times on Spotify alone.
Lucy says all seven members of the group have "a lot to offer" as solo artists - but believe Jungkook could go on to a career that rivals some of the biggest names in pop. "Jungkook's just got such an amazing voice, and I really think that he could do so well a sort of similar sort of vocal vein to Justin Bieber," she says. "I think he's really poised for that. And I would look forward to that a lot."
Recently, Charlie Puth - one of the top pop stars also posted a video featuring Jungkook in the new song - Left&Right. The side-by-side with Charlie Puth shows Jungkook's great musical ability.
This is also a signal that a new solo chapter of Jungkook will open. Not only that, but HYBE is also the management company of Justin Bieber, and Ariana Grande,...so the next combinations may be even more surprising.
She also believes that the BTS hiatus, however it pans out in reality, could actually be a good thing for the fans. "It doesn't feel like they're actually competing with each other in the music they would make which I think is like exciting for fans. You've got so much more to look forward to."
