Video Credit: BANGTANTV
2022 kicked off with BTS performing in Las Vegas in April when the first hints of a new album were seen. On May 4th, in a minute-long video, their upcoming anthology album Proof was announced. It appeared at the end of BTS’ last show at Allegiant Stadium and was later posted on BTS’ official social medias — career-spanning footage of the group concluded with the tagline “We Are Bulletproof” and the date for this new release: June 10, 2022.
After the release of the main single 'Yet To Come' and the album release in the beginning of June, ARMYs were anticipating the celebration of their 9th Anniversary.
Festa Night
Video Credit: BANGTANTV
On 14th of June, an hour-long video titled Festa Dinner Party was dropped on BangtanTV. The video started off on a cheerful note as they congratulated each other on completing 9 years together. Gradually, they started getting nostalgic and began reminiscing about their times in the dorm. It was towards the end that the boys took it upon themselves to announce their 'partial hiatus' from group activities and their ventures into solo work.
The video was received with overwhelming emotions by ARMY with them understanding and empathizing with BTS.
The video was seen by more than just ARMY however, and the news blew up resulting in people questioning 'what next?' The 'hiatus' had been misinterpreted in more ways than one but the trust ARMY had towards BTS helped keep things from getting blown out of proportion .
HYBE then released an announcement clearing the air, “This is not a declaration of suspension of activities, but a notice of individual activities for Chapter 2. It is a different type of activity than before. There are some misunderstandings, so we are preparing to release official data to correct them soon.”
Each Member's Solo Ventures
With the new announcement of Run BTS! making a comeback and j-hope beginning the solo venture off as one of the headliners at Lollapalooza 2022, ARMY is more excited than ever. This is the first of the many upcoming announcements of solo work from BTS. Not even two weeks later, the announcement of Jack In The Box, j-hope's solo album, dropped on June 25.
The album is the opposite of everything that one has seen BTS' j-hope representing. With the leading songs ‘ARSON’ and 'MORE' the album left everyone in awe of the rapper’s versatility. The album consists of 10 songs with an intro that follows a chronological story-like pattern dealing with themes of 'hope' in all kinds of ways.
One thing is quickly followed by another, on July 7th Disney+ Hotstar dropped the announcement for a spin-off to “In The Soop” with The Wooga Squad (BTS' V, Park Seo-joon, Park Hyung-shik, Choi Woo-shik, and rapper Peakboy) which is to drop on 22nd July.
On July 8th HYBE announced another exciting news for ARMY. A new series of vlogs by each member, showcasing their individual time apart from BTS.
ARMY are to see a driving vlog from Taehyung, a bracelet-making session from Jimin, Jung Kook's camping trip, a museum trip with Namjoon, album making with Hoseok, a cooking video with Seokjin and finally, a wood-work/carpentry session with Min Yoongi.
With each announcement following the other, ARMY cannot help but wonder about the other possibilities their solo careers bring. Kim Taehyung, BTS' V has spoken about working on his solo music several times and that makes fans wonder if they can expect new music from the singer as well.
Other than that, Yoongi or SUGA of BTS has always shared the abundance of tracks he works on making fans debate that a third Agust D album is not too far away.
Even though the other members have yet to make any announcements, ARMYs are more than excited to hear what they are working on.
Risky New Paths
Image Credit: BANGTANTV
While there is no denying that BTS has always been true to their words and has presented works that have always managed to exceed their fans' expectations, the announcement of solo work instead of group ventures has been quite a massive change.
BTS deciding to work this way instead of continuing to cater to a crowd at the cost of their happiness was a big step taken in the right direction. However, one cannot deny it was also a rather risky one financially for HYBE and for BTS.
Regardless, they went forward with it, allowing the bond between them and their fans to decide their future. The trust they have towards their fans and themselves by not fearing an unknown path, makes them stand out even more.
ARMY hopes to continue to see BTS working on their own terms, to serve their own happiness and do what they feel is best for themselves.
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Written by: Rose
Edited by: Juju
Checked by: Shelley
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