Dear Gossips,
Fans of BTS know this well and it’s become a bittersweet running joke, that the scariest words to read are as follows:
“Hello.
This is BIG HIT MUSIC.”
It’s felt that way for over a year now as the band has paused group activities in order to fulfill their national obligation. “Hello. This is BIG HIT MUSIC.” is how their press releases begin. And a new press release dropped yesterday, only this time, and maybe I’m a traitor for saying this, but I didn’t read it as bad news. Because according to the release, “RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook have initiated the military enlistment process”.
Sounds like by the end of this year, in just a matter of weeks, all seven members of BTS will be serving mandatory duty, right on schedule, exactly as they had planned all along. Which was for all of them to release their solo work in 2023 and be in the military by 2024, with the intention of reuniting at some point in 2025. Jin, j-hope, and Suga have already started their military service; Jin’s actually been in for almost a year now and should be released in six months; RM, Jimin, V, and JK then will likely start and finish at the same time, like in 18 months or so, give or take a few weeks. And then…
The comeback, right?
Back in September, it was confirmed that all seven members of the band had renewed their contracts “from 2025 onwards” so we’re not dealing in baseless speculation here. There was a promise, they told us they would be back, and back together. And I don’t know who I’ll be in 2025, I obviously can’t know how I will have changed, what I will have learned, what I will have been through, but I can tell you this: I will still be into BTS, deep into BTS, and getting tickets to see BTS in concert will be my life priority!
As for the rest of you? If you haven’t yet Bangtanned your life, you now have 18 months to get all caught up on what the rest of us have done for a decade. Cram!
Yours in gossip,
Lainey
