BTS star j-hope has teased the group's upcoming reunion this June following the release
of RM, Suga, V, Jimin and Jung Kook, who are all currently serving their mandatory
service in the South Korean military.
In an interview with Apple Music 1 host Zane Lowe (out tomorrow, April 30), j-hope
expressed his excitement over reuniting with his bandmates, saying, “I look forward to
June when our members will have completed their service. We will quickly get together
and talk about what BTS can do in the future. I think it's going to be a massive
energy.”
After
finishing his military service last October, j-hope immediately got to work on
his solo music, releasing a string of singles - "LV Bag," "Sweet Dreams" and "Mona Lisa"
- in anticipation of his next album.
Currently on his Hope on the Stage Tour, the 31-year-old explained how BTS
has maintained their freshness since they first debuted in 2013.
“I think that over time, we each refined our unique identities as each of us work on
their own music, come out with their solo projects and do their own thing,” he said.
“The funny thing for me is when our identities, which have taken shape in various ways,
come together as BTS.”
Fellow BTS member Jin was the first of the group to finish his military service in June
2024, which he followed up by carrying
the Olympic torch through Paris a month later.
The remaining members will be released throughout June 2025: RM (Namjoon) and V (Kim
Taehyung) on June 10, Jimin and Jung Kook on June 11, and finally Suga on June 21
(delayed due to undergoing shoulder surgery).
The most googled
questions about Korean superstars BTS right now center on their return: "Is BTS still
together? Is BTS still in the army? Is BTS coming back in 2025? Is BTS disbanding?"
Longtime ARMY, fans
who might have picked up with the group during the early days of the pandemic, and even
casual listeners have likely wondered about what's in BTS's future. Jin, the first member to
begin his mandatory
military service in 2022, returned home
in June 2024; since then, J-Hope has joined him. In June 2025, the remaining five members
will finish their service — RM, Suga, V, Jimin, and Jungkook.
It feels
simultaneously like BTS has been gone for years and that they never
left. They've all released solo projects in the intervening years, and several have
embarked (or will soon, in Jin's case) on sizable solo tours. BTS rapper and dancer J-Hope
recently wrapped up his North American tour Hope on the Stage, and he had no trouble
commanding an arena with solo songs like “MORE,” “Airplane,” and “Daydream.” But there was a
special energy among fans when he performed BTS songs like “Mic Drop” and “Silver Spoon.”
The way all seven BTS members come together creates the vibe that made them
unstoppable in the early 2020s.
J-Hope reflected on
this question of BTS's future in a new interview on Apple Music 1's The Zane Lowe Show. The
full interview is out on April 29, but Teen Vogue
has an exclusive clip of the musician talking about what's next for the group.
“I think that over
time, we each refined our unique identities as each of us work on their own music, come out
with their solo projects and do their own thing,” he said, in translation. “The funny thing
for me is when our identities, which have taken shape in various ways, come together as BTS,
I'm curious to see how it'll look like.”
And they have each
evolved over time, as each performer has gravitated toward a different kind of music — RM,
to existential and
experimental hip-hop and rock; Jin, to pure pop and
Korean ballads; Suga, to analytical
rap and continued production for other artists; J-Hope, to
old school hip-hop and swagger; V, to jazz and
sentimental R&B; Jimin, to a kind of ‘90s/2000s
bubblegum electrona-pop; and Jungkook, to hooky radio-friendly
earworms. But those personas and inclinations aren't set in stone, and we could see
even more evolutions in sound in the future.
“I look forward to
June when our members will have completed their service,” J-Hope concluded. “We will quickly
get together and talk about what BTS can do in the future. I think it's going to be a
massive energy.” In the clip below, you can see how J-Hope grins at the thought.