BTS Hiatus 2022

About

BTS Hiatus or BTS Disbanding refers to the split or break-up of the K-Pop group BTS that was announced in June 2022. Reactions and memes to the event flooded social media platforms like Twitter in the following days where their fandom expressed love and support of their solo careers going forward. Many also theorized that the group was breaking up for good.

History

On June 14th, 2022, BTS uploaded a pre-recorded YouTube video showing "The Real BTS Dinner Party," also known as the "FESTA Dinner," where they commemorated the ninth anniversary of their group.^[1] The seven members, RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook, start off by eating and then announce that their house lease is coming to an end. Because of this and other factors, at the 20:57-minute mark (shown below), they start talking about a "temporary break" they're currently on, labeling it a "hiatus" in order for them to pursue solo careers. Over the course of two days, the video received over 13 million views and roughly 1.7 million likes.

Jungkook's Live

On June 15th, 2022, BTS member Jungkook went live on VLive^[6] where he discussed the hiatus, sang and did some dishwashing. In one hour, the live received roughly 657 million likes. It was also reuploaded to YouTube on June 15th by the channel BTS Live, earning roughly 107,500 views in less than a day (shown below).

Many humorous reactions to Jungkook's Live surfaced on Twitter going into the days that followed. For instance, on June 15th, 2022, Twitter^[7] user kkyulmin joked about, "jungkook going on live to address the excessive mattress allegations," earning roughly 17,500 likes in two hours (shown below, left). Twitter^[8] user vminbygcf tweeted, "out of context jungkook live," earning roughly 7,800 likes in one hour (shown below, right).

Online Reactions

Many fans reacted to the hiatus announcement on social media, surfacing into the days that followed. Many of these reactions were wholesome, mimicking the emotional and conversational tone of the video.

Moments when the members showed emotion became some of the most viral. For instance, on June 14th, 2022, the Twitter^[2] account thehobiprint posted a video of Hobi, or Hope, crying, earning roughly 388,500 views and 59,700 likes in one day (shown below, top). A screenshot of Jungkook crying was also tweeted on June 14th by the Twitter^[3] account vktaekoo, earning roughly 51,100 likes in one day (shown below, bottom).

More humorous reactions surfaced online going into the days following, like a tweet posted by Twitter^[4] user googiefolder on June 14th who made fun of "bam sleeping on one of jungkook's at least 8 mattresses," earning roughly 55,200 likes in one day (shown below, left). On June 14th, Twitter^[5] user knjgIoss referenced when Yoongi said younger songwriters come to him and Joon replied with, "You must be a nice guy why don’t they come to me? do they think i’ll answer in English?" earning roughly 95,300 likes in one day (shown below, right).

Various Reactions

Search Interest

External References