On 2020, BTS' defeat of Cardi B (ft. Meghan Thee Stallion) ended the loooong domination of hiphop/R&B in pop music.
It was a shockwave which was heard around the world and BTS was catapulted to the top of the world.
I wrote a lot of pieces back then that it would be better for Hybe to reincorporate out of Korea, and leave Korea to the likes of the Owner of Edam Entertainment since it was not that significant as far as BTS' future was concerned.
Fast forward 3 years, every single one of Hybe's ventures, including the ambitious Katseye, has failed.
the 'slower' rise of txt probably would hurt Hybe the most. A lot of people , including Bang himself, probably expected txt would do at least half as well as BTS, but that has not occurred.
Instead, Stray Kids, which has 2 Australians including its leader and chief producer who will NOT serve in Korean military, and will probably operate outside of Korea when other members begin to be dragged into service , has become the 2nd largest boy group based in Korea.
Because of the MHJ circus, which would NEVER have occurred if Bang did not decide to enlist all of the members and still retained Jungkook, BTS members now know the money they made for Bang were all spent so Bang would do frivolous projects here and there and make MHJ potentially richer than any of them, which would have been the case if she did not decide to strike out and if Hybe didn't have a better internal control.
It is now doubtful that BTS as we know will continue beyond 2027 when this round of contracts ends. Most likely something like Sinhwa or BlackPink would be arranged - the members will form their own companies, only operating as a group together once in a blue moon , or a Strawberry Moon since two of its members had attended the concert of the now Former Owner of Edam Entertainment, who, more than anyone else, helped to undermine BTS whenever she could.
And the international music trends have changed decisively. Country has dominated the US pop scene, including country-pop,country -hiphop and country-what you can name. Sooner or later there would be even country KPop, since country songs were somewhat popular in Korea in the old days. People like Morgan Wallen and Shaboozey, whom few people had heard about during BTS' domination, have become powerful. I am not even going to discuss Taylor Swift.
Meanwhile Japanese bands are frequenting Korea more and more often, because band music have gained traction there, and acts like Day6 and Qwer have gained power.
It seems that the realization of BTS not being what it used to be is finally sinking into even the most diehard of Armies.
The days of BTS defeating everyone in the world have passed forever, thanks to whatever Bang was thinking in 2022, and the antics of MHJ has made sure that BTS would not continue as it is beyond 2027, completely destroying the theory of 'longer career'.
Sure, there is still a 'Rolling Stones', but it is basically Mick Jagger and a sidekick (Keith Richards) . And BTS , by Bang's philosophy, didn't have a Mick Jagger.
At most , in a rational view, BTS will be lucky enough to remain in the top 10 of the world's pecking order. Album sales have collapsed and Seventeen's new album will be lucky to hit 3.5 mil. BTS' new album won't hit 4 million, and much less if Hybe does some hinky panky thing like the last time.
And that is the optimistic scenario. I won't list the more realistic scenario for now.
It took 2 years for a lot of Armies to let reality sink in, but 2 years is a time long enough for anyone to realize that BTS is not what it was before. Giving up the world domination for a country which consisted maybe 5% of its entire revenue, and held someone who could not leave Asia until this year in the same legard as it, was a questionable decision, and expecting that they will be allowed back to the throne after 4 years of absence would be unrealistic.
