I stand by my claim that BTS should have ditched Korea and ditched the military and let the Korean males complain until hell freezes over.

They did not say anything about the leader of Seventeen getting military exemption.

And, given that Kim Taehyung is hanging around with the likes of IU, instead of people in the industry (IU was not, is not and never will be part of KPop), it does not look like BTS is thinking about the world now.

At the height of its power, BTS had virtuNoally no rivals.

In 2021, since BTS had cleaned the slate so thoroughly, there were only 8 major acts remaining in the world, BTS, The Weeknd, Ed Sheeran(at that time allied with BTS), Taylor Swift, Dua Ripa, Olivia Rodrigo, Justin Bieber (then a Hybe act), and Meghan Thee Stallion (allied with BTS). So great was the domination that IU, who never won any awards outside of Korea, was counted in the top 9 artists of the world, a reputation which led to her being ranked #135 in the Rolling Stone Greatest Artists ranking.

Never again a local singer will be counted among the stars of the world.

And no one talked about Kendrick Lamar back then. He was a has been, a goner, history.

In 2021 BTS had to worry about only The Weeknd, Taylor Swift, Dua Ripa, Olivia Rodrigo , and... IU.

In 2026 BTS has to worry about all of the above (except probably IU), plus Morgan Wallen and all these country singers and Kendrick Lamar and the resurgent Hip Hop forces. Bruno Mars, also considered to be a has been, will chip in time to time.

BlackPink might join the stampede to defeat BTS.

BTS having given up its world domination so Bang could play a mogul in Korea and take photos with steamy BJs was very foolish, and now the forces of Pop have assembled to crush BTS when it returns. I don't think there is a plan to deal with the giants of Pop now.

Quote from knysom

Hi,

NAHHHHHHHHHHH. Step away from the fanfic. Kendrick EP'd The Black Panther Soundtrack, started PG LANG, did sold out shows for 2 tours AND was in the studio working on Mr.Morale. A "has been" my ass, people in the community was waiting on that album. Ken was far from a has been during this era.

-knysom

That was 2018 before BTS conquered the world

After BTS conquered the world and finished off the R&B/Hiphop/Rap genre no one had talked about hims till last year

Quote from tetetete

They are born and brought up in korea, how can they ditch their homes/family/friends

Not even their most fluent English speaking member, RM, would consider it imo

Hybe did try their best to get that exemption but in the end, I don't think they see eye to eye with the impeached prez's govt

Maybe if moon jae-in had been the prez, something could have come out of it

Does the Weeknd identify as an Ethiopian?

Does Bruno Mars identify as a Filipino?

They are rich enough to severe all these ties

BTS derives less than 5% of its income from Korea, which voted IU and New Jeans over them in 2022 and 2023.

I personally think at least the younger ones could have been saved. Now they start from dirt again. They are too old to go through the steps they went through 2017-20 and their enemies now know how to fight them.

Quote from BEG4DAWIN

Yena will help.

She will, but it will be a drop in the bucket.

Quote from pwswan

US country singer; like most country singers, he doesn't have any traction outside North America.

He does have a big sway in Billboard, which s a benchmark.

Quote from Seoged

Do they need to?

To show to the world that they still rule the world.

If they are shown being trampled by people whom they didn't waste too much time with in 2021 they will be seen as belonging to a past era.

Quote from yerisvelvet

What a weird thing to say.

Icons of the world do not really care too much about what passport they carry