Some say hindsight is 20/20 but anyone with analytic ability can see through it. It is not rocket science, which is actually simpler than many other disciplines.
IU's defeat by JPop is the final curtain of Kpop, after it was decisively weakened by the nonKPop song APT. Someone might claim it is KPop but no Korean was involved, and it is not Kpop.
Stray Kids, whose music is mostly made by an Australian, will have a bigger concert than BTS or in fact any other act in KPop.
All these argument about BTS having 'longer career' proved to be complete BS.
What is the use for a longer career when it means ending up like Pink? Who cares when Pink releases a new song?
The 'longer career' argument does not work in Korea. For people like Lim Youngwoong, who caters to the older population, thta might work. But for world famous acts, that does not work since foreign fans will follow acts from their own countries when they grow older.
IU is now being treated as a has been. Other than a member of Say My name, whose owner Jaejoong had seen IU once in an event, and a member of the act which calls itself Fifty Fifty Fifty now, none of the 4.5th gen had paid filial duty to the no-longer-Senior-Singer-about-to-be-sent-to retirement-home figure, and hardly anyone cared when she released a new album.
Katseye members attending a Stray Kids concert is not a good thing for BTS. That does show that they have no respect on BTS and follow SKZ more. It seems other Hybe acts do not have too much respect on BTS; out of sight, out of mind.
IU never recovered from her 2 year hiatus. BTS will have at least a 3 1/2 year hiatus. It will not be recoverable in Korea, for certain, and in the overseas there will be no shortage of acts to sink it.
The younger ones , at least, should not have enlisted but form a unit and perform around the world to keep Taylor Swift in close alert. Given that their is a regime change in Korea, they would have received their exemption. Instead there is now no hope of overcoming Taylor Swift's 2 billion concert figure. Her name is etched forever as the Time Person of the Year in 2023 and her concert figure will probably never be surpassed as well (coldplay, the second, barely managed 1 billion in 4 years of tour.)
Now there is an unsurmountable wall built y her, which BTS will never overcome, and even SKZ is now mocking it.
In retrospect, it was foolish for all members to enlist. For whose benefit? The monies they lost will never come back. Never.
A recent photo of Jimin and Jungkook shows they became quite muscular. Muscular people do not really dance well since the mass adds to the weight. Foreign fans have no shortage of muscular men in their own countries.
And Taehyung, who will probably leave when the contract runs out, dining with a has been singer IU shows they are quite uneasy about their future.
Moral: The first rule for a Kpop act is to ignore Korea.
