When I was in another forum, I wrote a lot about GFriend's Yuju, despite of contributing the most for bringing the group from the gutter to the top, was short changed by the members all the time.
She was absent for a reason which is unknown to this day, but So Sungjin, the owner of Source at that time, actually did an event with Yuju's lines were cut and sung by other members, basically telling her that she is not needed.
When GF was disbanded, she and 2 other members did NOT thank Hybe and Source for all these things which occurred during the contract, and even now, although her career has gone nowhere after the disbandment , she has kept a distance with other members, preferring to do everything herself and only meeting other members during infrequent reunions, while Yerin and Eunha prefer to see Twice members instead of Yuju.
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What is being done to Jungkook in BTS dwarfs what had happened to Yuju and some others I don't have time to mention all.
In the history of pop, I am not aware of a member sacrificing everything for the group as much as Jungkook.
Some leaders might do that because groups are formed around the leader usually. Although KPop is not dependent upon leaders BTS was formed around RM so it is natural that RM makes sacrifices. It did not hurt that he was arguably the least popular BTS member to begin with. When others had concerts in the arena, because RM's taste of music is, I would say quite 'unique' he had events in small theaters.
He had a chance to destroy BTS' greatest rival , IU (let's face it - if she were not there I doubt BTS would have served in the military) but blew it by refusing to collaborate with her. He would have given a song which would have been so eclectic that it would have been buried. Instead, Suga took the chance , and most of the work was actually done by El Capitxn, who had sung a line in IU's Friday, and therefore significantly more friendly towards to IU than RM ever was, and the result , Eight, while doing shitty in the spotify, did become a hit in Korea which almost undermined everything BTS had done in there until Dynamite silenced everyone.
Dynamite being a megahit has buried all these stories, but it is true that IU was an existential threat of BTS before Dynamite. If it were not a hit she would have released another single, most likely Celebrity, around in October to polish it off. She did that against aespa next year, since aespa's Savage was weak she released Strawberry Moon to polish it off, and aespa did not return to grace until IU was decisively defeated by Bibi in Feb 2024. Until Bibi ended IU, the latter was an existential threat against all acts of KPop, incl BlackPink, Stray Kids and you name it. In my opinion, for the future of KPop, she should have been crushed in 2020 beyond recovery, not 2024.
Despite of putting the group in such grave danger , apparently RM retained his authority over the rest of the group.
Jungkook had shaken the world with his song Seven, and actually defeated the country song of Jason Aldean, stopping the resurgence of country for at least some time and proving himself that he is the only BTS member who could compete in the world stage by himself. It was a surprising victory (Aldean defeated JK the next week), since Aldean was leading in all accounts, but JK did prevail.
And, whether you like or not, it is likely to be the last KPop No.1 hit in Billboard Hot 100 since times have changed.
Despite of all that, RM (and probably Bang and all these people shouting for the elusive OT7) made JK enlist, despite of the fact that he did not have to do that until 2028, because Seokjin, the oldest, had refused to leave the group while knowing fully that his enlistment would make BTS do nothing for a long time.
I am simply flabbergasted by the behaviors of older BTS members who show absolutely zero concern about JK's own career, doing whatever they feel like while denying JK the chance to do so.
Apparently they have absolutely zero recognition or remorse about the sacrifices JK made so the group could stay intact, just doing whatever they feel like regardless of what JK might think. Only Seokjin and Hoseok had individual concerts, and Yoongi had one before. RM is not big enough to have his own concert, and Jimin is not as strong as Jungkook as far as potential is concerned - Taehyung is taking the actor route.
If they had any appreciation on Jungkook's sacrifice they would have let him do what he wants to until end of this year, at least.
Instead they do whatever they feel like, while JK is stuck in a Los Angeles studio. I understand Bang is in no shape to be concerned about BTS since his own problem is bigger, but all the staff in Big Hit (one of them gave JK the hat Make Tokyo Great Again, putting him in trouble), in addition to the members, are now blatantly showing a lack of respect over JK which makes me ticked off, like how Source had treated Yuju 9 years ago.
