When the debate on BTS' miltiary service was hot I called those who talked about a longer career as those who failed arithmetic.
And I am happy that I am being proven right.
The MHJ crisis, which would never have taken place if BTS had been continuing to dominate the world, has created a lift in BTS which will never heal.
Taehyung has openly sided with MHJ, and Jungkook is getting crazy. They are the two more relevant BTS members around the world and they are breaking down even before the tour even started.
This tour will be BTS' last tour as a globally relevant act. No one cares what they do in the 40s, like last year's coldplay tour which only became news because of an executive's affair there.
Bang should have ignored the Koreans who did not know how to use a calculator, and instead have gone for broke in 2022. With that we would not have heard too much about Taylor Swift, Morgan Wallen or Bruno Mars, who is going to fight BTS now.
Currently, the Billboard Hot 100 #1 spot is occupied by Ella Langley, a country singer who was hardly known outside the circles before this year. Whether she will help Bruno Mars to defeat BTS is to be seen, but it seems BTS' route to return for dominance is going to be countered by a few people, a process which was completely unnecessary if Bang had ignored Koreans, who had already chosen Iu in 2021.
BTS remaining dominant in 2022-25 would have silenced everyone in the world, except IU who would have become completely irrelevant, and MHJ would have never rebelled. When it would have effectively disbanded at the end of 2025, with a concert at some place with more than 200,000 PAYING , everyone would have cheered.
Instead it is facing a very uphill battle, with less then enthusiastic members and a very uncertain future. A classic story of failure which will be studied in every business school of the earth for years.
