BTS Sunday- Burn the Stage / Latest news from BTS/HYBE SM Situation

My stream froze in the first 20 minutes. Heres Part 2 https://streamable.com/7e8gk9

Today’s Schedule:

1. Latest news from BTS (content below)
2. HYBE/SM Situation (link to doc)
3. Episode 6 of BTS Burn the Stage docu series (Link)

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1- Latest news from BTS

JHOPE: Just less than 13 hours ago we received the news that our sunshine Hobi has initiated his military enlistment process (after he just became ambassador for LV)(SOB) Hobi then went live for 18 minutes to talk to ARMY following the announcement to give us comfort and tell us not to worry.

“Jhope has already became 30, his birthday has passed. But that means that I’ve spent that much time together with you all so I think it is very meaningful.”

His Live session summary: Jhope confirmed he's not leaving right away, jin called him when the announcement went out and gave jhope some advice regarding the process and what would happen. Jhope also said that he prepared various "gifts" for us, he also heard some of jimin's songs and they're great, and finally he's hoping yoongi's tour goes well. Hobi basically wanted to comfort us today after the announcement.

Hobi and Jin also sent messages to each other on Weverse soon after the announcement. Screenshots of their messages are at the bottom of this doc :).

A few hours ago it was announced Hobi will be releasing a solo single “on the street” this upcoming Friday! j-hope participated in the writing of “on the street”, a “lo-fi hip-hop track with easy-listening melody & warm-hearted lyrics.” It comes from ‘street dance,’ the genre that represents his roots as an artist, & symbolizes the path he’ll continue to take with his fans. (Announcement photo below)

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JIMIN: Jimin’s first album “FACE” set to release on 3/24 12am ET now has a track list! FACE will have 6 tracks (one of them being an English version of the main track)

“Circle of Resonance. Reflection of vulnerable minds and unexpected wounds. Face, the reflection of myself in an unfamiliar appearance. Face of facing the deepest part of my inner-self.”

Jimin has also been releasing cover dance videos on social media recently (latest one was  with TXT)

Link to the first video from the promo: Behind the “FACE”: https://youtu.be/IyvjUUe6PXg

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SUGA: Presale for tickets are on Wednesday March 1st (good luck!) and any remaining tickets (unlikely) go public on that Friday! What is the setlist?!? (DAECHWITA LIVE?!?!?)

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TAE: First episode of “Jinny’s Kitchen” (Reality TV, Food, Travel, Feel-Good) is now out and available on Prime Video! Alongside two of his Wooga Squad members (Park Seo-joon & Choi Woo-sik) we get to see Tae play his “role” as the “intern” at a brand new Korean Street food restaurant in Mexico.

“I was expecting to be a server, but I was surprised to cook. In BTS, I’m the worst cook.” - Tae

Here is a teaser video and you could watch this content on Patreon 🙂

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RM is currently in Milan for the Bottega Venetia Fashion show (possible future ambassador??). Short video of his appearance.

Our Jin is cared for as a commander in the military and led his team to victory at a talent show to win an extra day of vacation. He will also take good care of our Hobi when he goes into the military.  He is doing well and soon will be promoted to 1st Private in less than two months! Reference below:

And JK is doing who knows what and we are so happy for him.

Jin and Hobi Weverse messages to each other, when the announcement was released Hobi got a call from Jin “he asked a bunch of questions and he helped me with things I needed”. There is a high chance they will run into each other once the time comes and Hobi does enter the military, we know they will both be taken care of and will have each other for support.

(For context of the nicknames they give each other when typing)

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2. HYBE/SM Situation (link to doc)

3. Episode 6 of BTS Burn the Stage docu series (Link)

None of this directly affects BTS in ANY way, BTS is under BigHit Entertainment which is a subsidiary of Hybe but still independently run and managed.

SM Entertainment: A pioneer company in Kpop founded by Lee Soo-man in 1989 which has long since been considered one of the big 3 companies ( with YG and JYP) and produced what many consider the first kpop idol group (H.O.T.). Their most prominent groups include Girls Generation, SHINee, EXO, NCT, Super M, and Red Velvet.

Kakao: MASSIVE SK internet Company (aka Empire). KakaoTalk, (THE messaging platform in SK), Kakao Mobility (SK’s Taxi/Uber), Daum Kakao (think google) owns Melon (SK’s biggest streaming platform), and many more large power companies are under Kakao. Concerning such a powerful SK company (who own the biggest streaming service who hosts awards -Melon Music Awards aka MMA) so be such large stakeholders in an entertainment company.

HYBE: Formerly BigHit Labels (BigHit Entertainment - that manages BTS and TXT - is under the HYBE umbrella but is independently managed). Hybe is a umbrella corporation that contains different companies collectively known as Hybe Labels but they are all still independent from each other and not directly managed by HYBE (BigHit: BTS/TXT - Pledis: Seventeen - Belift: Enhypen - Source music: Le SSerafim - ADOR: NewJeans) Is now considered the most powerful kpop entertainment firm.

Situation timeline:

• October: SM’s founder Lee Soo-Man (LSM) left SM in October (still largest stakeholder) citing internal pressures from other shareholders and personal desire to dial down his production duties.
• Feb 3rd: SM announced 3.0 plans + restructuring of the company with no inclusion of LSM
• Feb 7th: Kakao purchases 9.05% of SM becoming their 2nd largest shareholder (behind LSM), business agreement also signed
• Feb 7th/8th: LSM plans to take legal action against SM for violating the Commercial Act for selling shares to Kakao without his knowledge
• Feb 9th: HYBE shares they are considering acquiring a stake in SM
• Feb 10th: HYBE sign contract to take over LSM current stake in SM to become their largest shareholder with 14.8%
• Feb 13th – 17th: SM co-CEO Lee Sung Soo (LSM family member) voiced concerns about HYBE’s shareholder involvement
• Feb 20th: The Korea Entertainment Producers Association released a statement against Lee Sung Soo and SM for starting this whole drama. HYBE also responded by affirming again they do not believe the merger is ‘hostile’ and that they will be able to support SM’s management, provide resources, and create synergy in the industry.
• Feb 21st: HYBE completes purchase of 14.8% stake in SM becoming the largest stakeholder in SM

Video to watch:

Dana Tiktok Playlist: https://youtu.be/qxPNgmLtNik (35 mins)

Just a note about the video above: they were made real time by Dana, an army who has been summarizing the situation and continuously provides the updates  on tiktok. We all agreed that her summary is the easiest to understand and the most balanced. Kit compiled them into one video so that they were in chronological order.

Big Shout out to Dana (and Kit) for doing this. Her TikTok is: @danadoingherbest /  twitter is: @SugaNSprite

Reference Board above created by KIT