“Solo stans” – fans who support only one member of a group – are certainly nothing new in the K-pop community. There is nothing unusual about favoring one member over the others, but things become toxic when that support becomes overly “sensitive,” turning into putting down fellow members or imposing their own interpretations and twisting the members’ words.
Even BTS, one of the few K-pop groups to have maintained their full lineup for 13 years since their debut and continuously reaffirmed their bond as a family, cannot avoid controversies caused by this group of individual fans. Since their return with ARIRANG, Jin has been one of the members most heavily targeted by these debates.
It all seemingly began when fans noticed that Jin did not appear in the album credits as a lyricist or composer, while the other six members did. This was later explained by the fact that the songwriting camp overlapped with the tour, making it difficult for Jin to participate. Jin and BTS both concluded, though, that it was not a big deal. They even expressed their gratitude toward each other: Jin was grateful that the members had created great music, while BTS appreciated Jin for actively pursuing solo activities and keeping fans engaged while the group was preparing to return.
However, the story took a negative turn when some groups of solo stans began interpreting the situation differently. Jin’s solo stans accused the other members of not being willing to wait for him, deliberately leaving him out of the group project, underestimating and hurting him, with some even encouraging Jin to leave BTS. On the other hand, solo stans of the other members criticized Jin for allegedly prioritizing his solo activities over group activities, showing little enthusiasm or contributing little to the comeback, and even making harsh remarks about his talent.
The two sides continued to argue, scrutinizing moments from interviews and even the members’ interactions on stage to support their respective arguments. What began as an issue surrounding music credits gradually turned into exaggerated speculation about Jin’s relationship and bond with the other members. In response to all of this, Jin addressed it through a series of gentle yet powerful responses!
Most visibly, Jin has shown everyone what the BTS members’ natural, family-like relationship looks like on stage. The legendary moments of him and Jungkook teasing each other, Jin’s adorable cosplay moments despite being the oldest member in front of his younger brothers, the smiles and happiness in their eyes… Their closeness and love for one another simply cannot be hidden!
This also reflects what Jin mentioned in an exclusive interview with Bloomberg. When asked, “Did the success of any of your solo work make you guys reconsider coming back? Did you think, okay, now I’m just going to go be a solo act?”, Jin firmly responded: “It’s less of whether our solo albums do better or the group albums do better. We just love doing group promotions more,” demonstrating his unwavering affection for BTS.
Jin also shared his thoughts on Weverse shortly after the credit controversy began spreading. He praised the album’s diversity in sound and genres, while not only expressing how happy he was to work with the members but also thanking them for creating such great songs.
“It's great to listen to the album. I've been lying still with music on for a few weeks, but there are a lot of songs and genres, so I don't get tired of it. I'm so happy to be with our members. Thank you for making such great songs. I'm so happy to be on tour with these songs. I'll be by ARMY's side from April, so please wait for me. Please show a lot of love for our music”, Jin wrote.
The message clearly shed light on how many solo stans had interpreted the situation negatively, despite Jin showing no signs of dissatisfaction with BTS, the songwriting process, or the way the members had clearly explained Jin’s role in the comeback and the circumstances surrounding his absence from the songwriting process.
“This is their answer to all the antis and solo fans. That he’s tired and couldn’t do it. He has already worked so hard. You guys always twist up their words as per ur own convenience and narratives when you get slapped hard with facts,” one ARMY wrote. Another ARMY even described Jin as once again having to “do damage control” because of the solo stans’ excessive sensitivity: "Jin on damage control duty again. Him reαѕѕuring his Stans that his okay is sweet. Stop this controversy here, BTS is 7".
