BtoB’s Sungjae on the secret behind the boyband’s longevity: “We don’t really contact each other”

Sungjae of BtoB has revealed that contrary to popular belief, the group do not contact each other often, saying this is the secret behind their longevity as a team.

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The singer-actor recently made a guest appearance on singer Jung Jae-hyung’s YouTube series, Fairy Table on its March 31 episode. Over the course of the hour-long episode, Jung asks Sungjae about his years-long experience in the K-pop industry.

“You’ve been in the K-pop scene for quite a while. Right, Sungjae? It seems like many K-pop idols burn out after about 10 years. Maybe I’m wrong, but that’s just what I’ve noticed,” Jung says, per SBS Star, to which Sungjae replies: “That’s right. A lot of groups don’t last longer than seven years as well.”

This is commonly due to most K-pop idol group contracts stipulating a seven-year period of effectiveness, after which many idols opt to leave their companies in pursuit of other endeavours. This sometimes either result in permanent group disbandment or prolonged hiatuses.

However, Sungjae begins talking about the steps he and his bandmates have been taking recently to maintain their presence as a K-pop act. “For us, BtoB, we made some changes recently. For the first time, Changsub and I became independent; we moved to a different company,” he noted.

“We’re not disbanding or anything though. The group will still be active, managed by BtoB Company. I simply wanted to express my individuality more, so I transferred to another company,” Sungjae clarified. He also added that to him, “BtoB feels like a family, like returning home, and we decided to pursue independence to try new challenges.” Sungjae added that “sometimes we need these changes”.

When asked what the driving force of BtoB’s longetivity as a team is, Sungjae responded by saying, “Except when we work, we don’t really contact each other. You know how you don’t really talk much with your family members. It’s basically like that with them.”

“When needed, we check in. Then, when it’s time to work, we come together again. And when we’re together, we talk as if we’re family. Every time I go back to doing group activities, I feel like going back home. It makes me feel so warm.”

In late February, the boyband reached an agreement with previous label CUBE Entertainment over the use of the group’s name, now able to launch their own label with the group’s namesake. It is a subsidiary of DOD, which four members of BtoB – Eunkwang, Minhyuk, Peniel and Hyunsik – previously signed with in December 2023.

Changsub has since signed to Fantagio, which also manages K-pop acts such as ASTRO, Weki Meki and more. Yook Sung-jae was the final member to find new representation, after officially signing with IWill Media in December 2023.

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