At first glance, J-Hope may seem like the most light-hearted and upbeat member of BTS, with a big smile permanently plastered on his face. But there is much more than meets the eye. He is the main dancer of the group, but also participates in the creative process for each BTS album. He pays a lot of attention to his art and is not afraid to experiment. With his new album, Jack in the Box, J-Hope — born Jeong Hoseok — turns introverted, showing off a darker side of his personality, not to mention how multi-dimensional he is. With “More,” the album’s pre-release rock/hip-hop single, he surprised audiences and even his bandmate RM with his approach. (The album’s title is a play on Pandora’s box, which also inspired its stage name.) Speaking to Rolling Stone in Korean via Zoom, the 28-year-old dove into the creative process and what Jack in the Box means to him and his identity. The whole world is going to hear Jack in the Box. How do you feel; It’s half nervousness, half excitement. Since I’m the first to go solo, I feel a sense of responsibility and there’s definitely some pressure. Jack in the Box is filled with only things I personally wanted to do, almost to the point where I worry to myself, “Did I focus too much on what I wanted to do?” [Laughs.] I think that’s where half the nervousness comes from. This album really means a lot to me, and most of all, I’m proud and excited that it’s coming out. Although BTS members have released mixtapes and singles in the past, you are the first to release a full solo album. How did this decision come about? Instead of thinking of an order of who will be released first, while promoting as BTS, I kept asking myself “What type of music can I make as J-Hope of BTS?” I always ask myself this question, steadily coming up with a plan. I think that by doing this, of course, me [2018] The Hope World mixtape came out… and from thinking more, I realized that I wanted to show more dance, which you can think of as my main foundation. This led to its creation [2019 solo single] “Chicken Noodle Soup”, which features more of these. I started thinking that J-Hope needed to show more honesty in the music, and that’s what I focused on while approaching Jack in the Box. I think in terms of time, I ended up being the first because I was constantly preparing. I didn’t approach the project with wanting to be first in mind. How long has it been? Jack in the box was it in the works? You’ve mentioned in the past that you always have a plan, and in a recent V Live, you confirmed that the artwork for last year’s full-length version of “Blue Side” was somewhat of a spoiler for that album, with jack-in-the-box illustration and the words “Pandora’s Box”.The idea of jack-in-the-box is really connected to my stage name, so I think I’ve always had the idea in my back pocket. I’ve always felt the need to uncover music tied to jack in the box thematically for a long time. Pandora’s box is also an analogy with my name. “When can I release it? When can I make an album that includes this stuff?” These questions have always been on my mind. I wanted to include spoilers of these issues in the artwork for ‘Blue Side’ and while discussing with the artist behind the work, I made it clear that I wanted these elements included. This was my systematic approach as I prepared the album and its tracks. You’ve shown darker sides to yourself on tracks like “1Verse,” from 2015. Even with Hope World, while visually it may look colorful, the lyrics show depth. How did you decide to go visually darker and heavier with “More” and the full album? First of all, how do you know “1verse”? [Laughs.] I think it’s this: While I’ve been a member of BTS for 10 years, I’ve experienced a lot. In that regard, of course there are stories I want to tell, and I realized that it might be difficult to tell some of those stories through music with J-Hope’s existing image and vibe. I felt the need to show some of my darker sides… and I think I really wanted to do something like that. I wanted people to realize that J-Hope is not limited to bright things. It can make these concepts and has a wide range. I wanted to draw attention to this ability by challenging myself. I didn’t think much about the future. I just focused completely on what I wanted to do, what I wanted to express, what I wanted to show. That was the focus, and Jack in the Box has those raw elements. When this album “opens”, I get a little worried because it only contains what I wanted to do. [Smiles.] I’m very curious how people will react. But what I really want to say is that the record is full of my soul and my honesty. In that way, it’s a unique album and the album makes a lot of sense because, musically, it will act as a stepping stone for J-Hope to move forward. With the beats, you’re using more of that old hip-hop sound as a base. “What If…” even gets Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s “Shimmy Shimmy Ya.” What made you want to take the album in that direction? When you hear the music, you’ll know, but that sound is my foundation. The music I listened to when I danced [dances], the vibe I had… that’s what I express in the music, and that went into Jack in the Box, going back to what I wanted to do, what I’m good at, as my base. I think through that, it’s become more honest, more J-Hope-esque, while visually, I can show something very different. I think the album contains elements that are fun and appealing both visually and aurally. I think for fans, there are definitely elements that will find a lot of J-Hope. When “More” came out, some people were shocked. “J-Hope? Is this how J-Hope makes music? Rock? Emo? Hip hop? Emo-rock?’ But I think if you listen to the album, you’ll start to realize that there’s a clear reason why J-Hope chose that kind of music, why he chose that track, why he chose that line. Jack in the Box features two group tracks, “More” and “Arson”. [In the Korean music industry, “title track” is often used to describe the lead track of an album, regardless of whether the track shares a title with the album.] You mentioned that I was surprised when “More” was chosen as one of them. How did you decide on “Arson” as the second self-titled track? As soon as I heard it, I felt it had to be done. I put everything I can convey and only most of my … energy into this song. I chose it because I felt the style of the song shows the zenith of J-Hope’s emotions. “Arson” is a song that feels like a turning point and a crossroads. It has the fire, the passion that I wanted this album to have. The song is also last in the track list. One of the reasons for this is that I found this song to nicely package my thoughts behind why I made this album. The track acts as a full stop at the end of a sentence and clearly spells out what I wanted to express with this album. You had shared that the BTS members were all with you when “More” was released. Have members listened to the entire album? Do they have any favorites? The first person I shared the album with… is always the same for me. I always share with RM first. I could have shared it with Suga as well, but he likes to be very respectful of the process. He said, “I’ll listen to it when it comes out.” He always tells me that. There is a bit of shock and motivation that comes after hearing this. “When it comes out, I’ll look it up and listen to it.” So I let RM hear it first… and then it was Jung Kook. For the other members, I showed them the title songs, but not the full album. When RM heard the album, he said, “Wow, I didn’t think you’d make music like this. I have a bit of a frozen brain.” [Smiles.] “And so are you. The fact that you’ve brought this music to this moment… I really respect that and I love that you’re like that.” He gave me this feedback. For Jung Kook, it was really funny. After listening to the album, he suddenly went to his studio. [Laughs]. I think he felt motivated to start. I love that one of our biggest motivations is each other. So am I. When one of my members makes a certain kind of music or works on an album, I see their individuality and their color and I think, “I have my own color too. I want to reveal mine as well.” We influence each other positively and are good motivators for each other. When “More” came out, we were all together for work. [Smiles.] They were very surprised by the strong visual direction, that J-Hope made this kind of music.… They were surprised. And of course, congrats on Lollapalooza. You’re the first South Korean artist to headline a major US festival, which is huge news! How did you react when you found out? It is a huge honor to be invited to such a big festival, but also to be a headliner. If you have heard “More” and when you listen to Jack in the Box, you will clearly understand why I said OK to Lollapalooza and chose to participate. I really want to show my musicality and I wanted to show J-Hope live [show] to a large audience. While training, I’m used to playing as J-Hope of BTS, one of the seven. Now that I’m trying to fill an hour-long setlist myself, I realize it’s hard. [Smiles.] I feel the need to be really focused and detail oriented as…
