BTS member J-Hope recently dropped his solo album “Jack In The Box” and attained admirable achievements
Explaining about his stage name, “J-Hope”, BTS member Jung Hoseok shared that he combined the “J” from his surname “Jung” with “hope”, which represents his aspiration to become the hope of fans and BTS alike.
From a no-name to the rapper of a Kpop legend
Many will find J-Hope’s journey and career an aspiring tale. In particular, the BTS rapper was born in Gwangju, and has shown interest in the arts as early as 3rd grade. He later decided to seriously pursue dancing, and take classes to actualize his dream.
Before joining BTS, J-Hope was a member of the underground dance crew “Neuron”, took dance classes at Gwangju Music Academy for six years. At the time, the male idol was already well-known for his dancing skills, and won a lot of local street dance awards.
Eventually, J-Hope also developed a liking towards singing, and thus set out to become a Kpop idol. With his talents and determination, the male idol managed to surpass the audition of Big Hit Entertainment and was added to the lineup of BTS.
Ever since, J-Hope took up a tough training regime, and started to pick up rapping – a skill he has never attempted before. The male idol dedicated a lot of his time and effort into rap, and despite his fervor, there were times J-hope felt tired both mentally and physically, as well as lost in a loop of constant rapping, dancing, and composing.
In front of such pressures, J-Hope once considered giving up on his idol dream. It was thanks to a combination of love, trust, and support from the BTS members that the male idol decided to stay and continued his journey with the now legendary boy group.
The pride of BTS and ARMYs
Thanks to his superb dancing skills, J-Hope became BTS’s “Captain Jung” when it comes to monitoring the group’s dance performances and leading other members. He also participated in creating BTS’s choreography with professional choreographers.
In the behind-the-scenes video where BTS prepared for the performance at the 2022 Grammy Awards, the members were worried due to the absence of J-Hope, as he tested positive for Covid-19 right before the event. Jimin, who replaced J-Hope to lead the members, confessed he felt very worried without J-Hope.
Besides having top-tier dancing skills, what makes fans appreciate and admire J-Hope even more is his passion and determination. Before debuting as a rapper, he learned and practiced rapping with the help of his experienced friends. He once said, “Rather than thinking that I was forced to learn to rap, I absorbed it naturally in my everyday life”.
His hard work made J-Hope a talented rapper who can write his own music. He is recognized as one of the most multi-talented BTS members. In early 2020, J-Hope became an official member of the Korea Music Copyright Association (KOMCA). He now has nearly 130 songs copyrighted under his name.
Not only contributing to BTS’s phenomenal success, J-Hope also serves as a reliable emotional support for the members. Although he can be strict, he is also very warm and caring. He does not hesitate to show affection to the members, always taking care and helping them from the smallest things. Not only with the members, he always expresses gratitude to ARMYs, who have always stood by BTS throughout their career. J-Hope is also a member of the donor society “Green Noble Club for Children” for his large donations.
“I wanted people to realize that J-Hope isn’t limited to bright things” – J-Hope on Rolling Stone
With the album “Jack In The Box” released on July 15th, J-Hope wants to show his aspiration, misery and enthusiasm to get out of the current frame. The title song “Arson” contains J-Hope’s pure, honest passion and the shadows behind it. He told Rolling Stone, “I wanted people to realize that J-Hope isn’t limited to bright things.”
After just one day of release, “Jack In The Box” and “Arson” dominated iTunes charts in many countries and regions around the world. In particular, “Arson” ranked No.1 on the iTunes Top Songs chart in 65 regions and “Jack In The Box” took first place on the iTunes Top Albums chart in 50 regions, including major markets such as the U.K., the U.S., Australia, France, Italy.
As for the platform Spotify, “Jack In The Box” achieved 17.9 million streams after the first 24 hours, becoming the album with the second highest debut streams in 2022 after BTS’ “Proof” (56.7 million). In addition, the MV “Arson” also topped Music Videos Trending Worldwide on YouTube.
At the same time, the magazine NME rated the album “Jack In The Box” 5 stars, “Thought-provoking and full of fresh new flavor, ‘Jack In The Box’ takes the J-Hope the world has come to know and love over the last nine years and sets that figure alight. From the ashes, though, comes a star more thrilling and formidable than ever and seemingly unstoppable.”
In J-Hope, there’s more to being a rapper and dancer of BTS, and he expressed it by music. J-Hope proved his talent and respect for art. And most of all, not only for himself, J-Hope is the hope of BTS, the hope of ARMYs and the pride of K-pop.
