Your Hope, j-hope’s Hope World
With the famous debut date June 13, 2013, j-hope debuted in the group BTS under BigHit Entertainment. With the name full of positivity, j-hope aspired to make a difference with his music, and he did exactly that with his first solo mixtape, Hope World. Releasing his mixtape March 2, 2018, j-hope became the third member of BTS to release solo music, following Agust D’s self-titled mixtape released in 2016 and RM’s self-titled mixtape released in 2015.
Tracklist:
“Hope World”
“P.O.P (Piece of Peace) Pt. 1”
“Daydream (백일몽)”
“Base Line”
“항상 (HANGSANG)”
“Airplane”
“Blue Side (Outro)”
All seven members of BTS have had opportunities to venture out and explore their own style of music apart from the wide variety of music they make as a group. Being the main dancer and sub-rapper of the group, dance-pop and hip-hop was expected from j-hope’s first solo release. With dance songs like “Daydream (백일몽)” and “Hope World,” listeners get to hear the different styles j-hope ventured into. Opening the album with the lyrics, “My name is my life,” expresses j-hope's aspirations of keeping his life hopeful, and pairing that lyric with an upbeat song like “Hope World” that depicts how his career has come full circle for him showcases his hope even more.
The album came with two music videos: one for the title track “Daydream (백일몽)” and the b-side “Airplane.” The colorful graphics and green screened images in the “Daydream (백일몽)” music video illustrate a dream that j-hope is in, where he has everything he’s ever wished for. In one scene you even see him dancing with a microphone stand with the spotlight shining on him while he does what he loves: performing. Throughout the video, you can see the types of dreams he has as an artist and a person, and one of the biggest is “hope.” The music video ends right where it started: with j-hope laying in bed while an alarm clock goes off and his voice in the background says, “Wake up,” and echoes away.
With a track like “Airplane,” j-hope brought down the tempo of the album. The lyrics signify the need to be in the sky while the world tries to tear you down. j-hope has talked about his desire as a young boy to be on airplanes, and as an artist he is constantly on flights, so not only does he use his past desires as inspiration but also as a guiding map to show how far he’s come. The melodic rap takes down the tempo of the album but also has a hip-hop beat to tie in j-hope’s style. j-hope proceeded to use his own song and construct it into a BTS song, “Airplane pt.2,” with a completely different sound and style, but the one verse that stayed was his rap in the middle of the song about the chemistry between him and the clouds in the sky.
Since the release of Hope World, j-hope released a second album titled Jack in the Box in which he explores even more styles of music that he’d been waiting to try. This past summer, he headlined Lollapalooza where he performed songs from his latest release and even songs from Hope World.
As BTS takes a break from group activities, Armys are anticipating the release of the documentary j-hope IN THE BOX which will be released on Disney + February 17.
Edited by Kelly Sipko