HOPE WORLD

How come that I, a fifty-five year old Danish woman, is completely mad with “Hope World” by a twenty-four year old Korean guy named j-hope?

Well, J-Hope is one of the seven members of Korean K-pop, hip hop, R&B, EDM boyband BTS who are currently the hottest and most talented artists worldwide (See my blog post “BTS for beginners” from May 26, 2017 for more information).

Although I like all seven members of BTS, J-Hope has always been my bias as he seems the most interesting to me. He is the most all-round entertainer of the seven, as he started out as one of the best street dancers I have ever seen, then gravitated towards music together with BTS where he became a skilled rapper, singer and eventually songwriter and producer. Furthermore, he is a born entertainer who ranges from an almost Las Vegas / Liberace kind of performer over a bright, sunshiny K-pop persona to a hardcore hip hop rapper. Finally, as the son of a Literature teacher, he is very well-read and great at playing with words, which shows in his lyrics, and that is probably why I identify with his world so easily.

What is “Hope World” then? It has been hyped as a mixtape, J-Hope’s first after his fellow BTS rappers RM and Suga had their own mixtapes released in respectively 2015 and 2016, but in fact “Hope World” is an EDM pop funk soul rap hip hop album rather than an ordinary mixtape. Sure, it is self-released for free download, but at the same time you can also buy it on for instance iTunes. Why not just release it as an album then? Because to J-Hope, it’s music before money so it shouldn’t be money that decides if you’re able to listen to his music. Despite the free download option, the album topped the iTunes charts in 75 countries.   

J-Hope worked on the album’s seven self-penned tracks for two years in his spare time from touring and working with BTS, but despite his massive work pressure, there is not one bad track among the seven. The album opens with:

 

1. Hope World, in which he introduces himself as j-hope (stylised with small letters as a solo artist, whereas he is J-Hope with capital letters in BTS). He calls it his musical calling card as it is the first number on his first solo album. A bright song produced by j-hope and DOCS Kim and complete with a talkbox part and everything. It is a conceptual song, where the underwater sound in the beginning sets the motif as it is a reference to Jules Verne’s “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea”, which was a childhood favourite of j-hope’s. The song casts him as Captain Nemo showing the listener around in his world, the listener being Professor Aronnax. It’s a breezy song, easy to sing along to, but it also shows that j-hope is deeper than just the bright Hope World sound. In the lyrics he says that he is “a positive rather than negative type”, who respects his parents, but he’s not simply the fun j-hope as he is “not a romanticist” and “I enjoy curses and vulgar language, but I don’t do that in my music.”. Eventually the lyrics boil down to “A lifetime of thanking for the environment I’m given.”

2. P.O.P. (Piece of Peace) pt. 1 further introduces j-hope to the listener. The track is produced by j-hope himself, so he is very attached to it, saying that the beat came natural to him and expresses himself. The song touches upon the sensitive topic of living in a dangerous war-filled world, in which it is j-hope’s hope that his music could be “someone’s strength, someone’s light” and a piece of someone’s happiness. “I want to help,” j-hope says, because he knows pain and how it is not to be heard. He wants to speak for people who can’t be heard and hopes his music will comfort the listeners and give them at least a piece of inner peace so they would be happy with their lives. The song is called pt. 1, because j-hope thinks it is important to keep talking about these topics.

 

3. Daydream (백일몽) is the main song of the album, produced by j-hope and Pdogg. Where the two first songs were about j-hope, “this expresses my shadow”, he said in a direct broadcast on the V LIVE broadcasting app on the release day; March 2^nd, 2018. In this shadow-side song, the lyrics go, “My character is half and half”, because the artist known as j-hope is only one half of the person, the other half being Hoseok Jung (or Jung Hoseok as they say in Korean), the man behind the artist. This man is “abstaining from large cravings”, as life as a public figure has responsibilities and burdens. He is not complaining, though, “Not a reality refusal, discontent, misfitting, ain’t none of that”, but like everyone else he is caught in the “common psychological escape” called daydreaming. 

His daydreams are not about being rich and famous, as he has already reached that as J-Hope. Instead he dreams about leading a normal life. He wants to cry in peace, party like crazy and be fluttered with love, as he puts it. Impossible dreams for a Korean role model idol and that’s why he happens to “wish on a sky, wish on a scar” instead of a star and compares his daydreams to Alice’s trip through the rabbit hole or Harry Potter’s to Hogwarts. As the topic is a bit serious, j-hope keeps the beat of the song at a house tempo, the music contrasting the topic, thereby making the song more charming, “an untamed raw charm,” as J-Hope puts it in the V LIVE broadcast. J-Hope wrote the song in a Brazilian hotel room and you can almost hear the hot samba-country resonate in it.
The song was the first of two from the album to be promoted with a music video that complemented the song brilliantly. Bright, funny, ironic and showing the two sides of j-hope / Hoseok, it both refers to the famous French Édouard Manet painting “Dejuner sur L’Herbe” (“The Luncheon on the Grass”) and has Arthur Dent from Douglas Adams’ “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” novels text j-hope “DON’T PANIC”. The mv “Daydream” received over 12 million views within the first 24 hours.

4. “Base Line” was supposed to be an interlude but ended up being a “real” track, although short. The rap track has a strong beat and DJ scratching effects and is produced by j-hope himself with the help from Supreme Boi. “There’s a base line in me,” says j-hope and explains “Gratitude for my work is my base.”  The lyrics describe his way to music, how ten years of being a street dancer was his foundation and that his rap is “shaped through the rhythm of my body”. To j-hope it is a track that discusses the essence of him as a person, so no wonder it says, “My music’s dream still remains, so I work hard every day.”
5. Hangsang (항상) Feat. Supreme Boi is a swag rap with a very lit beat and a catchy hook. Hansang means “Always” in Korean, by the way, and the track is produced by Supreme Boi and j-hope. The song is a bit of bragging, actually, now that BTS has become a success despite all the obstacles, “There was no one on our sides, our team came up from behind. Now we’re opening up the world.” He admits that his driving force remains BTS; “The world falls into step with these seven people. We’re always always together” and as he finds it a bit embarrassing to brag, there is also modesty in the song, “With ma label, a foothold. With ma fans, gratitude. With ma team, always.”

 6. Airplane is a song even more meaningful to j-hope than P.O.P. pt. 1. as he had an artistic epiphany making it. The beat j-hope made in a hotel room in Chicago and then listened to it on an airplane and while looking at the night sky, the lyrics and the melody came to him. “I thought: this is what being inspired feels like,” he tells on V LIVE and goes on to say that it will remain unforgettable, “I might have reached the peak of my career.”
The lyrics tell how j-hope as a kid wished he could fly in an airplane and how he can’t believe that “Now in the very place of dream that was so high, I’m flying over the beautiful world.” The track is about making it and there’s a tongue-in-check dis to his haters, saying that he has flown so much now that “It’s time to console you who didn’t make it yet / I’ll give the flight points as a present.”
j-hope asked the other BTS members to sing with him on the song since they’ve worked and toured the world together and they immediately accepted. “I was quite moved,” he says. Produced by j-hope and Supreme Boi, “Airplane” is the second song off the album to have a music video. This is poetical and subdued and a contrast to and comment on the “Daydream” video.

7. Blue Side (Outro) was written three years ago. A blue song inspired by blue sky and wind and lyrics about wanting to love, but not being allowed/able to, so only in daydreams love is reachable, “Inside my blue dream I want to hold you even if you say we can't”. Produced by j-hope, Adora & Hiss Noise.

My own top three consists of Hangsang, Base Line and Daydream, and for the last four song, I like them equally well although they are very different. You can download the entire album for free on Soundcloud or buy it through iTunes. For further information, you should watch J-Hope’s broadcast on the V LIVE broadcasting app.

Five out of five stars: *****

© Lise Lyng Falkenberg, 2018

BTS for Beginners

On May 21^st 2017, BTS made music history by winning Billboard Music Awards’ Top Social Artist Award with more than 300 million votes, overtaking Justin Bieber by many millions, breaking his six year streak and becoming not only the second artist ever to win this award, but also the first Korean one. This achievement came as a surprise to many and you could literally hear the American music press go, “Who the heck is BTS?”

Well, I guess it is safe to say that the honoured colleagues of the American press don’t have a teenager living at home, because then they would know that BTS is currently South Korea’s most famous K-pop group. Currently they have made four studio albums, four compilation albums, eight video albums, twenty-nine music videos, four EPs, twenty-two singles, and a singles album.

Their recent studio album “WINGS”, released in October 2016, charted all over the world and went to number one in the iTunes album charts in Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Denmark (where I’m from!), Finland, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ireland, Laos, Latvia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Slovenia, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United States, and Vietnam.

Their monster hit “Blood, Sweat & Tears” from the album currently has a whopping 138,105,292 views on YouTube, a number that is increasing by the minute, and their present Wings Tour sees them perform at large sold-out arena concerts in South Korea, Chile, Brazil, United States, Australia, Philippines, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Japan, and Thailand.
 

I myself have a now 18-year-old daughter living at home, so I have been listening to BTS for almost two years now and I totally get why they are so big. However, when I am to explain who BTS are to my peers or people even older, I end up comparing them to the Beatles, because the impact that BTS have on the youth of today is the same as Beatles had on the youth of the sixties and for very much the same reasons. Like the adorable mob-tops of the sixties, BTS come with a full package of new sounds, looks, fashions and an honest, sincere, deep, silly, humorous, new approach to the music industry and their fans.

Where did they come from?
In South Korea, management agencies offer binding contracts to potential artists at a young age and trainees live together in a regulated environment and spend many hours a day learning music, dance, and other skills for years in preparation for their debut.

In 2005, music producer and former composer Sihyuk Bang, also known as “Hitman” Bang, founded Big Hit Entertainment record label and management agency; a relatively small company, but known for treating their artists better than many others to the extent that artists are encouraged to develop their own music.

In 2010, Rap Monster auditioned for “Hitman” Bang after which the group BTS was built around him as the group leader. Soon after he was joined by Suga, as the producer wanted to create a hip-hop group and a year later, the gifted dancer J-Hope became the third member. The four other BTS members joined within the next couple of years.

BTS (short for Bangtan Sunyeondan meaning “Bulletproof Boyscouts”) or Bangtan Boys as they are also known got their name from “Hitman” Bang, of course, and to the group he became the equivalent of the Beatles’ Brian Epstein. There is a deeper meaning to the BTS name though, which the group itself explains as them being bulletproof, i.e. resistant to stereotypes, criticism, and expectations that aim at the youth of today like bullets.

Music
BTS debuted in 2013, but not until they dropped their hardcore hip-hop image for something closer to their own personalities, did they break through internationally with hits like “I Need U”, “Dope” and “Run”. By now they cover many genres musically, not only hip-hop, but also pop, rap and even a bit of jazz mixed with strong power ballads.

Rap Monster, Suga and J-Hope have writing credits on the majority of BTS’ material and in recent years, they have started producing more and more of their own songs. On “WINGS” the four other members have started writing and producing as well.

As perhaps the first K-pop group, BTS took to writing about such heavy and diverse issues as depression, inferiority complexes, politics, and female empowerment. Showing things like suicide attempts, domestic violence and drug abuse in their videos have set them apart as well. Their music video “I Need U” even had to be edited into a “family friendlier” version before release, as the original 19+ version was too strong to be aired on TV, but eventually the original “director’s cut” was released and now has over 9 million views on YouTube.

BTS are very mature in the way they portray the darker sides of youth and life. They are totally aware of the seriousness of these topics and handle them with brilliant insight. Several of the group members have confessed to suffering from depression, social phobia, and loneliness themselves, so they know what they are talking about.

Furthermore, in a country like South Korea where homosexuality is largely taboo and LGBT-people face legal challenges and discrimination, BTS members openly support LGBT-rights the same way as they support women’s rights. After a fan-dispute in 2015 about whether the fairly innocent lyrics “A woman is the best present” from their hit “War of Hormone” are misogynistic or not, Rap Monster admitted to feeling shame and guilt about the controversy and BTS officially apologised, saying that they had learned “that defining a woman’s position or value in society from a man’s point of view could be wrong”. This respect towards women is another reason, why BTS is so popular as girls and women worldwide are sick and tired of hearing themselves being called hoes and sluts by western rappers and male vocalists in general.

Most of the BTS members have recorded solo as well, where Rap Monster’s “Do You”, Suga’s “Agust D” and “Give It to Me” as well as J-Hope’s “1 Verse” stand out to me.

To people who diss BTS because they don’t sing in English, I can only say: so what! We non-English kids of the sixties didn’t quite understand the Beatles either, when they were around, but today at least the internet is here and you can easily google a translation. Furthermore, like most other K-pop acts, BTS incorporate many English sentences in their lyrics, which help connect to international fans.

Visuals
You will rarely see BTS play at concerts, although Suga is a brilliant piano-player and plays a string of other instruments, V plays the saxophone and several of the other members are able to play guitar, piano and drums, not to mention J-Hope playing the recorder with his nose! The absence of instruments is not so much inability to play as it is tradition. K-pop is not just music, you see, but also dancing, fashion and social media content; an all-round packet.

As a K-pop group, BTS dance on stage, which makes it difficult to play instruments. Instead their choreography is without comparison as they are extremely precise and in sync even compared to other K-pop groups. BTS is known for this elaborate and perfectly-synced choreography, both on stage and in their music videos. Furthermore, their videos are small masterpieces in themselves, or maybe rather small short films, some of which make out greater narratives when put together. They are highly artistic and symbolic and it doesn’t hurt if you know your art history and classical literature and music along with the Bible, Greek mythology and the main pointers within philosophy and psychology if you want to analyse them!

Social Media
As a group, BTS is especially famous for its social media following on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and the Korean V-app where artists live-stream and fans are able to chat with their idols. They have followers by the millions as what sets the BTS social media presence apart from other K-pop groups are their honest and constant uploads that let fans see them as they are, not only the good and glamourous sides, but also when they are down, practising, eating, sleeping and whatever. The bond made between group and fans this way is extremely strong.

Not the least because of this, I hesitate to call BTS a boyband although that is what they are, but they are a boyband with a difference as – despite them starting out as a put-together group – they have developed into seven close-knit brothers or maybe a seven-headed (rap) monster as opposed to the Beatles’ four-headed one!

Group members 
Seven members seem a lot to a western audience and at first, it can be different to tell who is who, especially as they have a habit of changing hair colours as quickly as they release albums. You soon learn to differentiate the seven of them, though, as they have very different personalities and functions in the group. Here’s a short who is who: 

Rap Monster, real name Namjoon Kim (but you’ll usually see it written the other way around as Kim Namjoon because Koreans write their surnames first), b. September 12, 1994. Leader of BTS, main rapper, main lyricist, lead composer and producer. Known as Rap Mon and God of Destruction because he happens to break everything around him. He is known for his strange dance moves, but he is extremely intelligent with an IQ of 148 (mine is only 142 ☹), which put him in the top 1% in the Korean preparatory university entrance exams. He has taught himself English from watching the American TV series “Friends” and is sometimes called the “dad” of BTS.

Jin, real name Soekjin Kim (not related to Rap Monster, but Kim is just a very common surname in Korea), b. December 4, 1992. Known to the American public as “car door guy” and “the third member from the left” because that’s where they noticed his looks. Jin is the oldest member of BTS, sub singer and the look of the group. He has ridiculously broad shoulders, loves Super Mario and cooking and has his own live-streamed mukbang (eating broadcasting) called “Eat Jin”. Fans call him Pink Princess because of his love for the colour pink and he is known for his bad “dad-jokes”, his windshield laugh and for blowing kisses to his fans. Jin is regarded the “mom” of the group as he is in charge of the cooking and used to drive younger members to school.

Suga, real name Yoongi Min, b. March 9, 1993. Lead rapper, lead lyricist, main composer and producer, known as Grandpa and Motionless Min because he likes to sleep. As a solo artist as well as producer and lyricist for other artists, he calls himself Agust D and within the industry, he is said to be a genius-levelled producer. He’s honest, blunt, and salty and deeply into socially conscious themes, but with a big heart for his fans and fellow BTS members. Received the stage name Suga because of his pale skin and sweet smile. Suga is very knowledgeable and part of SOPE, a self-chosen name for his collaboration/ship with J-Hope.

J-Hope, real name Hoseok Jung, b. February 18, 1994. Main dancer, choreographer assistant, lead rapper, lead lyricist, composer and producer, the real “mother” of the group as he nags the others about tidying up, tying their shoelaces etc. Known as Hobi and J-Horse because of his longish face, and is the self-declared hope of the group, the sunshine, and the angel. He is the master of aegyo (cuteness) and girl dances, noisy, hyperactive, easily scared and the second half of SOPE.

Jimin, real name Jimin Park, b. October 13, 1995. Lead dancer, lead singer, the one hitting the highest notes. Jimin is a classically trained dancer and known as ChimChim and Mochi (rice cake), because he looks like one. He is the baby face of the group, but sports amazing abs, which he shows off regularly. He’s a bit of a “camera hog”, but very caring towards his fans and fellow members and the bias of my daughter.

V, real name Taehyung Kim (still not related!), b. December 30, 1995. Sub singer, the one with the deepest voice. Along with Jin, he’s in charge of the looks of the group, which has already landed him a part in a Korean drama series. Known as Tae Tae, Blank Tae because he often has a blank expression on his face and Alien as he is generally weird, erratic, unpredictable and does random stuff. He’s said to be 10% genius and 90% idiot and loves art, dogs, and little kids.

Jungkook, real name Jeongguk Jeon, b. September 1, 1997. Main singer, lead dancer, sub rapper, known as Kookie, Seagull, which should have been his stage name originally, and the Golden Maknea (maknea meaning the youngest person in a group) as he is good at everything. He is the strongest of the bunch and known for pranking his fellow members and making them laugh.

All seven members of BTS are very close and committed, not only to each other, but also to their fans who are on a first (stage) name basis with their idols just like Beatles-fans were with the fab four. Although fans usually have a bias within BTS, they tend to love all seven members and not just one because of the genuine attention and affection that they receive from the entire group. Despite their huge success that is still growing, BTS have managed to stay true to themselves, decent and down-to-earth and that is another reason, why they are so widely loved.

A.R.M.Y.
The fans of BTS call themselves “A.R.M.Y.”, which is short for “Adorable Representative MCs for Youth”. They see themselves as an army that protects their idols from hate and fight for their opportunity to expand. The best example of their power is their feat in making BTS win the Billboard Top Social Artist Award as the first K-pop group ever and securing their attendance at the BBMAs, as originally BTS weren’t invited.

I guess I’m too old to be A.R.M.Y. like my daughter, so I’m probably just an A.R.M., but I still have a bias (J-Hope) and bias-wreckers (Suga and Rap Monster) and a top ten list of favourite songs. You’ll find the list with links below and now all that is left is to await the first European BTS tour. Although BTS have been to Europe several times, it has only been for filming, so a tour must be in the cards soon, right? Happy listening!

1.      Fun Boys (a.k.a. Boyz with Fun), (2015)
2.      Rise of Bangtan (a.k.a. Attack on Bangtan), (2013)
3.      Saatori Rap (a.k.a. Paldogangsan) (2013)
4.      Fire (2016)
5.      Not Today (2017)
6.      We On (2013)
7.      Boy in Luv (2014)
8.      Boy Meets Evil (2016)
9.      Cypher pt. 4 (2016)
10.    Danger (2014)

© Lise Lyng Falkenberg, 2017