“I wanted to convey my own narrative”: BTS’ j-hope on no feature artist in Jack in the Box

BTS’ j-hope has taken the world by storm with his first ever solo album, Jack in the Box, which was released on July 15. The album is nothing like other tracks from the K-pop boy band or the artist himself.

The K-pop icon recently unveiled the story behind the album in an interview with the reputed media outlet Variety. In the interview, the rapper revealed why he did not include any other artist in his album.

Jung Hoseok, aka j-hope, in this interview, elaborated on the inspiration and journey behind Jack in the Box and how this led him to the decision not to collaborate with other artists on his debut solo album.

BTS' j-hope revealed that he uses nothing besides his colors and stories throughout the album, as it accurately portrays the narrative he hopes to communicate to the audience.

“There are no featured guests in my album; all the tracks are filled with my voice only. Because I wanted to convey my own narrative, my own story as an individual, I thought that featured guests are not necessary in this album production, and I believed that filling all these songs with my own voice would only make this album very authentic.”

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What inspired BTS’ j-hope to create Jack in the Box

On July 15, BTS’ Sunshine, aka j-hope, broke the internet with his latest release, Jack in the Box. This unique hip-hop album depicts a side of the artist the ARMY has never seen before. In a recent interview with Variety, the rapper opened up on the inspiration behind the album.

The primary objective behind the latest album was to develop his unique style of music. In doing so, he refrained from referring to the work of other musicians and hip-hop artists and solely focused on his work and music style. So interestingly, the inspiration behind the album was none other than j-hope himself.

The K-pop legend also spilled that the album is a raw and truthful portrayal of an alternate side of the artist, which has remained undisclosed since the usual personality trope maintained by the idol in all BTS productions of a happy-go-lucky, jovial and fun person.

Commenting on how the album is a reflection of his inner self and how it narrates the journey of the idol in BTS, he says:

“So, when you ask me what kind of influences I’ve got, I think the influence that I’ve had when working on the album was on my inner self — my identity as an individual. The inner self, and my thoughts while working as part of BTS and of the history of my life, have been the influences.”

In terms of the musical influences he draws from, j-hope said that he continued to introspect and look within, which took him back to his initial days for its origins in street dance.

Speaking about his, the artist said:

“And if you ask about the musical influences that I had when working on the album, because my career first started based on street dance, I believe that the music that I used to dance to definitely laid the foundation for my music. So you will hear a lot of old-school hip-hop as the basis of the music style in this album.”

The listeners of the new album will be able to identify an old-school hip-hop style, which the idol has a strong affinity for and is the foundation on which his career commenced.