‘Arirang,’ Finding Hope, Writing About Romance

J
-Hope is “softly spoken and kind of elegant,” says one of his Arirang collaborators, songwriter James Essien. “And then when he raps, it’s like DMX just comes in! It’s like, ‘What the hell?’ You never see it coming.” As he made clear on his sonically diverse but relentlessly hard-hitting solo debut, 2022’s Jack in the Box (which followed his 2018 mixtape Hope World), Jeong Hoseok never runs out of surprises, and his smiley public persona is just one side of his reality. He came to BigHit (later Hybe) as a street dancer, and only learned to rap after joining BTS. He’s quick to fill silences in group interviews, always aware when a room needs energy or his friends need help. “I do what I can for the other members,” he says, in an interview conducted in mid-February at Hybe headquarters in Seoul, South Korea.

How does it feel to be back in the reunited group? 
So, after finishing my military service, I performed as a solo artist for a time before reuniting with the group. And during that time, I was already feeling how different those experiences are. Now that we’re back together, the other members are filling in any gaps that I feel in my expression, in my performance.

In a lot of ways, I realized that this is why there are seven of us: Each person was doing their job spectacularly well, and that was something to cherish. But my favorite part is that the fans will be happy that we’re back together. I’m so happy about that as well.

Rolling Stone’s May issue features the most ambitious cover-story package in the magazine’s nearly 60-year history: eight different print covers in all. In addition to the group cover and story, we’re rolling out the seven solo covers — each with a video and solo Q&A — through Monday, April 20. Click here for continuing coverage, and click here to buy a box set of all eight covers.

Rolling Stone’s May issue features the most ambitious cover-story package in the magazine’s nearly 60-year history: eight different print covers in all. In addition to the group cover and story, we’re rolling out the seven solo covers — each with a video and solo Q&A — through Monday, April 20. Click here for continuing coverage, and click here to buy a box set of all eight covers.

Very important lyric on your solo track “Arson”: “Do I put out the fire, or burn even brighter?” This seems like a huge question that applies to your career and to BTS’ career. And it seems related to RM saying he thought about disbanding BTS, but ultimately decided to push forward. How connected is that lyric and that sentiment?
When I was writing that song in 2022, I poured in all of my emotions I was feeling at the time.  Back then, I was worried. I thought: Is getting all this love and attention actually a good thing? Maybe while everyone is clapping and cheering for me, I should just turn it all off. And I wondered whether I wanted this. But I think I’ve changed a lot since then. Because all of this is just a part of me. And through it all, whether working with the group or in my personal career, I’m experiencing a lot of life and learning from everything.

There are things that you can only feel at a particular time in your life. That’s how you live, and grow, and become an adult, after all. I think I felt a lot of that while making music during that time and ever since.

Watch the video interview below

It does point to that idea that it was always very likely that you guys would continue. But you always had the option of saying: “We’ve done it all, we can go out on top.”
Although, well… Now that some time has passed, I realized it’s probably not something I can stop just because I want to stop it. Personally, I’m very affected by the people around me, so I have to think about whether I can handle the emotional effect my decisions will have on so many others. I struggled with that. In the end, I felt that keeping the flame burning is what I truly want, and the choice that feels most authentically me.

On your 2022 solo album, you used the metaphor of being inside a box. Do you still feel like you’re in some kind of box, and if so, what kind?
I think that was a perfect metaphor for the time. But now that I’ve made more of my own music, challenged myself, and felt more overall, I wouldn’t say that I’m in a box anymore. Now, I’m wondering, “What can I create now that I’m outside of the box?”

Although, actually, the origin story for [my] music comes from Pandora’s box. In the story, all evil is released when she opens the box, but when she closes it, there’s still hope left inside. So what does hope have to face when it leaves the box? When I think about it, there must be so many … other presences that I need to find and incorporate into my music. Because there are so many emotions in life, right?… Whether it’s joy, or love, or even something more negative, nowadays I’m more interested in facing those emotions head-on and expressing them through my music.

You have such an important role in the group, musically and emotionally. It’s said that you keep the group together, and RM has said that in some ways you share his leadership. It’s your personality and your talent — you’re needed. Is that ever a burden?
I wouldn’t say it’s a burden. I just do what I can. I think that’s my role on the team. And, well, I don’t think of it as a requirement. I don’t think about what I need to do. It just comes naturally. This … role? Should I even call it that? It feels weird to call it a role. But all I do is take it in stride.

I think it’s clear from your lyrics and interviews that sometimes J-Hope is looking for a source of hope. You do that for other people, but where can you find hope?
Well … I actually think about that all the time. Even as I went around talking about hope, I wasn’t sure if I was truly a hopeful person. Truthfully, though, it’s all about your mindset. Before I got my name J-Hope, was I always a bright, positive, and hopeful person? Sure, I had a lively personality, but I wasn’t obsessing over the nature of hope or anything. It’s like the name made me who I am, and the place I found in life made me who I am as well.

Once I got this name, I told myself that I should take responsibility for this name that I’m carrying, and it changed something inside of me. I started searching for hope everywhere. So I told others about this as well. That if you change your mindset, you can truly find hope. I’m always reminding myself, “You are J-Hope.”  So, no, I don’t have a detailed method for how to get there, but my current life is so intertwined with the concept of hope, and J-Hope, so I happened to find my way.

What moments stand out from the making of Arirang, perhaps ones where you felt as though you were finding something new?
First off, just the fact that all seven of us flew to the States and had recording sessions together was a complete change to our process. So we had a lot of fun taking in the culture and feeling out the vibes as we worked. I think that’s what made this album as special and unique as it is. And a lot of the songs themselves are very different in tone from our previous work. So those are the ways that the process shines through. Traveling together to make music allowed us to show a new side of ourselves, and ended up strengthening our core as a whole.

Judging from your recent solo singles, you have a newfound comfort writing about romance. What had to change in your mind to get there?
I feel like the love and romance you feel in your thirties holds a different weight from the love and romance of your twenties. Even beyond personal experience, I just find myself thinking more deeply about it, and taking on the perspective of a more mature adult. 

Of course, those who are older than me might find that cute, but what I’m feeling now is that I should deal with emotional themes with more thoughtfulness and care. And actually, that freed me up to speak more openly about love. I think that’s just the natural order of things. I realized that love as a concept gets more and more refined as time goes by.

The first 10 years of BTS were about climbing to a new kind of superstardom. What is the goal of BTS 2.0, then?
I’ve been thinking recently that I shouldn’t get ahead of myself. We’re just in the moment, and we’re having so much fun right now. As long as we keep moving forward with these feelings intact, we’ll naturally fulfill and accomplish all sorts of things. So rather than dream too big, I just want to keep having fun making music with the group, and to nurture our loving relationship with one another and our fans for many years to come. That’s my only goal, and my hope. I want that.