There are endless things I could say about this album. JHope is in fact my bias from BTS. He is not only an amazing musical artist who can create musical art, but he is also an incredible dancer. The reality is that JHope was a dancer first, being part of a street dance crew called Neuron. He auditioned for numerous companies before becoming a part of BigHit.
JHope learned how to rap. He didn’t come into BTS knowing how to rap and he worked hard with RM and Suga. He learned the skills and added his own stylistic flair. He knew the music he loved to dance to and vibe to and it was in what he enjoyed that he became JHope.
He had released a mixtape called Hope World which I highly recommend listening to and I will be talking about in later Music Mondays, but for now we are just going to talk about Jack in the Box.
This album really is the heart and soul of JHope. He put everything into every song and you can read the lyrics and just know that he was writing from the heart. I still get chills sometimes when I listen to tracks like Arson and More. I still remember watching the More music video for the first time and just being amazed at how he had blended two musical genres so effortlessly. He gave me hiphop and rock in the same song and made me want to move my body.
It’s also hard not to listen to Equal Sign and not feel the need to sing out the lyrics loud and proud.
My favorite song of the album those has got to be Safety Zone. It just comforts me on a level I can’t describe. Sometimes I sit in a room and close my eyes, listening to JHope talk about the need to find a place of his own. A place that he can feels safe and be himself. It’s something that we all strive to have but it is really hard to find in this world.
Jack in the Box to me is an album that will speak to you and every time it will be a different song with a different message. I promise you won’t be disappointed.