STYLE

J-hope, out in the Street

by 박세회 2023.07.19

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Louis Vuitton

How was the shoot today? Behind the lens stood Mario Sorrenti.

He is a famous artist and photographer, so I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t burdened. It was an atmosphere and shooting approach I’d never experienced before; it was fresh and enjoyable. I think he captured aspects of j-hope that aren’t normally visible, so I had a lot of fun working on this. I think I was also slightly nervous, this being my first proper advertorial content after becoming a Louis Vuitton ambassador.

Were you able to discover a new aspect of j-hope thanks to this particular collaboration between Louis Vuitton and Sorrenti?

I think the collaboration showed j-hope’s usual vibes even better, as well as expertly evoking faces and poses from j-hope you couldn’t see before, through a wide array of compositions and atmospheres. Personally I prefer to avoid angles that show the right side of my face. But even those angles came out great thanks to Mr. Sorrenti’s ability to stylistically capture them.

Which Louis Vuitton look from today do you remember the most?

There was an outfit that was so glamorous, regardless of who was looking at it. The Louis Vuitton logo shone on this top-to-bottom set-up denim look. I thought the look demonstrated what ‘gorgeous’ is. Actually, this outfit had made the biggest impression on me during this Paris show, so I was proud to wear it during the shoot. I felt like a human Louis Vuitton.(laughs)

Let’s talk about your single that came out in March. There are too many things to talk about here. Your single features J. Cole. It’s J. Cole! Your first meeting with him was in Lollapalooza, right?

No. It was in my dreams.(laughs) J. Cole was someone that I had always longed for and met in my dreams. The first time we met in actuality was during Lollapalooza, that’s right. It was like fate. The Lollapalooza festival was the most important part of my solo album promotion last year, and as fate would have it, my muse J. Cole was the headliner. That’s when everything started. Even while meeting, talking and working with him, I couldn’t believe all of this was real.

The first time you met was recorded in the Disney+ documentary, <j-hope IN THE BOX>. From that first scene, I’d wondered whether he had promised to feature in your song – the encounter seemed too fateful to be a coincidence.

Not at all. I think I was busy trying to convey my sincere feelings. I really wanted him to know, “You have been my muse since I was young.” Once we met, I realized, “If I had to pick my dream collaborator, he would be it!” Afterwards, I focused on writing music, while thinking only about J. Cole. That’s how the song ‘On the Street’ was born.

After that, what kind of conversations took place before this great single came out, as a result of your collaboration?

I sent Cole messages carrying my heart. Very fortunately, Cole ‘hyung’(‘older brother’ in Korean) came back with a positive response. I even sent him a video message at the end of the year. I’d really tried a lot to convey my sincerity. After that, while waiting for Cole’s verses, there was a period of ‘hope torture,’ where I endured moments of waiting and hoping that ‘He will call me soon.’ Right at the moment I was about to give up, Cole’s verses arrived. And then many things happened very quickly. As soon as we met on site for the music video shoot, Cole hyung complimented me a lot on the song. I felt like I owned the whole world.

Do you remember any trivial conversations between you two?

If my English had been better, we would have talked more on set. It’s a pity. I expressed these feelings to Cole more actively through text. He messaged me, “I heard that you will be starting your mandatory military service soon. I wish you good health and hope you wrap everything up well.” Something really trivial included a question about whether the music video for ‘On the Street’ was an homage to his music video for ‘Simba.’ He texted me his gratitude, saying, “That’s so amazing.” I also found it amazing that I was exchanging text messages with Cole, so I wrote to him about all those feelings. Everything was trivial, but when you think about it again, these were special moments whose meanings were anything but trivial.

In the post-credit scenes of the Disney+ documentary, you briefly talk about ‘Hope on the Street’. And the single released right after that was ‘On the Street’. It all fits exquisitely. Is there a reason you really wanted to collaborate with J. Cole on this song, which is also a fan song?

It started with the question, “What is the big driving force and center for artist j-hope to finish Chapter 1 of his life and move onto Chapter 2?” Ultimately, I remembered the fact that my roots lie in dance; through dance, I encountered music and began to rap; when studying rap, the first artist I had come to like was J. Cole. Everything seemed to fit right in at the time. I looked back at the things that took up a big part of my growing up. I studied them and started creating myself again. All this also had a huge impact on the musical direction of ‘On the Street.’ Basing the song on the framework of the lo-fi boom bap that I’d listened to while dancing as a child, I got to work, thinking of the result with Cole’s featuring. I had no doubt that the enterprising lyrics and weight J. Cole possesses as an artist would make this song shine even more. In the end, it seems like the song was born to express gratitude to Cole, who gave me tremendous musical inspiration.

This single can also be read in many different ways. It's fun to think of it in conjunction with ‘Pandora’s Box.’ It’s like hope has come out of the world. When something fits just right, we say, ‘That makes a story.’ Everything about j-hope’s journey makes a story. Since when, how, and with whom did you think of all this?

The method of making one’s own plans and deciding, ‘This is cool, so let's just do it!' is important. However, I think I prefer a style where I personally see, feel, experience; where I pour into the work the parts that carry my heart, and continue to refine it.

The foundation of your work is sincerity.

That way, from the position of an artist who produces the work himself, sincerity gives the artist the dignity to talk about the work. [After completion] the process of reflecting, learning, correcting and realizing something is different from learning what’s good in someone else’s work from the beginning. I am sure that my life and the steps I take will become my music, content and performance; that they will continue to be the driving force for organic, creative activities in the future. This is confidential, but I think I rather enjoy creating stories and big pictures (laughs). I’ve been in the business for a decade; has my body absorbed the style of ‘K-contents’? (laughs) I’m still embarrassed to compare myself to other great producers. I’m just going to continue to have fun creating and will try hard to show good aspects of myself.

Louis Vuitton

Lollapalooza is the festival where Chicago grunge was born. On a stage like that, you showed tremendous presence with grunge-like arrangements. You also broke the Lollapalooza record for the biggest ever ticket sales. How do you feel when you think of that day? Tell me everything, even the temperature and humidity of the air that day.

Festivals still feel very foreign to me, even though I’ve performed on so many stages, as a BTS member. Festivals have this peculiar energy of ‘rawness’ that only flows through festivals. That’s why I wanted to try. I prepared for this without sleeping a wink; I couldn’t eat well even until the day before the performance, because the pressure dominated my mind. I endured and prepared through this raggedy, exhausted state.(laughs) Even while I was working on the album <Jack in the Box>, I thought, ‘Ah! These songs will definitely radiate tremendous energy on stage.’ I was already visualizing myself on stage while working on the songs. These mental images materialized during Lollapalooza. Within this space called the festival, which is still unfamiliar to me, I wanted to show people the roughness of my musicality. I think the music in the album blended wonderfully with the characteristics of that space. Lollapalooza truly became an unforgettable moment in my music history. In general, I’m quite harsh to myself, but I want to praise the person I was in that moment.(laughs)

I heard that you will be releasing a physical version of <Jack in the Box> to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the original album that was only released digitally. How did it feel when you saw the results for the first time, and to whom did you show them to first?

I had a lot of worries while working on <Jack in the Box>. I had to come out into the world and show j-hope, so not only was I worried musically, the hardships and realizations I’d experienced during the period were always on my mind. As you can see from the music and activities during that time, I was going through a dark period. The friend that witnessed this process, listened to the album and cheered me on was none other than RM. RM was a big help to me mentally. Throughout the process – ideation, creation, promotion –<Jack in the Box> was an album that taught me huge lessons. The album is like my baby. It is a work that has made me deeply realize that there is no end to learning. As you said, that album is now out in a physical form to commemorate its one-year anniversary. My heartfelt messages are contained in the album. I hope you look forward to it.

Last question. Isn’t life incredible?

Life really is a series of incredible events. This little child from Gwangju debuted as a member of the Bulletproof Boy Scouts (BTS), achieving great success, even trying solo activities and exploring j-hope’s own music. I’ve even become a Louis Vuitton ambassador and am doing this interview with <Esquire>.(laughs) I’m thankful for everything. I want to continue living an incredible life! Everytime I feel it, it’s so thrilling!