Jeon Jungkook became a member of Korean group BTS a little over a decade ago. At only fifteen years old, the native from Busan had big dreams that were seemingly pushed forward by a great impression from BTS’s current leader, Kim Namjoon. Since then, the group has followed a trajectory made up of ten years worth of struggles, make-shift record booths, free concerts, and a hard-earned success that catapulted BTS into a deserved worldstar status, gaining the love of fans from all over the world. After announcing their group hiatus for military service reasons and a desire to follow on solo works before this duty, the fans were sad, but had vowed to stay forever with BTS, a journey that now meant supporting their solo careers and waiting for a joyful reunion in the future.
Following the solo careers of all the members has been an eventful ride which came full circle with Jungkook’s GOLDEN release, a heartwarming and exciting end.
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From beautiful covers of pop star songs to maturing in voice, talent, and as a person, Jungkook of BTS has finally debuted as a solo artist with Golden. The youngest member of the band previously released “Seven,” a single that quickly took over streaming and radio services and made it to #1 on Billboard charts, followed by an early release of “3D,” a song that did very little in calming the fans’ hearts while waiting for a full blown album release by the artist. However, his official solo album has taken the world by storm and frankly, surpassed the expectations any of us might’ve had.
When BTS announced the start of their solo activities, the minds of fans all over the world were taken over by a single question: What do we even expect? Knowing BTS’s almost perfect artistry, the excellence of their upcoming music wouldn’t be a question, the real issue was that BTS is made up of very talented individuals, each with their own flavors, tastes, and attributes, which meant that solo works from all of them would probably only have one thing in common: their success and quality. ARMYs had no doubt that the content the members would produce as solo artists would be enjoyable, they were more so afraid of the unexpected; they had no idea what surprises the members would come up with. I mean, when the first member released his official solo, they surpassed every expectation the internet had come up with. Hoseok set the arena to one of uncertainty with Jack In The Box, in the best way possible. It created chaos in the fandom, which only grew when the members progressively released singles like Jin, the oldest, and the following members’ respective albums, D-Day, Indigo, Face, Layover, and now Golden.
The maknae’s album did not disappoint. In fact, from the concept pictures alone it had the entire fandom at a loss of what to expect, even when news outlets had spoiled some of the genres involved. The album contains multiple famous songwriters and acclaimed artists like Ed Sheeran and Shawn Mendes, ranges from groovy songs, songs with known Djs like Major Lazer and Dj Snake, and possible pop anthems. Every song had its own unique story to tell right from the lyrics to the rhythm, which, thanks to the producers and collaborators, perfectly accentuated Jungkook’s beautiful voice. In my opinion, the song choices for this album, that the artist said were made because he wanted something that resonated the most with fans, so he chose a primary love theme, created a shining arena for the maknae of BTS to conquer.
The main single in the album, “Standing Next to You,” is a groovy disco-pop song that left a huge impression on fans all over the world. The music video for the title track takes heavy inspiration from the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, and in it Jungkook dances, sings, and delivers a performance that left millions in awe. It isn’t the first time BTS delves into some MJ related artistry, but “Standing Next to You” is by far the closest and, by the looks of it, some might say the biggest MJ inspired hit.
Following the album release, Jeon Jungkook has done some interviews, made appearances in different shows, and even made a surprise Times Square concert in NYC. When witnessing BTS’s solo releases, we can look back and see the trajectory that has brought all of BTS’s members to their successful solo album releases and quickly see parts of their struggles and lessons through them. Much like his nickname “Golden Maknae” (appointed by BTS’s leader), Jungkook poured parts of his talent and trajectory into the album. Even while stating that none of the songs are his own personal stories, and choosing to not write but instead to give life to the songwriting of acclaimed songwriters, the singer was able to color every song and put much of himself into them with his voice alone, a feat that only gets accentuated when the artist performs these songs live.
Now, while different than what perhaps other members did and while we can’t call this album a deeply personal piece, we can still see much of the artist’s own trajectory and flavor seep in through the cracks. I believe the power that Jungkook’s voice has was one of the things that made this album such an accomplishment and a hit with the fans. Like I stated earlier, it was an experience beyond the lyrics and the rhythm, Jungkook’s fresh and deep-ranged voice made this album a possible pop-breakthrough.
Jungkook did not become the Golden Maknae by chance, and the nickname precedes a series of events of the 26 year old’s knack for being good at almost everything, especially singing. With this album, especially with such a catchy, classy pop anthem like “Standing Next to You,” Jeon Jungkook has lived up to his nickname, now his album title. He shared in an interview that, in many ways, he has earned the title “Golden,” and as an avid fan and lover of music, I couldn’t agree more.