The Korean singer has officially published his first solo album named “GOLDEN”. It’s an eleven tracks piece that lasts about half an hour.
We must remember that a time ago, the band BTS decided to have a hiatus because some members had to do the military training on Korea. Meanwhile, the other members have been working on their solo projects, being “GOLDEN” one of them.
We already knew some of the traklist on the album. The K-pop singer published the song “Seven” featuring Latto 3 months ago with official music video, and last month he released the “3D” music video with Jack Harlow.
The first song, “Seven” became the faster hit reaching 1billion streams on digital platforms, what made certified platinum record. On the other hand, the album, “GOLDEN” has reached the top 3 on the UK lists.
Jung Kook has talked about the name of the album on the show Fallon Tonight. The artist confirmed that the name comes from a nickname that her band-partner RM named him: “Golden maknae”. This means “the youngest gold of the group”.
Besides that Jung Kook said “I have a lot of connection with the term ‘Golden‘, because when my mother was pregnant with me, she had a ‘golden dream’ (which is synonymous with wealth and prosperity) and, if I look at the journey I have made, everything has happened like a ‘golden moment’. So when I thought about the name of the album, Golden was the only word that was on my mind.”
The singer has also confirmed that he still has a great relationship with his band members from BTS. Moreover, he has talked about touring and said that he don’t consider at the moment begin a tour because he still doesn’t have enough songs, and he’s focus on creating new music right now.
With this album, Jung Kook keeps the Korean style but with lyrics in English. With that, he expected reaching a more international audience. Furthermore, he has traveled to the United States to promote the album on TV programs and personal events.
If we come closer to analyze the songs, we should start with “3D”, one of the singles. On the lyrics, he sings about a distance relationship where he wants to see her “in 3D”. On Jack Harlow‘s verses, he raps about getting girls and see each other in person. The rap verses give a break to the song that without them would be quite repetitive.
On the music video, the Korean star show us his dance moves in elegant outfits while the rapper goes for the streets singing. The visuals follow the K-POP aesthetic with the choreographs with lots of dancers and open spaces.
On the second position we have “Closer to You” featuring the producer Major Lazer. The song is about a relationship where they want to be closer to each other, but the rest of the world try to separate them. This relationship may be quite toxic. It is like, although we know it is not good and everybody advice us to let it end, we keep on fighting to be closer.
This song has an up techno beat, quite characteristic from the producer, Major Lazer. On the other hand, the voice of Jung Kook suits perfect the intentions of the song.
The next one is “Hate you”, the first ballad on the album. The song narrates the story of an ended relationship where you can’t forget the other one, so you decide to blame the other and hate them, so it doesn’t hurt. “Hating you is the only way it doesn’t hurt”. The musicality is simple and calmed, with a piano that travels through your ears.
The third collaboration on the album is “Please don’t change” with the producer DJ Snake. With it, we go back to the dandy rhythm. On the lyrics, he asks his partner not to change “cause I live you just the way you are”.
Moving forward, we can found “Too sad to dance”. This song represents that moment when you got your heart broken, and you don’t have energy to party. With the song, you can imagine some cliché moments like, get drunk or be looking at the telephone constantly. Although the lyrics may be sad, the rhythm could cheer you up.
“Somebody” is a surprising one. The production changes and gives you a dance beat. With the lyrics, we are back with that relationship. Now he knows it’s time to let go, but he keeps thinking of her. He hopes she finds somebody, but then he says, “hope you know that somebody ain’t me”.
The next one is the first single released, “Seven”. On Spotify, we can found two versions, the clean and the explicit one. This song is basically about how good he feels when they have sex. On the music video, we can see him following constantly a girl, surviving different difficulties just to be with her. He is quite obsessed with this girl he doesn’t want to be separated of her, he wants to be with her “seven days a week”
On “Yes or No” he has fell in love and is trying to know if her is also in love with him. This song is relatable because the feeling of falling in love and don’t know if the other one is too. The production on this song makes the last chorus shine and make you want to sing along.
One of the last songs, “Shot Glass of Tears” is the second ballad on the album. Goes back to the broken heart. Jung Kook narrates that moment where you are sad but have to keep going on parties, so you drink to forget.
Finally, the single released at the same time as the album, “Standing next to you”. The song has vintage vives. It might remind the singer “The Weekend” for the use of the falsetto. On the music video, we can see a lot of choreography in different and beautiful spaces. With this song he shows all his capacity and steps strong in the music industry. On the choreography, some of the dance moves remind us of the legendary Michael Jackson.
The “GOLDEN” album is a solid presentation for the Korean singer. After that many years on the group BTS, it was hard to start as a solo artist. Jung Kook has taken the opportunity to try new things and show herself. His work has been measured note by note. On his first album, he has collaborated with 4 artists, reaching a more open audience. The work has had his benefits and now his music is all around the glove.
CREDITS: Text by Gabriel Sánchez
