The Daily Spin, September 23
j-hope | Jack In The Box
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite song from each album right here.
Album: Jack In The Box (2022)
Artist: j-hope
Link:
As part of the dynamic K-pop group BTS, j-hope has cultivated a fandom through enthralling dance moves and funk-tinged hip-hop lyricism, the sort of wild-card energy that gives the group as a whole that extra dimension - it remains truly impossible to extricate the individual from the group, at least wholly, as it is similarly a tall task to consider the group, one of music’s most popular acts, without the individual.
With each member capturing opportunities to showcase themselves individually while the group embarks upon the Korean government’s mandatory military service, many members have chosen to release solo projects - RM’s Indigo, SUGA’s D-Day (as Agust D), Jimin’s FACE - but the first to appear was Jack In The Box in July 2022, a follow up to 2018’s Hope World.
There’s an undeniable sort of gravitas to this album when it’s at its best - the 9-10 punch of ‘Future’ and ‘Arson’ is a whip-quick course in versatility, the former a wonderland of synths and samples, chopped and fileted until it glimmers around Hoseok’s couplets, the latter a vicious, buzzing rally cry against the naysayers, punctuated by sharp drum lines in lockstep with ad-libbed hisses. It’s this movement into a serious mood that shines for the usually smiley rapper - turning lines into weaponry with great flair. Rock-tinged anthem ‘MORE’ hits with similar impact, bolstered by a powering choral instrumental and industrial beats underneath.
If the rest of the album were like those tracks, this would be a genuine contender - but as it stands, these are highlights among a largely faceless crowd. The metaphor is on-the-nose as is, but two-spot hitter ‘Pandora’s Box’ largely swings and misses in transforming this idea into something more powerful, and though the production shines on occasion - ‘Safety Zone’ is a highlight on this front - the lyricism, in both Korean and English, lacks a driving sense of appeal - as though he’s holding back until he finally breaks through his metaphorical barriers keeping him in.
Rating: 8.2/10
Best Tracks: MORE; Future; Arson
Worst Tracks: =; Pandora’s Box