Jungkook, Bad Bunny and Nile Rodgers and more feature on BTS star j-hope's upcoming solo album, ‘Hope on the Street Vol.1’.
j-hope's new solo album features a former bandmate and funk icon Nile Rodgers
The 30-year-old K-pop star has recruited a starry list of contributors for his follow-up to his 2022 debut album, 'Jack in the Box', with his BTS bandmate Jungkook featuring on the track 'i wonder'.
The King of Latin Trap, Bad Bunny, and funk legend Nile Rodgers, appear on 'lock/unlock'.
LE SSERAFIM’s Huh Yunjin, Gaeko and Yoon Mirae are on 'i don't know' and 'NEURON', respectively.
There is also a dance remix of 'what if...' from 'Jack in the Box', featuring JINBO the SuperFreak, plus a solo version of j-hope's J. Cole track 'on the street'.
The six-track collection will be accompanied by a six-part docuseries, which will “trail J-Hope’s dance journey” and see him meet street dancers in Osaka, Paris, New York, Seoul and Gwangju.
A press release from BigHit Music noted that dance is “the core of J-Hope’s artistic roots and identity.”
The first episode will arrive on Prime Video on March 27, with new episodes made available every Thursday and Friday, and the album follows on March 29.
Meanwhile, the South Korean boy band - also comprising RM, 29, Suga, 30, Jin, 31, V, 28, Jimin, also 28, and 26-year-old Jungkook - plan to reunite in 2025.
BTS revealed at their annual FESTA dinner, in 2022, that they would be focusing on solo projects and military service.
Noting a conversation he had with his bandmate Suga during a livestream on Weverse, RM said in 2023: "He told me that there were a great number of ARMY [their fans] across the globe wanting the seven of us to reunite and perform again."
He continued: “But as I’m working on my solo project, I keep thinking this way: ‘This is like a vacation’.
“What I mean by that is that it’s a kind of vacation that we, BTS and ARMY, need to take to successfully come back as a whole. So, I believe all our solo activities are important trips for our next chapter, and they’re also trips which we must go on in order to safely come back home."
RM insisted: “We’ll be joining together again. And that will be in 2025.”
'Hope On the Street Vol.1' track-listing:
1. ‘on the street’ (Solo verison)
2. ‘i wonder…’ (with BTS’ Jungkook)
3. ‘lock / unlock’ (with Benny Blanco and Nile Rodgers)
4. ‘i don’t know’ (with LE SSERAFIM’s Huh Yunjin)
5. ‘what if…’ (dance mix with JINBO the SuperFreak)
6. ‘NEURON’ (with Gaeko and Yoon Mirae)