Jeon Jung-kook (born September 1, 1997), known professionally as Jung Kook, is a South Korean singer best known for being a member of the K-pop boy band BTS.
Jung Kook made his unofficial solo debut in 2020 with the song "Still With You", released on Soundcloud for BTS' seventh anniversary. He later released "My You" in 2022 for their ninth anniversary. 2022 also saw him making solo soundtrack appearances for 7FATES: CHAKHO and The World Cup. The latter appearances made him the first Korean artist to have an official song for the World Cup (though "Power" by EXO and "Victory Korea" by Super Junior are considered unofficial songs).
Jung Kook formally launched his solo career in 2023 with "Seven", featuring rapper Latto, which was released as the lead single to his debut solo album Golden, released on November 3. Golden is notable for being entirely in English, as opposed to the solo albums of the other BTS members.
"Seven" broke the Guinness World Record as the fastest song to reach one billion streams on Spotify just eight days after release. Earlier in the year, Jungkook himself broke the record as the fastest male Korean soloist to reach one billion total streams despite having had only three songs to his name on the streaming platform at the time.
Less than three weeks after the album's release, it was announced that Jungkook would be enlisting in the military in December alongside fellow BTS members RM, Jimin, and V.
Solo discography:
Studio Albums
- Golden (November 3, 2023)
Singles
- "Still With You
" (non-album single) (2020) - "My You" (non-album single) (2022)
- "Seven" (featuring Latto) (2023)
- "3D" (featuring Jack Harlow) (2023)
- "Standing Next to You" (2023)
Soundtrack Appearances
- "Stay Alive" (produced by fellow BTS member Suga) (7FATES: CHAKHO)
- "Dreamers" (featuring Fahad Al Kubaisi) (FIFA World Cup 2022)
Features and Collaborations
- "Left and Right" (Charlie Puth featuring Jung Kook)
- "Too Much" (with The Kid Laroi and Central Cee)
Look who we are. We are the tropers:
- Album Title Drop: In "Standing Next to You""Leave ya body golden like the sun and the moon"
- Aww Look They Really Do Love Each Other: Jungkook and Han appear to have an antagonistic relationship for most of the "Seven" video, but she still smiles and holds his hand at the end.
- Back from the Dead: He briefly dies in the "Seven" video, only to come back to life at his funeral.
- Bowdlerise: The clean version of "Seven" changes "fucking" to "loving" and the suggestive "it's the way that you can ride" to the less sexual-sounding "it's the way that we can ride."
- Break-Up Song: Almost half the songs on Golden, with special mention going to "Hate You"."We weren't perfect but we came close
Until I put all of our pain under the microscope
And I still can't face it
I'm still in love, for what it's worth
Maybe hating you's the only way it doesn't hurt" - Cluster F-Bomb: "Seven" has eight F-bombs, all but one in the chorus, which is more than what K-pop idols are usually allowed to do. There is almost no swearing anywhere else on the album, though.
- Determinator: He refuses to give up on Han So-hee in the "Seven" video. Not even if it literally kills him for a moment.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Mentioned Briefly in "Too Sad to Dance""And this Christmas, I got no gifts
Do I really deserve all this?
So I head straight down to the liquor store" - Everyone Has Standards: Jack Harlow likes threesomes, according to his rap in "3D", but thinks a foursome is pushing it and a fivesome is excessive."I had one girl, too boring
Two girls, that was cool for me
Three girls, damn, dude's horny
Four girls, okay now you whoring" - Face on the Cover: The digital cover of Golden has a fanservice-y Jungkook, wearing an open coat over a black mesh shirt, on a green background.
- Flying Seafood Special: Whales can fly in the "Dreamers" video.
- Intercourse with You:
- "3D" is about the limitations of phone sex.
- "Seven" is about wanting to have sex with a partner on a daily basis. This is more subtextual in the clean version.
- Lighter and Softer: Golden, being mostly straightforward pop with some EDM, is this to the other BTS members' solo albums: the hip-hop of j-hope's, Suga's, and RM's albums; the Genre-Busting mix of dark pop and hip-hop of Jimin's Face; and, to a lesser extent, the jazz-pop/R&B of V's Layover.
- Limited Lyrics Song: The solo version of "Dreamers" only has one verse outside the chorus. The extended version is less limited, as Fahad Al Kubaisi adds a bridge in Arabic.
- Lyrical Cold Open: "3D", the first song on Golden, starts with "One, two, 3D"
- The Masochism Tango: Jungkook and Han So-hee have this relationship in the "Seven" video. She appears to hate his guts, yet they still remain together. She even attends his funeral, only to be annoyed when he suddenly comes back to life.
- Mesodiplosis: In "3D"."I can't touch you through the phone
Or kiss you through the universe" - Mr. Fanservice: After having been mainly The Cutie in BTS, Jungkook took Hotter and Sexier direction for his official solo promotions. This shows in the page image, which has him in a sleeveless undershirt with his tattoos exposed.
- The "3D" video has him wearing a white suit with an open coat but no undershirt and later wearing a black sleeveless shirt as he smashes off a fire hydrant to get himself wet.
- In the first minute and a half of the "Standing Next to You" video, he wears a vest with no undershirt, though he switches to a fancy suit for the rest of the video.
- Parting the Sea: A variation appears in the "Dreamers" video, with the edge of the sea being a giant wall. The kids put a pearl in it, and then the pearl gravitates to a whale and becomes its hump.
- Sexy Soaked Shirt: Jungkook invokes this in the "3D" video when he smashes the fire hydrant, though his black shirt makes the viewer notice his wet hair more than any wetness on his clothes.
- Singer Namedrop: He gets namedropped by Jack Harlow in the latter's first rap verse in "3D".
- Stalker with a Crush: Some of JK's antics in the "Seven" video push him into this, most notably when he walks on top of the train that Han So-hee is on board.
- A Wild Rapper Appears!:
- Jack Harlow appears in the middle of "3D", though he sticks around to the end.
- Latto plays it straight in "Seven", showing up for her rap part and then disappearing.
