Song of the Week delves into the fresh songs we just can’t get out of our heads. Find these tracks and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist, and for our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, Jung Kook of BTS makes a splash with his official solo debut, “Seven.”
There’s a concept in K-pop called duality that Jung Kook of BTS encapsulates absurdly well — this idea of being able to slide back and forth between the cuter side of a personality and a more alluring one; an artist’s edgy onstage persona and offstage sweetness.
With his official global solo debut, Jung Kook takes duality to its limits: “Seven,” featuring rapper Latto, is one of the most explicit tracks to ever be released by an artist who originated in the K-pop world. It also arrives with a terribly funny and charming music video that takes a comedic approach to the song. There’s both a clean version and uncensored version on streaming services. On Good Morning America today, Jung Kook performed the track with some sharp, confident choreography, and also joined the host for a sweet, bubbly conversation that made the viewer want to pinch his cheeks. If you’re somewhat new to the BTS game, be prepared to embrace the whiplash — this bounce between extremes is Jung Kook, encapsulated.
Since BTS announced their second chapter just over a year ago, confirming that they intend to remain active as a group but also take time to embrace solo endeavors in the midst of completing mandatory military service, Jung Kook’s bandmates have explored a range of themes through their individual projects — formally leaving youth behind, working through anger and grief, processing self-image and scrutiny, and similarly heavy, deeply personal subjects that haven’t always felt right for music from all seven members. On “Seven,” Jung Kook takes the chance to remind the listener that BTS have never been afraid of breaking the rules.
When BTS debuted, Jung Kook was just 15 years old. From the jump, the band existed on a bit of an island — in a recently released book, the members reflect on the difficulties they faced domestically as a group that wasn’t exactly a full-on hip-hop crew, but also didn’t function as a more traditional South Korean idol group. BTS are no strangers to explicit language in their music, and also spent their early years digging into topics around mental health and belonging that were still quite taboo for K-pop acts a decade ago. Since their 2013 debut, they’ve re-written the rules as they went and, in doing so, have carved their own corner of the global industry.
So, while the lyrics in “Seven” from Jung Kook and Latto wouldn’t raise any eyebrows coming from a high-profile star out of the US, there’s an unspoken defiance from BTS’s youngest in releasing this as his global single. For a long time, most K-pop stars have been encouraged to avoid breaking the sense of fantasy typically conjured in this niche of the music industry, allowing fans to always imagine they might be the one being sung about. It’s especially rare to see someone like Jung Kook not just allude to, but outright confirm, his wishes and desires for time with a lover and partner.