Image Source: YouTube user HYBE Labels
BTS’s J-Hope will be enlisting in the Korean military soon, but he’s leaving fans (temporarily) with a lot of hope for his music career.
On Feb. 26, Big Hit announced J-Hope’s impending enlistment (all able-bodied Korean men between 18 and 28 must serve around two years in South Korea’s military), and that same day, the entertainment company also revealed that he’d be leaving fans with a gift in the form of a new single. In a Weverse statement, it said the new single is titled “On the Street” and J-Hope wrote it “to share his candid feelings toward his fans.”
The song’s title will sound familiar to fans, as it calls back to J-Hope’s roots in street dance, “from which his dream to become an artist began.” The triple threat also released a series of videos under the moniker over the years, in which he would show off his freestyle dance moves, sometimes with guests.
On March 2, it was revealed through the “On the Street” music video teaser that the song is actually a collab — and not just any collab. J-Hope teams up with his day-one idol, J. Cole! In the clip, J-Hope walks toward the edge of a New York City rooftop, but when he turns around to stand against the ledge, he steps aside to reveal J. Cole standing in front of him, and they both look out into the distance.
ARMYs know J-Hope has long admired Cole. The 2022 song off BTS’s anthology album “Proof,” “Born Singer,” is actually an interpolation of Cole’s “Born Sinner” off his album of the same name. In an interview for Disney+ Korea to promote his Disney+ documentary “J-Hope in the Box,” J-Hope spoke of Cole’s influence on his artistry, saying, “In a way that after I started to make music, I guess his music motivated me like. ‘I should make my music in a certain way.'” He continued, “As I started making my music, he was my muse; and I still do respect him. He’s one of the artists that I hope to work with.”
Watch the video for J-Hope’s “On the Street,” featuring Cole, ahead.