I’M YOUR HOPE, YOU’RE MY HOPE, I’M J-HOPE – a simple line that excite armys all around the world.
As an army, I was so excited to catch Hobi’s new documentary on Disney+/Weverse. As the BTS members start their solo projects, curiosity of their creative processes grew. I got the chance to watch j-hope IN THE BOX in advance and here are some thoughts!
Through the documentary, it was inspiring and eye-opening to say the least. All the preparation that Hobi did for Jack In The Box, listening party and Lollapalooza was all recorded for both himself and the fans. He wanted to show all the behind-the-scenes in detailed, wanting everything to be recorded.
In the beginning, we see him go through some self-doubt saying ‘maybe I bit off more than I can chew’ and hitting a slump at one point.
Instead of festering in self-doubt, Hobi brought us to his hometown, Gwangju, to recuperate and showed the audience a glimpse of where he grew up. He then spent the night in his family home, and proudly showed a rock his father placed in the backyard in his memory – an extremely cute anecdote! After getting some positive energy from his family, he was back in Seoul preparing for the Jack In The Box HYBE listening party. Honestly? I was surprised at how hands-on Hobi was; he approved every single minute detail, from food-tasting to event set-up – P.S. a cute Yoongi feature was seen here!
The listening party had attendees from all walks of life. From dancers like MONIKA and LIP J, to hip-hop veterans Drunken Tiger and Yoon Mi-rae, this was a testimonial of how big Hobi’s name has become. As a fan, proud was an understatement as we see him hosting at his own event.
I’ll say the documentary was truly heartwarming as well. Hobi was seen hugging the staff as the party wraps up, gave lots of thanks and gratitude to the staff he worked with at Lollapalooza, and thanking Jimin multiple times for coming to Chicago for him.
Prior to Lollapalooza, we see Hobi practicing to the bone while quality-checking the band sounds, and videos that will be played during his set. The perfectionist j-hope can be seen at this exact part of the documentary. He was even worried about the lack of chemistry between the dancers, but all his worries were quelled as he slayed the stage. As an artist, he never dreamed of being a headliner as his debut stage, but he rose up to the challenge and in his words, ‘it was one heck of an experience’.
Armys around the world will never understand how much Lollapalooza means to Hobi, and this documentary was just a glimpse of that. It showed what kind of person Hobi really was, while Jack In The Box focused on showing who j-hope is as a person.
All in all, it’s a great documentary but I wished they showed more of his songwriting process as we know that all the members create music differently. Nonetheless, j-hope IN THE BOX is a documentary both fans and the general public can enjoy to learn more about j-hope, and they’re currently available on both Disney+ and Weverse.
Article by: Guan @ KAvenyou
