BTS member’s debut solo LP goes from New Wave to unadorned piano balladry
Since the summer of 2022, the pop megaband BTS have been on hiatus — a pause that both gave space for each member to embark on his mandatory military service and allowed them to spread their creative wings on solo projects that showed their varied musical interests and star-stuffed contacts lists. (Neo-soul muse Erykah Badu popped up on leader RM’s sonically adventurous Indigo, while swaggering Louisvillian Jack Harlow cameoed on Jungkook’s poppy Golden.) With Happy, the debut album by smoothly charming vocalist Jin, the second chapter of BTS is more fully fleshed out, as is the puzzle of where the group’s seven members have ventured creatively since their split two-plus years ago.
On “The Astronaut,” Jin’s 2022 solo debut, the singer showed how his supple tenor meshed with big-sky rock music — co-written by British rock stalwarts Coldplay and EDM crowd-pleaser Kygo, its moonlit synths allowed Jin’s voice to slice through them like a bright laser. Jin’s first full-length continues his journey around the rock world, with his winning voice and bright outlook adding panache to synth-washed New Wave and unadorned piano balladry alike.
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Happy opens with “Running Wild,” a peppy cut that sounds tailor-made for convertible rides, or at least movie montages featuring them. The track was co-produced by Gary Barlow of the British boy-band sensation Take That — a neat squaring of the pop-idol circle that could help explain why its bubbly urgency fits Jin’s overall demeanor like a glove. Elsewhere, the vocalist and guitarist of the J-alt-pop act ONE OK ROCK bolster “Falling,” a stomping love song that opens up into a widescreen chorus, while WENDY of the K-pop vocal fivesome Red Velvet plays Jin’s foil on “Heart on the Window,” a sweetly romantic offering that splits the difference between winsome dreampop and heart-pounding anthem. “I’ll Be There” is a hip-shaking rock confection, and the shred-heavy guitar solo that caps “Another Level” makes its pomp and crash — and Jin’s impassioned vocal — hit harder.
“I will come to you,” a stripped-down piano ballad that puts the spotlight on Jin’s subtly shaded emotionalism, closes Happy, and Jin has said it’s a tribute to his fans that he wrote after being discharged from the military earlier this year. With BTS expected to come back in 2025, the placement of “I will come to you” at Happy’s feels like a portent for the future that doubles as a salute to Jin’s faithful.
