As j-hope’s on the street (with J.Cole) dropped today, fans aren’t just celebrating the new single.
With the release coming just a few days after the announcement of j-hope’s upcoming military enlistment, the song signals the start of his hiatus as a solo artist, and ARMYs worldwide are celebrating the stellar run he’s shown.
2022 was a year of multiple highs for the sunshine of BTS. While he made his official solo debut in 2018 with the Hope World mixtape, he released his first official solo album, Jack in the Box in 2022, showing fans another dimension to his artistry with a dark and raw expression of his musical personality and vision as an artist.
This was also the year he was named the Top K-Pop Male Solo Artist in Spotify Wrapped 2022, and made history by being the first South Korean artist to headline a main stage at the Lollapalooza music festival in the U.S.
It was at Lollapalooza when j-hope met J.Cole – one of his favorite rappers of all time. During the encounter, j-hope shared that he’d listened to J.Cole’s Friday Night Lights mixtape when he was younger and that Higher is one of his favourite songs.
So when the teaser for on the street dropped just a day before its release, fans were abuzz as it revealed the collaboration with J.Cole, which is yet another feather in the cap for j-hope.
A Meaningful Gift
The lo-fi hip-hop track features a chill tune that’s easy on the ears, and its lyrics, written by j-hope and J.Cole, send messages of gratitude and hope.
“My two feet walk willingly, anywhere. J in the air. For the path I’m on to become one of hope, I give my all. Even my walk was made of your love and your faith. To repay you even from afar, just like a butterfly,”
j-hope
And in being the storyteller extraordinaire that he is, j-hope’s lyrics are also a tribute to his roots. In an interview with Spotify, j-hope shared, “It represents street dance, the genre I started out with. It could also refer to the source of my inspiration as well as the traces of the hard work I’ve done alongside my fans.” Watch the full interview on K-Pop ON!.
on the street (with J.Cole) is quite possibly the ray of sunshine we needed to kickstart the weekend, and we love that the song’s melody is whistled by j-hope himself!
If you’re ready to dance along to on the street, why not let j-hope himself give you a breakdown of the song’s choreography?
