BTS' J-Hope turns 31: His leadership, Lollapalooza and legacy, how the band's 'sunshine' became a true trailblazer

In July 2022, ARMY got a surprising jolt from BTS’ J-Hope.  The usually smiling, cheery rapper who had established a reputation of being the equivalent of a huggable pillow, shared unrecognisable photos for the promotion of his upcoming album, Jack in the Box. As ARMY still notes, nobody called him Hobi, his usual term of endearment, that day. Dressed in different colours for the shoot, he was gaunt, pensive and determined to share his raw dreams and wishes in the form of his music.

The surprises continued. Jack in The Box brought us to Jung Hoseok, a person, more than just the rapper, BTS, someone who acknowledged his shades of grey along with the image of vibrance and cheer for the public. The words…’Let’s burn, burn, burn, burn, burn…It’s done, done, done, done…’ indicating how he burns down the image and expectations that he has carried over the years. Addictive and haunting, he finally lies down among the flames and mutters amid siren calls, It’s done. In another song More in the album, he says that he is far from done with showing his craft: He’s just getting warmed up.

That year, J-Hope was determined to show that as much as he cherished BTS, he wasn’t going to be slotted into one category. With a relentless meticulousness that isn’t just reserved for his choreography, he planned his schedules, promotions and finally  Chicago’s solo electrifying Lollapalooza performance, J-Hope showed what most of his fans knew all along: He’s Jung Hoseok, fire, storm and sunshine, accept him in all his forms. It's this pulsing energy that reflects in each song, stage performance solo or otherwise. There's much that's going on behind the smile and dimples.

And, that was clear during Chicago's Lollapalooza. Exhaustion had pushed him to the edge, but J-Hope performed on stage, with the crowd chanting his name and lyrics. There was a magnetic aggression as he rapped out Hangsang, making sure the audience sang with him.

It was a night of a thousand lights and the rapper almost forgot himself, turning emotional as he saw people chanting for him: Something he had never imagined in his debut days. And since, J-Hope ensured that he carves a legacy of his own independent of BTS, be it Lollapalooza, or his performances in New York during NYE, and now his upcoming tour.

It's his careful, detailed precision that is one of the many elements that make BTS the global sensation that it is: It's why he is called the second leader.

J-Hope the ‘second leader of BTS’

There’s always one particular video that ARMY, the devoted BTS fan base likes circulating of J-Hope: He’s watching the playback of a dance rehearsal. The other members laugh about how they missed a step. J-Hope doesn’t smile, for once.  It’s a look that his fellow members are a little too familiar with, in fact, they had once acted out their expression if J-Hope ever caught them making a mistake on stage.

This brief clip is just an insight into J-Hope’s distinct personality. The rapper and the team’s choreographer, often termed as ‘second leader’ of the band, has established a reputation for being easy-going, ‘sunshine’, caring and everyone’s go-to comfort. He is ready to cheer anyone up, save a tired RM from translating constantly during interviews, to protecting his members on stage and caring for them when they’re unwell. In fact, RM had once noted in an interview, how J-Hope ‘lights up’ the atmosphere and shares half his leadership role. The eldest member Jin shared the same sentiment, saying that J-Hope has extraordinary leadership skills. J-Hope, who really lets loose in all the fun antics, takes on a stern, strict persona during rehearsals. Yet, he’s still gentle and encouraging to his band members, especially Jimin, who doubted himself during the Butter 3J dance, and kept encouraging him.

From experimenting with his music to balancing leadership with being everyone’s comfort, there’s more to J-Hope than we could ever fully know.