Missing BTS Jimin? His albums Face, Muse are his most profound letters to ARMY: Promises of love through storms

Kpop will be ended, read the cryptic words tagged to the release of Jimin’s album, Face, in March 2023. It wasn’t a threat; it sparked curiosity. The BTS fandom was still growing into the solo era of the seven— they had been through the psychedelic metallic bite of J-Hope’s Jack in The Box, mused with RM over burdens of fame and adulthood in Indigo, watched Suga heal slowly with each song in D-Day. 

And then, Face released in 2023. The pre-conceived notions of what the album will and won’t be were stripped away. Jimin had kept to his promise with these series of soundtracks: He was determined to show the raw, unfiltered side of himself, inspired by his members, as RM, Yoongi and J-Hope. After all, he had spent years watching their scars bleed freely into the music—each track a part of their evolving journey.

With Face, Jimin looks for means to set himself apart in his solo musical endeavours. It was a darker attempt than what we had ever seen before from Jimin; he seemed to have delved freely into using different styles for tracks—the sign of a true artist enjoying the liberty of experimentation, and pushing himself.  Sometimes, he is successful, sometimes, he is still finding his talent in writing a version of darkness that’s truly his own.

And yet, he crafts an album that still manages to tell a story, in all its imperfections. It grows on you after a while.  In Set Me Free Pt 2, Jimin hits out, not quite like his brothers before him—he looks for his own voice. Like an artist, trying out different colours, he seeks various styles, seeing which one reflects his soul best.

He breaks free from rigid expectations and lingering pain, channeling a distinct edge, less like Suga or RM, and more his own brand of sharp, scathing expression.  Look at me now, I won’t hide anymore, he says, promising to not get cowed down by the curveballs life has thrown at him.  The words Set Me free echo in the chorus, perhaps a little too abrasive at times, owing to the steely layering of auto-tune, overlapping with hard rapping. 

Similar emotions echo through Like Crazy, the song that made it to the top of Billboard Charts. Again, like his brothers, Jimin tries to ponder over the burdens of fame. It’s a different kind of poetic, as compared to RM’s wordplay, Suga creating a separate alter-ego and symbolically trying to kill the monster within himself, or J-Hope’s alternations between wistfulness, cynicism and dreams—Jimin adopts a more straightforward, direct approach. It’s a series of quiet musings, a clear plaintive cry, as he says, I can hear the voices listening/ Don’t know who they are. He wonders if he will find himself again, if he goes too far.

His audience is his diary.

The real star of the album is Alone, which is criminally underrated.  In rather raspy whispers, Jimin exposes the lonely heart. You might not even need to understand the words for it to hit you viscerally, perhaps that’s the idea. 

Loneliness doesn’t need a language. 

But Face wasn’t the end—it was the beginning. Jimin later returned with Muse, an album that traded shadows for sunlight and fear for warmth. In it, he discovered his own version of pop-infused love, soulful in its own right, yet distinct from Jin’s swoon-worthy romance, V’s jazzy, bluesy tones, and Jungkook’s genre-blending interpretations. 

First, he decides to bring in some wholesome fun and sweetness with Smeraldo Marching Band, which is lighthearted as compared to the angst-ridden tones of Set Me Free from his debut. The songs seem like heartfelt gifts, especially Closer Than This, which also follows a fun video peppered with all the fun moments of his band members. It was also a promise to his fans during his military service, as he repeats, I will never let you go. It’s a warm message, beaming with Jimin-like hope.

And then, he makes daring moves with Be Mine. The song starts with Movin, comin’ loving’. He has a refreshing twist on love, and it shows in the build-up to the chorus, as he sings, Lovers come and go…It’s smooth, melodious and is definitely a standout in the album. It’s a similar sentiment with Who, which ran on the charts for weeks, where he looks at a different aspect of longing and romance. Jimin continues his method of asking straightforward questions, hitting the right highs and catchy beats.

Jimin might not have been with us during the release of Muse, but between Face and Muse, even through the silences, we’ve witnessed the artist he’s become—bold in experimentation, unafraid to try something new each time. And it works.