Why BTS's Jungkook is the soundtrack to your summer travel playlist: From Seven to Standing Next to You

Jungkook’s songs are just like his Weverse Lives.

He wants you to have fun, join him in his journey of oscillating between joy and sadness. Perhaps it’s his vocals, that somehow elevate even the blandest of lyrics—or words that you would normally write off, and say ‘Too cheesy. Too much teenage angst’.

But somehow, his songs still spell a lot of things. They spell weekend. Summer in a bowl. A road trip. Joy. Warmth and comfort. It doesn’t have to be groundbreaking—because that’s not what music is about—it’s about what it makes you feel. It won’t even be complicated, strained reflective emotions often, unlike his brothers RM and Suga, who might leave you in an existential crisis or question your own thought processes. 

But that’s the power of Jungkook, he makes you find a way to enjoy it. Party, party, yeah, indeed. 

Before Jungkook went solo with Golden, we’ve known what his solos were capable of. Before Seven, swept us away with Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday…there was Left and Right with Charlie Puth. It was the earworm that couldn’t leave you, no matter how hard you tried. It was the summer bop, much before Espresso took over.

He ruled with Seven, too. But it with 3D—and that was almost a challenge to grow into at first. It didn’t roll off the tongue like Left and Right, or Seven. It wasn’t summer. It wasn’t for travel. But the more you heard it, the more it grew on you—until it didn’t leave. Like in motion, 3D, as he says.

Jungkook always has a way of winning—be in a Run BTS episode or his music. And then came Golden, a series of different, refreshing takes on love, romance and even crushes. 

Where does it stand in the BTS vocalist line?

While his fellow vocalist Jin experimented with the various stages of love and separation in Echo—from the inability to let go, yearning and becoming ‘background’, Jimin decided to bring in the dance moves to yearning in Who and Be Mine, two standout songs in his album Muse. 

V turned to jazz, soft tones. Jungkook, on the hand, experiments with all the stages of love in this R& B inspired album—and himself as a singer.  You can see him trying to break away from the image of the baby-faced maknae—a term that has been with him since he started—and so hence, the pulsing, vibrant emotions of Seven, especially the explicit version. 

The album hooks you, in small ways. Yes or No, it’s that last part, where you’ll find yourself hit replay. Something about you, do you feel the way I do—normally cheesy lyrics, but it’s Jungkook’s voice that just carries it through. Once again, a ear worm.
Hate You is filled with teenage angst and so are the lyrics very 2000s, but somehow Jungkook’s emotions get to you. You’re annoyed with yourself for singing it, while looking out of the window during your travel journeys, but too bad, the maknae has found you. 

And of course, there’s Standing Next to You. It’s a song that received much flak from critics—but fans love it.  It’s just a slick retro-funk and modern pop-R&B in a tightly produced, groove-forward track that keeps your toes tapping. That rolling, liquid bass line carries the song smoothly and the little tributes to Michael Jackson shine clearly through it.
These are the songs that you might keep hitting replay—fast-forwarding bits, just to feel the emotion, or sing the easily addictive bits.