South Korean singer Jeon Jungkook’s debut album, Golden, was released on 3^rd November 2023 after much anticipation and promotion through the previous releases of the internationally popular singles, ‘Seven (feat. Latto)’ and ‘3D (feat. Jack Harlow)’. The album consists of 11 songs with a variety of genres such as hip-hop, R&B, ballads and pop, which are included under the K-Pop umbrella and are heavily associated with the South Korean boy group BTS, which Jungkook came to fame from.

Jungkook is best known for his position as the main vocalist and the ‘golden maknae’ (youngest member) of South Korea’s phenomenal and internationally adored boy group, BTS, which he has been a member of since their debut in 2013. With the band on a current hiatus due to the Korean mandatory military service, Jungkook has debuted as a soloist, collaborating with many Western artists and creating many remixes for his singles.

Jungkook’s first single, ‘Seven (feat. Latto)’, was released on 14^th July 2023, with both clean and explicit versions of the song produced by Big Hit Music. ‘Seven’ quickly rose to the top of the Billboard’s Hot 100 songs chart with 21.9 million streams within the first week of release, becoming both Jungkook and Latto’s first Hot 100 No. 1. ‘Seven’ also remained on top of the Billboard Global 200 chart for seven weeks from July 29^th to September 9^th.  Jungkook continued to dominate the Global 200 with the releases of his second single, ‘3D (feat. Jack Harlow)’, and his third single, ‘Standing Next To You’, both of which debuted at the No. 1 spot and remained there for one week each.

Despite my praise, I do think the album being entirely in English and some of the collaborations with Western artists prevent Golden from being as good as it could. While I understand the appeal of K-Pop artists releasing English songs to reach international audiences, I think Golden would have benefited from at least one song in Korean, or at least had a Korean version within the remixes of the songs that were released. I also think the album did not require some of the collaborations, such as Jack Harlow’s arguably uncomfortable and misogynistic rap in ‘3D’, and I believe the remixes of ‘3D’ that omit Harlow are better.

As of December 12^th 2023, Jungkook is undertaking his 18-month mandatory military service which all able-bodied men in Korea must perform. Fans have regarded Golden as a ‘farewell’ from Jungkook, and a form of entertainment while they eagerly wait for the other members of BTS to return from their own military service.

Golden has become one of my favourite albums from 2023. The catchy songs, impressive choreography, collaborations with Western artists, and Jungkook’s amazing voice and stage presence all make this album and the accompanying music videos enjoyable to listen to and watch. I am looking forward to what Jungkook and the rest of BTS have in store when they all return from military service, whether that be soloist songs or a group come-back.

7/10

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