BTS: Happy Birthday, J-Hope!

Hey! Hallie here!

Happy Birthday, J-Hope! I’m a little late to posting this today, mostly because I’ve been watching BTS content all day, but I absolutely can’t miss the 28th birthday (29th in Korea) of my ult bias! If you’ve looked at my past posts I’ve done for J-Hope, you probably know I’ve talked plenty about his discography on his birthday before. So instead, I’m going to talk about the general things I love about him as a person and as a performer. Also, let’s get hyped for his next mixtape! He already confirmed Hope World 2 is coming soon! With that aside, let’s get right into this!

Main Dancer:

It shouldn’t be new information to any ARMY that Hobi is one of the main dancers in BTS. J-Hope and Jimin earned main dancer positions in the group for their major talent, partially because both of them entered Big Hit with a lot of dance experience. Hobi’s experience came from the underground dance group, “Neuron”, that he was in before he became a trainee. His hip-hop dance style was insane from day one of BTS’s debut because of it. And it’s only improved over time. I could talk forever about the “Boy Meets Evil” piece he has done as both a highlight video and live onstage (I dedicated an entire post to it recently). Not to mention the smooth and effortless way he moved when I saw him live myself late last year. But he’s not just an impressive dancer. He also leads dance practice, teaches the other members choreography, and comes up with some of the choreography himself. The other members of BTS have described him as a patient but precise teacher. All of the members have hilariously expressed that they’re frightened to catch his gaze during dance practice because it’s nearly impossible for a mistake to pass his notice. I’m completely enamored with J-Hope’s dance style in every performance. I also seriously appreciate both the confidence in his craft and the maturity it takes to make the contributions he’s made to BTS’s dancing as a whole. He’s truly one of the most talented dancers in the industry.

Main Rapper:

A lot of people wrote off Hobi’s talent as a rapper at first because his flow isn’t as fast as Namjoon or Yoongi’s. Some people even spread the rumor that J-Hope was behind on his practice as a rapper when BTS debuted because he was meant to be a vocalist but switched places with Taehyung last minute. This rumor is completely false. In fact, BTS was initially intended to be a group where all of the members rapped. Still, J-Hope asserted himself as a unique member of the rap line by bringing a completely unique style to the group. His flow is constantly changing depending on the mood and beat of the BTS song. Some verses are melodic (His singing voice is also incredible), some are hard-hitting, some are slow, some are fast, and all are complete with Hobi’s charming cadence. His constant but shifting flow makes all of his verses so addictive that ARMYs have come together to agree that his verses are a highlight of every BTS song. This is the reason everyone should be getting excited for his next mixtape. I can already listen to “Hope World” constantly on repeat without realizing how much time has passed. I can’t even imagine the amount of time I’ll be spending listening to him rap once his next mixtape drops.

Our Hope:

This man puts everything into the hopeful stage presence he’s created. At every concert he’s bright and cheery, putting his all into each performance and interacting with ARMYs as much as possible to ensure that everyone’s having a good time. When speaking to ARMY he encourages us to be ourselves, believe in our abilities, and to lean on him when times get hard. He acts as the energizer within BTS, keeping track of all of the members’ happiness, health, and exhaustion levels to make sure they have the energy to get through each project. In his songs he’s expressed the desire to heal the world of all its darkness by acting as a beacon of hope for everyone. He came up with the idea of “Hope World” for exactly the purpose of giving everyone a place they can feel happy and comforted. But he’s also been open about the fact that he’s a human being who doesn’t always feel hopeful. J-Hope is his stage presence. A name he chose that he feels called him to the greater purpose of spreading hope throughout the world. But Hoseok is a human being who experiences a range of emotion, including sadness and depression. I’d argue that the fact that he’s open about this helps his message even more. As a fan, I love that I can watch videos of Hobi spreading happiness to instantly brighten up my day. But I also feel that it’s ok to experience days where I’m feeling low because even someone as happy as J-Hope experiences that too. It’s important to remember that we’re all still human, and J-Hope makes me feel okay with that on both good and bad days.

I’ve mentioned a few of these things in passing before but I really wanted to dedicate an entire page to all the things I love about J-Hope! He’s one of those kinds of people that I’m just happy to know exists in the world. He deserves all the love for his birthday! Every year, I get kind of sad to see that his birthday doesn’t trend as long on social media as some of the other members, but really, as long as ARMY is sending him love, I’m sure that that’s enough for him. He obviously has an amazing support group around him between his family and the members of BTS, and I hope they’re giving him all the love today that ARMY can’t from afar.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie