Abi Scaife

7 songs, 20 minutes – over a year of waiting. Hixtape has finally dropped.

Over a year of teasing, vague promises and the bizarre Hixtape ransom incident – finally it’s here. ‘Hope World’ has arrived, and the music world appears to be in ruins. With not one but three hashtags trending worldwide, almost 500k views on the ‘Daydream’ MV and over 1 million views on the announcing VLive and all in under two hours, the question must be asked – is this simply another case of young, impressionable fans taking their devotion well realms of musical blindness?

The short answer – no.

Jung Hoseok is the last of BTS’ rap-line to release a solo mixtape, a feat he has been vocally anxious about since it was first discussed, and his perfectionism has paid off.  ‘Hope World’ is a refreshing experience within a world of music where it is so easy simply to churn out the same old same old and slap a new label on it. But with the mix of rap line swagger and a somewhat retro pop vibe, the long awaited hixtape is a scintillating blend that does nothing but build excitement until its crescendo. ‘Dreamworld’, what one could consider the orbital point of the mixtape, in particular inspires the feeling of something old made new – and infinitely improved for it.

Strangely enough, the music video reminded me of something IU might release – an abstractly concise presentation, somehow not at all over the top, even with all the flying goldfish. The danger with a solo mixtape is that it becomes self-absorbed, each song nothing more than an ego boost for the artist, yet, happily, J-Hope avoids this fate with wide strides. Following the trend of the Cyphers, though considerably less angry-sounding, ‘Hope World’ is a cheerful middle finger to negativity, the final lines of ‘Airplane’ summing this up in the best way. ‘Someone curses at me / Their jealousy makes them lonely / I don’t care, I’m still happy / I feel my success in my airplane’.

‘Hope World’ does exactly what J-Hope has always done best – in the least cheesy way possible, providing a source of incorrigible buoyancy, regardless of any negativity that might surround him. In short, his mixtape was an experience well worth waiting for – and I know I am not alone when I say I cannot wait for what comes next.

Listen to Hope World here.
Watch the Daydream MV here.