**This article has a few spoilers**

Happy Birthday to j-hope and happy release of the documentary!!

This week, Disney+ Canada and Universal Music Toronto teamed up to host an exclusive screening of BTS’s j-hope’s documentary j-hope In The Box and I had the wonderful opportunity to attend and cover it.

j-hope In The Box is a behind the scenes documentary that follows the journey and making of j-hope’s first solo album Jack In The Box which was released on July 15, 2022. Additionally, the documentary also follows j-hope’s solo preparations for his pre-listening party with the Korean music industry to his headline performance at Lollapalooza in Chicago, USA.

j-hope, also known by his real name Jung Hoseok, is a rapper and dancer in the Korean pop group BTS that debuted in 2013. While BTS members fulfill their mandatory military service in South Korea, the members decided to open a new chapter and advance their career with solo projects that show a different side to them. Although, the members have released mixtapes and solo singles in the past, j-hope was the first member to release a full-length and physical solo album.

In BTS, j-hope has a very hopeful, sunshine, positive persona. However, with the release of his album Jack In The Box, it shows a darker side of him and really reveals a different aspect of him. It’s an album that conveys his story as an individual and how “j-hope” came to be. The album itself blends a bunch of different genres for each track such as the title track “MORE” being a dark-rock/rap genre to “Safety Zone” being a chill R&B/Rap mix.

I have followed j-hope’s journey with BTS since late 2017 when they just debuted in America. As an ARMY (BTS’s fandom name) who biases j-hope and as someone who works in music, j-hope no doubt is one of the most hardworking and humble artists out there. He puts his whole heart and soul into his projects and throughout this documentary you can really see how much pressure he put on himself in order to make this solo album and his performance at Lollapalooza perfect. As much as I appreciate j-hope’s extreme dedication to his music and spending multiple hours a day in the studio making music and rehearsing choreography, it really broke my heart to see my idol skipping meals and overall just stressed to the point where he zones everything out.

Another aspect of the documentary I loved was seeing the life of Jung Hoseok. We often see the life of j-hope but, this shows his personal life as Jung Hoseok from Gwangju.

The documentary also made me realize that although j-hope has been in BTS for 10 years, he still gets nervous and feels the pressure. This side of him was shown in the documentary when he was preparing to perform solo for the first time at Lollapalooza. Additionally, there was one scene where j-hope met his idol at Lollapalooza and it was so crazy and funny to see him react the same way that people react when they meet j-hope.

Overall, the documentary completely blew my mind and I didn’t know j-hope could amaze me even more than he already did prior to watching it. Seeing it in a room full of Army and industry people was just so special because we were laughing and we were getting emotional together. Also, I just want to say that j-hope was born to perform and I only hope he continues to do what inspires him.

To conclude, the exclusive screening event was amazing and so well organized. As well, the cinematography, soundtrack, editing, colouring, etc. of the whole documentary was absolutely stunning and I loved every second of it.

j-hope In The Box is now officially available for streaming on Disney+, so definitely check it out!

Special thank you to Disney+ Canada and Universal Music Canada for inviting me to the exclusive screening event. As well, thank you to Disney+ Canada for allowing me to do a press coverage and supporting me!

Check out j-hope, Disney+ and Universal Music Canada on Instagram: @uarmyhope, @disneyplusca, and @umusic.