In mid 2022, BTS announced an upcoming break from group activities. During the Festa dinner where this happened, j-hope explained, “We need time to focus on ourselves, and who we are outside of BTS. So we can come back together even stronger.” He took his own words to heart—releasing Jack in the Box the very next month. He then embarked on a whirlwind of promotions and appearances for the rest of the year, tapping heavily into the performer/entertainer side of j-hope, and put the dancing he’d gotten his start in on the back burner. By the time the year was drawing to a close and he was getting closer to his military enlistment date, he was feeling lost. He was proud of what he’d accomplished, but unsure of who he was anymore, and of what the future was going to bring. In the final few months before enlisting he was yearning to get back to his roots, and ground himself. It was time to rediscover Hoseok, the dancer who existed before BTS. It was time to get back “on the street”.

In the “Intro” to Jack in The Box we learned that j-hope sees himself as the ‘hope’ left at the bottom of Pandora’s Box. He sees it as part of his destiny to combat all the negativity in the world. But in mid 2022, as he was getting ready to release the album, j-hope found himself reflecting on what else its theme meant. Aside from representing ‘hope’, he also felt that he was the doll (the “Jack”)—previously trapped inside the box, making music from inside. But now that the box was opened, he was able to spring free and make a different kind of music—one that allowed him to express his feelings more freely. It was something he’d been working on for years. His image he had cultivated as j-hope of BTS was one of laughter, positivity, and bright music. But as the group announced a break in their activities during that year’s FESTA, so the members could focus on solo efforts for a while, Hobi knew it was his time to step away from that image, and show his fans that there was more to j-hope than meets the eye. He wanted to show us that his ‘hope’ had evolved.

2018 was quite the year for j-hope. Not only did it mark the release of his first mixtape, HOPE WORLD, it also saw BTS negotiate an early (and very beneficial) contract renewal for the group. They had spent the previous year burning their collective candle at both ends, resulting in some very serious burnout amongst the members. The next few years saw monumental growth for BTS—both in artistic achievement and in global popularity. Though the COVID-19 Pandemic forced them to cancel a world tour and pivot all of their plans for 2020 and beyond, the way they used their time and platform during the lockdown to help their fans cope was nothing short of heroic inspiration. They gave us hope—which, after all, was j-hope’s entire mission statement. But the amount of energy he (and the others) gave away during that time was not without a price. The Pandemic caused both frustration and inspiration for j-hope, leading ultimately to the creation of his next solo project, JACK IN THE BOX.