J-Hope - Jack in the box (Album Reaction)

Here's the full album reaction. The last 30 minutes of this stream are me touching on other topics. 

About Jack In The Box

Jack In The Box lends voice to J-hope’s aspirations to break the mold and grow further. The album represents J-hope’s own musical personality and vision as an artist.

Jack In The Box comprises a total of 10 tracks. The two main tracks, “MORE” and “Arson,” narrate the stories inside and outside the box respectively, conveying the core message that penetrates the whole album.

The album cover art was a collaboration with his favorite artist, KAWS. He is very proud of it and it meant alot to him since he respects the artist a lot. The hands with “X”s on them look like J-hope is stuck at a crossroads of choice, expressed in terms of direction. And the big hand itself looks like you’re taking something out of the box.  ARMYs also noticed that there are 7 hands.

“Intro” and “Pandora’s Box”

Those are two separate tracks but it's best heard together. J-hope had mentioned in a broadcast that those two tracks explain the background of how he made this album and tell the story of how J-hope came to this world. Some notes in-terms of lyrics: A "Pandora's Box" is a metaphor in our modern languages, and the proverbial phrase refers to a source of endless complications or trouble arising from a single, simple miscalculation. Pandora's story comes to us from ancient Greek mythology. As a wedding present, Zeus gave Pandora a box but warned her never to open it. Pandora, who was created to be curious, couldn’t stay away from the box and the urge to open the box overcame her. Secondly, “We’re Benjamin Button'' is referring to the movie ‘The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button’, it's about a person who has a rare ailment that makes them age backwards.

(Intro) Produced by EVAN

(Intro) Written by EVAN, HYBE

(Pandora’s Box) Produced by GHSTLOOP

(Pandora’s Box) Written by GHSTLOOP, j-hope, Supreme Boi

BangtanSubs: https://www.bangtansubs.com/pandoras-box

MORE

According to J-hope, this track tells about J-hope’s honest ambition and determination to come out of the box, show more of himself, and make new challenges. I know you watched it already but lets do it again :D

Produced by Brasstracks

Written by, Ivan Jackson Rosenberg, j-hope

Doolset: https://doolsetbangtan.wordpress.com/2022/07/01/more/

STOP (세상에 나쁜 사람은 없다 / There are no bad people in the world)

This track talks about how J-hope honestly felt about human nature. He stated that he doesn't aim to change the world but to have this song be a better influence on people.

Produced by Clams Casino

Written by j-hope, Michael Volpe

BangtanSubs: https://www.bangtansubs.com/stop

= (Equal Sign)
This track talks about his thoughts and about how we are all different. Throughout the song he wanted to point out that we need to appreciate our differences and that everyone should be respected. He stated that everyone should be equal regardless of borders, race, culture and social status. He also mentioned that the song contains parts in English and Korean so both different language backgrounds can sing along.

A side note, currently in Korea there are many racist actions taking place against LGBTQ communities and it's interesting this song came out and Hobi taking a stand!

Produced by Scoop Deville

Written by j-hope, Lindgren, Melanie Joy Fontana, Scoop Deville

BantanSubs: https://www.bangtansubs.com/equal-sign

Musicbox: Reflection

It’s an instrumental track. According to J-hope, he said that this is an interlude song and a very important track as it connects the flow of the album’s story. The song plays the role of a flair which declares that the album will show the shadow behind J-hope, who ran into many experiences after he came out of the box. His breathing was sampled for this song.

Produced by Pdogg

Written by Pdo

What if…

This is a song that J-hope said he was asking himself throughout. If he didn’t have any hope, title, money or honor, would really be able to talk about big topics like quality and that there are no bad people in the world(Previous songs)? If he is really a person who can talk about such things?

J-hope sampled Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s 1995 song “Shimmy Shimmy Ya” which is by Wu-Tang Clan, a very well respected crew from the American HipHop scene.

Produced by Dem Jointz

Written by Dwayne Abernathy Jr., j-hope, R. Diggs, R. Jones

BangtanSubs: https://www.bangtansubs.com/what-if

Safety Zone

According to J-hope this is his favorite song and he talks about whether he has a safe place somewhere and where it could be. Since making a choice to pursue this career, does he truly have a safe place. While thinking of a specific place, he wasn’t able to find a definite answer, therefore, he wrote this song.

Produced by Pdogg

Written by j-hope, Pdogg

BangtanSubs: https://www.bangtansubs.com/safety-zone

Future

This is the only light and bright song on this album. J-hope said that he always tells armys to always love themselves and have hope, he realized that he also needed those things. He was basically telling others what he also needed and this is what this song is about. He also added the Children's choir voices at the end so it draws a certain image about the future and leaves a very bright and hopeful one.

Produced by Brasstracks

Written by Ivan Jackson Rosenberg, j-hope, Mitch Conwell

BangtanSubs: https://www.bangtansubs.com/future

Arson

This track best expresses what J-hope wanted to tell throughout the album. While “MORE” expressed his ambition rising inside the box, “ARSON” manifested his concerns of what choices he will make whenever he devotes his passion outside the box. When on the verge of making a decision, The feeling you get when you’re in jeopardy is captured in this song.it talks about being at a crossroads, whether to put the fire out or burn it up even further.

Produced by Clams Casino

Written by j-hope, Michael Volpe

BangtanSubs: https://www.bangtansubs.com/arson