BTS’ J-Hope staged his first fiery solo show in Singapore

J-Hope is the first member of K-pop supergroup BTS to stage a concert after fulfilling his military-service commitments. And he wants you to know: He is a rock star.

He held his solo concert at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on April 26, with another show slated for April 27. His bandmate Suga was the first to embark on a solo stadium tour, in 2023.

When this reviewer saw Suga at the same venue in 2023, he was about to head off for mandatory military service. His emotionally charged show felt like someone pouring his heart out before he ran out of time.

Discharged from military service in October 2024, J-Hope, whose real name is Jung Ho-seok, knows he has time. And the 31-year-old is using it to tell fans who he is, both as a soloist and as part of the most successful K-pop group of all time.

Opening the sold-out show dressed in red, down to his shades and gloves, J-Hope signified his Ambition – the title of the segment – with his charisma dialled up to 11.

All five songs here came from his album Jack In The Box (2022). His performance was dramatic and fiery, flaunting passion, rage and swagger. This was a completely different facet of the cheery idol whose signature line to fans is: “I’m your hope, you’re my hope.”

The mood then shifted as the star segued into the Dream sequence, going back to his roots as an underground dancer. Often named among the best dancers in K-pop, he kicked off the sequence with a solo dance piece before launching into numbers mostly from his EP Hope On The Street Vol. 1 (2024).

Each song allowed him to showcase a different genre of dance – be it house, locking or tutting – and mimicked the vibe of an underground dance tournament. It was J-Hope paying homage to the first love of his life – dance – that brought him to where he is today.

The second half of the concert – the Expectation and Fantasy sections – opened with new singles Sweet Dreams and Mona Lisa, before going back in time to his 2018 debut solo mixtape numbers Airplane and Daydream.

J-Hope also hyped up the crowd with a medley of earlier BTS songs like Silver Spoon (2015) and the braggadocio of Mic Drop (2017), which culminated in the audience collectively roaring the famous lyric: “Mianhe umma (Korean for ‘sorry, mum’)!”

It was the portion of the concert that was a knowing wink to the audience, almost as if he were saying: “I know what you’re waiting for and I will give it to you.”

After all, the Army – as BTS fans are called – have been longing to see the boy band live, after the group went on hiatus for military service.

The stage design worked to J-Hope’s strengths. Where Suga adopted a sparse stage to suit the darker and edgier songs he is known for, J-Hope wanted fans to see his dance moves.

A large stage split into squares like a chequerboard rose up intermittently into different formations and permutations, allowing J-Hope and his dancers to move dynamically around. During his solo dance piece, a centre block lifted him up high, so that his footwork could be clearly seen even by audiences seated farther away.

It was a thoughtful show spotlighting the different aspects of J-Hope and what he aspires to as a performer. It was, as its name suggested, a show to say: This is who J-Hope is onstage.

This article was originally published in The Straits Times.