Jungkook participated in ‘Superstar K3’ when he was 15 years old in the second grade of Baekyang Middle School in Busan, but failed.However, he became a Big Hit trainee after recognizing the young rice cake leaf and receiving love calls from seven agencies, including Big Hit.
Jungkook was recognized for his ability as a great vocalist and dance acquisition despite his young age, so he took over as the main vocalist of BTS and was called the “golden youngest.”Jungkook was capable of working as a solo artist.
Based on this ability and charm, Jungkook is creating a “Jungkook Syndrome” in the global pop market with songs from his first solo album “GOLDEN.”
Jungkook is reaping a bountiful harvest on various charts.The title song “Standing Next to You” entered the 5th place on the U.S. Billboard’s latest chart (November 18th) Hot 100, which was released on the 14th (Korea Standard Time).It ranked first in “Global 200” and “Global (excluding the U.S.)”, which counts streaming and sales volumes of more than 200 countries/regions around the world and ranks them.
On Spotify’s “Daily Top Song Global” chart on the 3rd, the world’s largest music streaming platform, seven other songs on the new album, including “Hate You,” “Yes or No,” and “Please Don’t Change (feat. DJ Snake), also succeeded in charting.This means that the global mainstream market is reacting to the new album itself.”GOLDEN” ranked second on Billboard’s main album chart “Billboards 200” and entered third on the UK official chart released on the 11th.Taylor Swift’s new song “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” is all the more valuable in that it has swept major global charts.
Music experts cite the fact that Jungkook filled the entire album in English as the first reason he was able to penetrate the U.S. music market.In fact, Jungkook said in an interview, “As we prepared for the overseas music market, we included all English songs in this album.”
An interim report released in August this year by Luminate, a global music market analysis company, shows the power of “Songs in English.”In the first half of this year, English ranked first with 88.3% of the top 10,000 songs played the most on the U.S. music platform by language.Spanish and Korean songs were then ranked second and third.As K-pop gained global popularity, Korean songs ranked third, but the proportion was insignificant at 0.9%.This is why the Korean solo artist’s album has achieved unprecedented results in the global music market, citing “overcoming language barriers through English lyrics” as a winning move.
The success of “GOLDEN” is also a composition like “Pop Music Department Store.”The album is filled with 11 tracks with a variety of music, including UK Garage, Afropop, acoustic pop and electronic dance.In other words, he broke down the barriers of genre within the album.
USA Today said, “Jungkook successfully melted various genres such as R&B, EDM, disco funk, and pop ballad into ‘GOLDEN’.””He knows how to use his voice, the greatest ‘instrument’,” the American music media Consequence of Sound said, praising his talent for making perfect use of the characteristics of each genre.
Jungkook recorded four to five of the songs in “GOLDEN” in a week.This was possible because of the perfect interpretation of the song, voice control that fits the genre, and the flexibility to reflect immediate feedback.The production crew said, “Jungkook’s natural talent and perfectionist tendencies have raised the completeness of ‘GOLDEN’.
High-quality and trendy music approached listeners with diverse tastes without a sense of difference, and the tracks of “GOLDEN” were played a total of 39,653,740 times during the day of release on Spotify, setting a new streaming record on the day of entering the chart among Korean solo artists.
On top of that, Jungkook’s charm as a male solo singer drew fans’ responses to the fullest.Male solo dance singers do not have a large presence in the recent pop market.From last year to the present, female musicians such as Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, and Doja Cat are outstanding in the songs that have topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
In terms of genre, country led by Morgan Wallen, who topped the list 16 times this year, traditionally strong hip-hop and R&B were popular.Jungkook took the mound in the absence of a dance singer who dominated the stage with his overwhelming performance, relieving the public’s thirst for “pop stars.”
Shortly after the release of the new report, Jungkook appeared on NBC’s popular talk shows “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “CitiConcert Series” of “TODAY,” showing stable live and high-quality performances.In the entertainment industry, it was evaluated as “a stage with 10 years of experience” and “a legendary stage of a new pop star.”In particular, the performance of “The Fallon Show” was highly popular, topping YouTube’s worldwide trending on the 7th.
NME said, “There was a ‘King of Pop’ every 10 years, but there were no big male solo stars yet in the 2020s.Jungkook proved himself more than capable of performing the task with ‘GOLDEN’.The 2020s have finally found the “King of Pop,” and GOLDEN will be more than guaranteeing him the throne, he said, introducing Jungkook as the new “King of Pop” linking Justin Timberlake, who dominated the 2000s, and Justin Bieber, who represented the 2010s.The NME reviewed Jungkook’s “GOLDEN,” saying, “A new pop preparations to take his throne.”
As such, Jungkook succeeded using several strategies in the North American market, but his singing skills, such as stable live, take up the biggest portion.