J-Hope Reveals Innermost Secrets and Inspiration For “Hope World” In Exclusive TIME Magazine Interview

J-Hope sat down with TIME magazine to discuss the process, inspiration, and thoughts on developing his mixtape, “Hope World”, along with what the songs mean to him.

He started the interview by talking about why he wanted to create music himself.

“My fantasy had always been making a music video and performing with music that I had created. I also wanted to put my own story to music and share it with the world.”

He then opened up about some of his biggest motivations in taking on this task and developing his own music.

“The mixtapes released by RM and SUGA were the motivation for my own project. I have been and continue to be deeply influenced by them and I always thought it was awesome that they were telling their own personal stories and making music in their own styles. I started dancing first, but felt I could also tell my story through my music.”

And he mentioned some other artists that have been a huge influence and inspiration to him.

“I went with and got my beats from what appealed to me, what drew me in and what felt good. The way I work is very on-the-spot flow, and I write the rap and the music as I feel them coming. I drew inspiration from artists like KYLE and Aminé. I also have to mention the heavy influence of Joey Bada$$. These are all artists I highly respect, and I’d love to do projects with in the future.”

After mentioning his inspirations for the mixtape as a whole, he talked about a few of the individual songs on his album. His title track “Hope World” was inspired in part by his love of Jules Verne’s classic “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea”. He loved that book when he was younger and wanted to create a song that let you take a journey through his world.

“It’s an introduction to people who are brand new to me, with me as Captain Nemo showing you around. I know it might sound really corny, but I invite you to pretend to be Professor Aronnax as you listen to this song and take a journey through my world.”

He then went on to talk about “P.O.P (Piece of Peace) pt. 1”. J-Hope created this song with the hope that he would become a part of someone else’s personal peace. He wanted to send out a message to his generation through his music and help lift their worries and burdens. J-Hope also tagged the track as “pt. 1” so in the future he could continue the conversation.

“It’d be fantastic to become a part of someone’s personal peace through my music.”

And J-Hope also made sure that he featured his fellow members in his song “Airplane”. He was excited to have the other members contribute to his song and wanted to showcase what they’ve been through together. He even wanted RM to do the hook but after talking the two decided that the song would have more meaning if J-Hope built the hook.

“I want to take the chance to thank once again all the members. I have the gang vocals and RM’s rap on my phone, and I can’t wait for a chance to put it up on social media and share it with everyone!”

His song “Baseline” was originally supposed to be an interlude between songs but then he decided it should show the world who he is. “Baseline” is a story about how he got story and the deep gratitude he has for his life and work.

“I just wanted to give a story about how I started, the ‘baseline’ of my life. People don’t really know how I got into music.”

And his most personal track just might be “Daydream”. This track is about how even though he is a public figure he is still an ordinary guy. He wanted to use the song as an outlet to talk about the desires and wished that every person has.

“I wanted to use this as an outlet to talk about the desires and wishes that every person in the world has but that I have to hold down and cover up because of having chosen this line of work.”

His catchy tracks are sure to please everyone but he made sure that first and foremost that fans will continue sticking with BTS.