Happy - EP

In November 2024, five months after his exit from mandatory military service, singer Kim Seok-jin, aka Jin, became the last of BTS’s seven members to release a solo project. <i>Happy</i> is a six-track EP from BTS’s eldest, a tenor known for his smooth vocals and warm, sometimes goofy persona. As with many BTS tracks—both solo and group—the six songs on <i>Happy</i> are designed as sources of comfort for world-weary listeners looking for a “Dynamite”-level kick-start to, or a “Spring Day”-like reassurance in, their daily routines. “I’ll Be There,” a rockabilly pop-rock track that has Jin promising listeners he will always sing for them, falls into the former category, while the sweet ballad “I will come to you” veers closer to the hopeful yearning of the latter (“When the warm spring breeze blows/I’ll go to you”).

Notable collaborators on <i>Happy</i> include Gary Barlow, the lead singer and primary songwriter of English rock band Take That. Barlow co-produced and co-wrote lead single “Running Wild,” a pop-rock track reminiscent of Jin’s 2022 Coldplay collab “The Astronaut.” Jin’s K-pop colleague WENDY, a vocalist for Red Velvet, lent her voice to the duet “Heart on the Window,” while Taka and Toru of Japanese rock band ONE OK ROCK co-wrote “Falling.” Big Hit Music producer and frequent BTS collaborator Pdogg worked on four of the six tracks, weaving Jin’s solo album debut even more tightly into the broader BTS musical journey.