BTS rapper J-hope has dropped his new single ‘Mona Lisa’.
BTS’ J-hope released the song today (March 21) alongside a music video. “It’s a performance-driven track I’m presenting after a long time. I prepared it as a gift, thinking of ARMYs (BTS’ fandom) who’ve been waiting for a performance song. I’m really excited about it myself,” he said of the song, per The Korea Times.
J-hope was also credited as a co-producer on ‘Mona Lisa’. “When I first heard the track, I loved it, but I wasn’t sure I could pull it off. However, after modifying it in Los Angeles to better suit me, it ended up fitting surprisingly well. I was able to visualise the entire concept naturally, and I’m satisfied with how it turned out,” he added.
The new single from the South Korean idol comes a little under a week since he revealed to fans plans to release a total of three singles this year. The first single, a collaboration with American singer-songwriter Miguel titled ‘Sweet Dreams’, was released earlier this month.
J-hope is set to bring his ‘Hope On The Stage’ world tour to 14 cities around the world. From March to April, the BTS member will play shows in North America before heading to Asia in mid-April with concerts in the Philippines, Japan, Singapore, Thailand and more.
In a glowing five-star review of J-hope’s kick-off shows in Seoul, NME’s Rhian Daly wrote: “It’s clear he’s missed the stage, and here is where J-hope shines the brightest – something he’s made obvious with BTS but is now reinforcing by himself with a set that highlights his multi-faceted talents and allows him to burn more powerfully than ever.”
Reneé Rapp is seen as a “huge inspiration” by SZA.
The 25-year-old artist performed SZA’s Good Days in the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge, accompanied by two acoustic guitarists and a harp player. SZA, 35, was deeply moved by the rendition.
She posted a short video of the moment on Instagram Stories and wrote: “Renee is a HUGE inspiration, energy, voice spirit.”
During her chat with the BBC, Renee shared her thoughts about the track. She said: “I mean, I love SZA. I mean, she was one of my favorite artists in high school. And she's remained one of my favorite artists to this day. I think she's amazing. She's also, I mean, she's an incredible songwriter, but I think because she has so much swag. People don't realize how good of a singer she is. She's a fantastic vocalist and is really, really, really articulate. And I don't cover a lot of songs anymore. So I wanted to cover something that was, like, slightly challenging and also really vocally impressive, and frankly, hard for me to do.”
Renee is currently in the middle of promoting her second album, Bite Me, and opened up about how much more enjoyable it was to create compared to her first project.
She explained: “I mean, I feel like everything was incredibly different. I stopped listening to people that don't make music, because if you don't make music, then why the hell am I listening to you. And I also think the biggest difference, I think I just got a lot better. I think I have just become a better songwriter. I think I understand how to make pop music now in a way that I didn't really before. And I was very sure about what this album was and thematically, what it needed.
“So I felt like I was quite like, headstrong in like, what was gonna work and what wasn't. Because, nobody knows something better than yourself. I think a lot of things were different. I also just, like, had a lot of fun making it, like, I made it with like, three people, mostly, like, it was always like, four of us in the studio all the time, and we got so close, and some of us were already so close. So it was also just like a mess. It was such a mess, like we were just tweaking every day. It was so fun. And I don't think I enjoyed making the first one as much.”
