BTS's Jimin is back, sort of. While the global star is still in the midst of his mandatory time in the South Korean military, he recently released his second solo project, a summery, sunny effort titled MUSE.
In addition to recording a full second album before leaving for the military, Jimin prepared something extra special for ARMY by making sure to pre-record a live performance of the album's title track, “Who,” for Tonight's show starring Jimmy FallonWatch it below, and read on for five standout moments from this confident performance.
The microphone is on
For anyone who has been following BTS for a while, the live performances are… really The fact that “Who” appeared live shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, but Jimin’s voice sounded especially clear during this performance. As a member of BTS’s vocal line, Jimin tends to take responsibility for the higher pitched parts; when he’s alone, he prefers to stay in that same space. Even with the intense choreography that “Who” demands — and the lack of the breaks he’d get when performing with the rest of the band — he sounds strong and confident throughout the entire performance.
It's seven again
Jimin is supported by both male and female dancers throughout the performance. But when it comes time for the boys to shine, Jimin is supported by exactly six of them, which is reminiscent of the formations that BTS so often uses when all seven members are on stage together. There’s a familiarity to this that’s immediately identifiable to the audience, and it may even feel a little more welcoming to Jimin, too.
A wonderful shot
Perhaps in an effort to try and capture the feeling of the performance being as “live” as possible, Jimin’s rendition of “Who” is structured to look like a single take. The only place a cut could be hidden is around the two-minute mark, when the camera hovers over Jimin and zooms in on his jacket, but the multi-camera video, overall, is extremely compelling. If he couldn’t come to 30 Rock himself to do it all live, this seems like the next best thing.
“The world and much more”
While BTS has dabbled in English-language songs as a team in the past, and Jimin's “Like Crazy” also featured quite a bit of English, “Who” is entirely in English. Co-written with trusted BTS collaborators Pdogg and GHSTLOOP, “Who” was co-produced by Jon Bellion. Elsewhere in the episode, Jimmy Fallon revealed that he ran into Jimin when he was in the U.S. working on MUSEand I was lucky enough to listen to an early cut from the song. “Who” is catchy and accessible, and feels like the latest step in BTS’s individual path to global success.
Facing the muse
After being lucky enough to have Jimin around in real life for his first album promotions, FACEIt’s fun to see the growth between “Like Crazy” and “Who,” with the latter acting as the perfect bridge to connect his first solo project to this current era. Jimin has a great range—he adapts to an upbeat, comforting song just as easily as a more dramatic or introspective number, like “Lie” or “Set Me Free pt. 2.” This performance is the ideal anchor for this chapter of his solo story.
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