Hip hop
With BTS on hiatus fans are able to feast on a myriad of solo projects, with each member free to define their own voice. Jimin has seized the reins, and his spectacular new solo album ‘MUSE’ is out now.
Seven tracks that emphasise his breadth, Jimin sits at the core of the project, with the South Korean star allowing his passions and insights to guide the release.
Of course, he had help along the way, and his inner circle includes production talent such as long-time collaborator Pdogg, GHSTLOOP, and EVAN.
With ‘MUSE’ out now, CLASH was able to prise a few pearls of information about Jimin’s processes from Pdogg.
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Take main track ‘Who’ with its evocation of 00s pop gloss. Pdogg tells CLASH…
When working with Jimin, I’m always attuned to how Jimin feels. Even when he’s not directly involved in the technical production of a song, Jimin always puts much thought into the stories or emotions he wants to convey in close discussion with the producers. While trying to create something that resonates with today’s audience, he also focuses on making music that best suits his voice.
For this album, we had a clear vision for what we wanted to express with each song, so we focused on how to best convey the lyrics and emotion of each track during the recording process.
Jimin was already exploring the idea of changing his vocal technique long before we had started recording ‘Who’ and was in the process of receiving vocal lessons on how to use his voice more comfortably. In order to encapsulate more pop nuances, we looked at the vocal styles of popular pop artists who had dominated the 2000s, while also thinking of ways to best accentuate Jimin’s unique vocal color and style. With his versatile voice, I believe Jimin was able to further expand his musical palette on this album.
‘Muse’ has evident diversity, moving from style to style, blending genres in the process. Picking up on this, Pdogg offers:
This album and the previous one were produced around the same time. When we traveled to LA in the summer of 2022 to record the choir sessions for ‘Set Me Free Pt.2’ from ‘FACE’, we collaborated with local producers to develop several tracks on ‘MUSE’, starting with ‘Rebirth (Intro)’. Being surrounded by the laid-back, chill vibe of the city was the perfect environment to produce more uplifting and energetic songs.
While collaborating with global producers such as Jon Bellion, Arcade, Tommy Brown, and others, Jimin directly explained to them what he wanted to convey and the direction he wanted to take for this album and each song. This allowed us to put together tracks that are more musically diverse, but still feel right for him.
Check out ‘MUSE’ below.
