Jimin Sets Return With Second Solo Album ‘Muse'

Jimin Sets Return With Second Solo Album ‘Muse'

Jimin is feeling inspired. On Monday, the BTS member announced plans to release his second solo studio album, Muse. Out July 19, the record is described in a statement from Hybe and BigHit Music as a documentation of the musician's "journey to find the source of his inspiration."

Muse marks the first full-length solo release from Jimin since he unveiled his debut album Face in March 2023. The album featured the lead singles "Set Me Free Pt. 2" and "Like Crazy," which featured songwriting credits from his bandmate RM.

Jimin is currently completing his mandatory military service duties in South Korea. The musician enlisted in December 2023 at the same time as BTS' Jung Kook. But even as he began his stint as an active-duty solider, he had his music and his fans on his mind. At the close of the year, Jimin released "Closer Than This," a love letter to his fanbase that was at once a parting gift and reassurance for the future.

"Whenever it rains, I'll remember the times I sang in the rain/Whenever it snows, I'll cherish how you smiled for me in the snow," he sings on the record, which is littered with references to BTS' career. "On the spring day we meet again, I'll tell you everything I couldn't before/My love, my babe, forever by your side/Seven equals one, right, our hearts still beat as one."

While creating his debut solo album, Jimin looked towards his fellow BTS members as his muses and inspirations, as well.

"My members were the people who made it possible for me to start preparing this album," he told Rolling Stone last year. "This all began at the [Permission to Dance on Stage] concerts in Las Vegas last year, and at the time, I was struggling with the emotions that ended up in [‘Like Crazy']… While we were talking over drinks, I told them, ‘I don't know if I'm doing well. I don't even know what I'm doing.' But the members said that it's perfectly fine to feel that way, that it's OK to feel lost sometimes. They suggested, ‘Why don't you express these emotions through music?'"

He continued: "So the moment I returned to Korea from the United States, I met up with the producers and started working on music right away. I'm so thankful to my members for inspiring me to start working on this album. I don't know how people are going to react to the music, but I actually was able to completely resolve and move on from all those feelings of being lost. I'm perfectly OK now, so I'm so very thankful to them."

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