Jungkook of K-Pop boy group BTS has finally released his solo album, Golden, on November 3, 2023, after the release of his solo debut song, “Seven,” which broke the record and became the fastest song to surpass 1 billion streams on Spotify! 

Since their debut in 2013, BTS’ popularity has grown and their music spread outside of South Korea. As part of the laws in South Korea, men are obligated to military service for 18 months so BTS is taking a break as a group to finish their military service and pursue solo  careers temporarily. 

Jungkook’s debut album, Golden, consists of 11 songs including the music video for his main single, “Standing Next To You.” The title “Golden” comes from “Golden Maknae,” meaning “Golden Youngest,” a title from being the talented youngest in BTS. All of the songs are in English since they are primarily for the international market. The first half of his album starts off very upbeat and poppy, whereas in the second half, it begins to get more serious. 

“I wanted to have this universal emotion, love,” Jungkook states on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. “Everyone can relate to it. I wanted to show the change of this emotion and also in terms of the versatility, I wanted to become a solo artist who can pull off a lot of genres.” 

Within minutes of Golden being released, Golden debuted with over 39.65 million streams on Spotify and his first solo album sold more than 2.43 million copies in the first week, setting a new record for a K-pop soloist! Fans are looking forward to what else Jungkook and the other BTS members will achieve while also anticipating the end of their military service to come back as a group.