Jung Kook officially launches solo era with some help from latto on ‘Seven’

BTS’ Jung Kook has arrived at the dawn of his own solo era with the release of his latest single ‘Seven.’ There were other songs shared in the past, like the two one-off singles ‘My You’ and ‘Still With You,’ but this new single is both a statement and a reintroduction as Jung Kook embarks on a new artistic journey.

Jung Kook recruited rapper Latto for his summer single, which he teased a few days before its release with a video clip of a dinner date gone wrong. The official video stars Han So-hee as his on-screen girlfriend. “Every hour, every minute, every second/You know night after night/’ll be fuckin’ you right/Seven days a week,” Jung Kook sings in the explicit version of the song.

For Latto’s verse, the visual transitions to a funeral as the Atlanta rapper performs on top of Jung Kook’s coffin, much to So-hee’s chagrin. The video ends with the pair walking hand-in-hand in the rain, naturally.

‘Seven’ was described in a statement from Big Hit as the official start of Jung Kook’s solo career. “’Seven'” is an invigorating ‘summer song’ that is sure to have you experience the full breadth of Jungkook’s charm,” the statement posted to WeVerse read. “As Jungkook kicks off his official solo activities, we ask you to extend your utmost anticipation and support for his digital single and many other activities to come.”

And Jung Kook himself has been preparing for this moment for a long time, taking the lessons he learned from observing other artists as well as his fellow bandmates in BTS and using them to sharpen his own skillset.

“People say that I excel, that I’m an all-rounder. Of course, I excel in some areas, but I don’t think it necessarily helps to bask in those talents and gifts,” he told Rolling Stone in 2021. “You can only improve in a certain area when you really practice, when you really try, when you deep-dive into it,” he said at the time. “So I really don’t want to think myself as an all-rounder. I just want to keep trying and working hard. And of course I do feel pressure, but those pressures can also drag me to work hard and do best at what I do.”

The members of BTS have hit the ground running these past few months as they continue to explore ventures outside of the band. Suga recently joined Halsey on a revamped version of her album deep cut ‘Lilith‘ as part of the latest installment of video game series Diablo. Shortly before that, he shared his solo album D-Day and the documentary Road to D-Day. Jimin’s solo album FACE arrived in March, while RM dropped his debut solo album Indigo back in December.

Jin released the solo single ‘The Astronaut,’ co-written with Coldplay, in October and V contributed the one-off release ‘Christmas Tree’ for the soundtrack to Our Beloved Summer, a popular K-Drama series. And J-Hope released his solo album Jack in the Box one year ago.