BTS‘ J-Hope and IU have collaborated on performances of ‘Equal Sign’, ‘Pierrot Laughs At Us’ and ‘Safety Zone’.
- READ MORE: J-Hope – ‘Jack in The Box’ review: bright BTS rapper delves into darkness on sublime solo album
The rapper recently made a guest appearance on IU’s ongoing talk show IU’s Palette, during which he spoke about his recently released solo record ‘Jack In The Box’. In between interview segments, both J-Hope and IU performed two songs from J-Hope’s new album, ‘Equal Sign’ and ‘Safety Zone’, as well as the B-side track ‘Pierrot Laughs At Us’ from IU’s 2014 album ‘A flower bookmark’.
The duo’s rendition of ‘Equal Sign’ sees IU take charge of the vocal-heavy portions of the song while J-Hope delivers the rap verses. On their performance of ‘Pierrot Laughs At Us’, both musicians harmonised and danced to the peppy pop anthem.
As a conclusion to J-Hope’s IU’s Palette episode, the rapper delivered an affecting solo performance of ‘Safety Zone’, another track lifted from his ‘Jack In The Box’ album. They were backed by a live band for all three songs.
J-Hope’s appearance on IU’s YouTube talk show comes shortly after ‘Jack In The Box’ debuted in the top 20 on the Billboard 200 chart, becoming his highest charting solo entry yet after his 2018 mixtape ‘Hope World’.
In a five-star review of the record, NME’s Rhian Daly wrote: “Thought-provoking and full of fresh new flavour, ‘Jack In The Box’ takes the J-Hope the world has come to know and love over the last nine years and sets that figure alight.”
J-Hope is due to headline Chicago festival Lollapalooza this Sunday, marking the first time a South Korean act has ever headlined a major US music festival.
IU’s last music release was her December 2021 special album ‘Pieces’, which comprised several unreleased songs from her previous albums. The album was preceded by the singer’s digital single ‘Strawberry Moon’, which was the follow-up to IU’s fifth studio album ‘LILAC’.
The musician also recently starred in the film Broker alongside Parasite’s Song Kang-ho and The Silent Sea’s Bae Doo-na, which was directed by Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda and premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
The post Watch BTS’ J-Hope duet with IU on ‘Equal Sign’ and ‘Pierrot Laughs At Us’ appeared first on NME.
