It was when he was in middle school that Park Jimin became interested in dance and started attending Just Dance Academy, where he learned popping and locking. He decided to audition for an entertainment company a few years later at the suggestion of a teacher at his high school. This led him to Big Hit Entertainment—he passed his auditions and joined the company in 2012. Jimin jumped into his training head first, waking up earlier and going to bed later than everyone else. It was this work ethic, which his dance teachers had noticed in him years before, that would earn him the final spot in the lineup of the group that would become Bangtan Sonyeondan. Over the years after BTS’ debut this drive would lead Jimin down a path of intense self-criticism, soul-searching, and self-realization. While he would begin his career desperate to live up to the image everyone else had of him, eventually he’d come to realize that the best person he could give to BTS and his fans was just himself…

In mid 2022, BTS announced an upcoming break from group activities. During the Festa dinner where this happened, j-hope explained, “We need time to focus on ourselves, and who we are outside of BTS. So we can come back together even stronger.” He took his own words to heart—releasing Jack in the Box the very next month. He then embarked on a whirlwind of promotions and appearances for the rest of the year, tapping heavily into the performer/entertainer side of j-hope, and put the dancing he’d gotten his start in on the back burner. By the time the year was drawing to a close and he was getting closer to his military enlistment date, he was feeling lost. He was proud of what he’d accomplished, but unsure of who he was anymore, and of what the future was going to bring. In the final few months before enlisting he was yearning to get back to his roots, and ground himself. It was time to rediscover Hoseok, the dancer who existed before BTS. It was time to get back “on the street”.