Fans Question If HYBE Mismanaged BTS J-Hope’s Solo Release — Here Are All The Details

BTS‘s J-Hope recently made his iconic solo debut with Jack in the Box and left ARMY in awe of his talent. He composed, wrote, and produced the album, came up with concept and merchandise ideas, and even chose to move forward with a listening party and various radio shows as part of the promotion. Personally invited by Lollapalooza, J-Hope’s solo debut left his mark on the world as an admirable artist and a force to be reckoned with.

J-Hope performing at Lollapalooza 2022 

However, some fans are recently questioning HYBE and BIG HIT Music‘s side of the promotion and have listed their shortcomings during the album’s promotions and trended hashtags on Twitter including #JusticeForJitB and #CDSforJHope.

HYBE was previously criticized for testing their ESG strategy (to showcase their consideration for environmental and social issues) with J-Hope’s solo debut.

"The three companies also received high scores in ESG management. For example, Hybe, the 'BTS' agency, produced the 'Weverse Album' for environmental management. The Weverse album is based on a QR code, not an actual CD album. The purpose is to contribute to carbon reduction + pic.twitter.com/EgNNNTPcIC

— jayvee (@uarmyvibe) October 20, 2022

Soon after, the announcement, HYBE’s BTS RECIPE BOOK was released as physical merchandise and criticized for going against their ESG strategies they had just proposed conveniently for J-Hope’s album, leading fans to believe HYBE’s primary goal was to score high in ESG management.

Hybe used JitB to gain ESG points to help their corporate image and mismanaged the sales and distribution.
JitB had success despite HB not because of them,it would've done even better if HB did their job.
Hobi deserved HBs best.
This is not HBs best#JusticeForJitB #CDSforJHope pic.twitter.com/aVQQlgsvGJ

— j-hope Society — (@jhopesociety) October 21, 2022

Through J-Hope’s livestream detailing his entire process of creating the album, he never mentioned why he only created a digital album. This, combined with HYBE’s ESG statements, shows it was not ultimately J-Hope’s choice to create only a digital album (HYBE later released a vinyl edition).

Its not okay that hybe used jitb to carbon offset the rest of their releases for the year. They got better ESG points instead of promoting their artist. Hybe didn't care about j-hope's art or career, they only cared about using jitb to make them appear sustainable.#JusticeForJitB

— na (@redwitx) October 20, 2022

Additionally, fans were upset that J-Hope’s exciting KAWS album artwork collaboration only existed as a digital album cover.

J-Hope excitedly gushes about his KAWS collaboration | BANGTANTV/YouTube 

However, the issue extends beyond physical releases.

It wasn't just about CDs actually.

JITB DIDN'T have

in-person stores
Us/uk retailers
Target/walmart
Japan go
US digital store BEFORE release
and many more#JusticeForJitB #CDSforJHope #GiveJhopeCDs

— j-hope Charts¹³⁵ STREAM JITB & RH (@jhopescharts) October 20, 2022

HYBE’s intention to promote J-Hope’s album originally as a mixtape can be seen through their merch labels…

“Jack in the Box” merch came with a label stating it was mixtape merchandise. | @hopextami/Twitter

…and even through a tweet from Weverse Shop that was quickly deleted.

The link to the merch reads “mixtape.” | @weversehop/Twitter 

…fans have also questioned the lack of social media promotion where HYBE and BIG HIT Musi failed to include a timetable of releases or change their social media headers/profile photos in promotion of Jack in the Box. A K-ARMY’s recent post on the subject went viral on Korean forum theqoo, detailing the various instances that had been pointed out by international fans.

This year, BTS had their 10th year anniversary. But they’ve never mentioned officially even once that J-hope was going to promote his solo. Meanwhile, in July, J-Hope had his first full-length album.

He was the first BTS member to release a solo album.
J-hope’s debut album ‘Jack in the Box’ was all composed, written, and produced by him. In total, it had 10 songs.

However, BIG HIT:
1. Never posts about the changes in the album releases in a Tweet and they also didn’t change their header or profile picture
2. Didn’t release a timetable for the dates of the release
3. Sold the physical album 2 weeks after the digital release
4. On the day they released it on US radio, they didn’t send the digital music file (honestly, even when the radio requested it, they didn’t do it)

What’s even harder to understand is:
They didn’t have a “physical” album but only 1 type of digital album
So because they didn’t have a physical album, J-hope couldn’t enter Billboard 200.

— OP

Many of netizens’ replies sympathized with the cause.

• “This is his first solo album, no physical album is indeed a bit so so. Isn’t it a given that you should have one?”
• “Do people really think they did that for the environment? Then they should’ve at least changed their Twitter’s banner or profile picture at least noㅋㅋ Aren’t you curious about that?ㅋㅋ”
• “I’m telling you they need to leave Hybeㅠㅠㅠ  Do you think there’s ay company who are worthy of Bangtan in our country????? The members’ value must be insaneㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ “
• “The thing that pissed me off the most is that they didn’t promote him at all and they didn’t even change their profile picture”
• “I can f*cking understand you and they’re f*cking f*ckers”

The issue with HYBE’s promotion of Jack in the Box has opened up various discussions among fans, questioning how the company treats their artists and what they can improve on going forward.

source https://www.koreaboo.com/news/bts-jhope-jack-in-box-solo-album-debut-hybe-bighit-music-mismanaged/