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Jimin doesn't say goodbye to the BTS Army as he prepares to begin his service as an active duty soldier in the South Korean military. Instead, he sends them a heartfelt love letter rather than a “see you later” in the form of his latest solo single “Closer Than This.”
“Whenever it rains, I'll remember the times I sang in the rain/Whenever it snows, I'll cherish the way you smiled for me in the snow/On the spring day we meet again, I'll tell you everything I could “Not before/My love, my baby, forever by your side/Seven is one, right, our hearts still beat as one,” Jimin sings, sprinkling references throughout his verses long career of BTS.
Dreaming of the day he will be with his fans again, the singer offers: “Let's sing it together, this song/For the day we meet again, with a pat on the back/We look at each other with tears in each other's eyes/Calling each other's names.” Earlier this month, BIGHIT Music announced that Jimin, RM, V and Jung Kook will be completing their military service alongside their bandmates J-Hope, Suga and Jin. BTS is expected to return in 2025.
In a later verse, Jimin looks back on how far he's come with the band and celebrates the fans who came along. “Starting on June 13/To the us of the present, here and now,” he sings, referring to the date of BTS’s anniversary. “Even if you’re not here/In the same place, always/I could never let you go/Never let you go.”
“Closer Than This” marks Jimin’s first official solo release since the release of his debut solo album “Face” earlier this year. The record, released in March, featured the popular single “Like Crazy.”
“In this album I look back at myself. “I’ve heard the word ‘face’ has a lot of different meanings,” he told Rolling Stone ahead of the album’s release. “Of course it has the meaning of the noun 'face', but it also means 'face' [confront]' as a verb. So in order to stand at this new starting point and begin a new journey, I felt it was necessary to look back at myself and face myself fully.”
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He added: “Actually, I'm not good at beating around the bush or saying things indirectly, and that goes for my lyrics too.” I just wrote down the emotions as they were, exactly how I felt I felt two years ago and the emotions I felt in every situation [at that time]. So if you just listen to the music, you understand the lyrics immediately.”