BTS member Jung Kook stepped out on his own to launch a solo career in earnest while the legendary septet is on hiatus.

The 26-year-old hitmaker spoke with British GQ about his debut solo album Golden, which introduced members of the ARMY to a more mature side of his artistry.

During the conversation, he touched on how it felt to create without the rest of the members of BTS by his side. By the sounds of it, there were some positives that came with discovering a new side of himself. However, there was a drawback, too.

On the topic of his music, Jung Kook revealed what success as a soloist looks like to him and named the song that was hardest for him to create on the new album.

Read more about Jung Kook’s solo launch…

As the outlet noted, Jung Kook‘s single “Seven” featured the line “I’ll be f-cking you right.” The explicit lyric was a first for him.

Did he go into the album wanting to present a more adult version of himself?

“You make the song guided by your feelings [and] where your heart leads you. By following my heart and my feelings, I think I have been able to mature,” he responded.

Elsewhere in the interview, he added that it was “good” if you could “sense the maturity.” However, “I don’t think it was something I did intentionally. I think it has just come out naturally.”

The album had a bit of a learning curve for Jung Kook.

“While working on the album by myself, and performing on stage alone, [I noticed] things about myself that I was unaware of – the good points and the areas I’m lacking in,” he explained, adding, “In terms of music, I found myself realizing, ‘Oh I can do these kinds of things as well, huh?,’ or ‘Ah, this is something I can work on.’”

Throughout it all, there was a constant – “I found myself missing the members [of BTS] quite a bit.”

While listening to Golden, members of the ARMY should pay special attention to the song “Standing Next to You.” Jung Kook described it as “particularly meaningful.”

“The song itself is great, and as soon as I heard the song, I could picture myself on stage performing [it],” he recalled. “The recording process was not easy, so it’s particularly memorable, too. It was so tiring that I did feel my soul almost leaving my body, but the process in itself was extremely fun. I think this will also be the one song ARMY are most amazed by.”

As a member of BTS, the superstar has already conquered the world in a way that few other artists usually hope to achieve. He’s measuring success in a different way as a soloist.

“I don’t think success is determined by other people’s perspectives,” he said. “Just experiencing self-satisfaction, being happy, experiencing difficulties, being frustrated – I think in all those moments, ‘success’ is always mixed in with it. For me, instead of chasing success, it’s enough to be satisfied.”

If you missed it, Jung Kook recently addressed romance rumors. Is he seeing anyone?

This fall we also got some very exciting news about BTS.

Press play on “Standing Next to You” below…