Jack in the Box is the debut studio album of South Korean rapper J-Hope of BTS, released on July 15, 2022, through Big Hit Music.

Originally only available as a digital album, Jack in the Box charted in 17 territories, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, New Zealand, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

In it, he speaks about "serving others over himself"—the song's lyrics, "Someone's light, someone's smile/ Someone's hope, my activities are someone's life", "highlight the weight of his responsibility to his fans"—and questions his own perspectives.

"[13] A 90s-inspired, "swag-filled" song with a "grungy rock 'n roll vibe"[13] that features a "darker, edgier sound"[12] in comparison to his previous releases, the track is a fusion of old-school hip hop and arena[14]/alt-rock.

Described in a press release as one of the main songs—together with "More"—that conveys the core message of Jack in the Box, it serves as the album's closing track.

[16][17] On June 14, 2022, during the YouTube premiere of BTS' ninth anniversary dinner, RM revealed that the members would be devoting more attention to individual music endeavors going forward.

[18][19][20] A subsequent Weverse notice dated June 25, publicized the upcoming release of his debut album, Jack In the Box, scheduled for July 15.

[21] J-Hope shared a short video clip of "a white J in the center of the screen, with a colorful checkered background" on his Instagram account, with the caption "'J'ack in the box", in honor of the album's announcement.

The photos from the 27th depicted the rapper "in dark, smoky makeup"[31] "standing alone in a slanted hallway" and wearing "a floppy black jester's hat [while] staring into the bright-flash camera from different spots".

", Big Hit Music confirmed this as the single's title in the text of the label's own posts of the concept images uploaded to its social media that same day.

[34] Critics positively highlighted "More"'s noticeable aural and visual departure from the brighter sounds and more vibrant imagery J-Hope had been known for up to that point,[12][13][35] and the "thunderous" expression of the rapper's "shocking and theatrical new vision".

[12][14] The single became his second solo entry on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, after 2019's "Chicken Noodle Soup", debuting at number 82 with 4.6 million cumulative streams and 12,000 copies sold—it was the second best-selling digital song in the country—during the tracking period dated July 1–7, 2022.

[36] Dazed ranked the song as the 15th best K-pop track of 2022 on its year-end list published in December, with Taylor Glasby writing that J-hope "bares his inner workings in 'More'" having "created a new lens through which to view him": as "a man whose creativity refuses to be tamed.

[16] Concept photos for the single followed on July 10 and 11, and showed the rapper dressed in a white jumpsuit posing next to a wrecked, burning car, and then with his clothing charred.

Directed by Lee Suho, the clip features a car exploding into fire in slow motion while J-Hope is heard saying "'let's burn … it's done'" before briefly rapping in Korean and then name-dropping the song's title, all over a "shuffling beat".

[40] J-Hope earned his third solo entry on the US Hot 100, at number 96, with "Arson", and his fourth number-one debut on the World Digital Song Sales chart.

Attendees included BTS-bandmates Jin, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook, Hybe chairman Bang Si-hyuk, and several of the rapper's close friends and artists in the dance and music industries such as Tiger JK, Yoon Mi-rae, Uhm Jung-hwa, Heize, Jessi, Hyuna, Sunmi, Simon Dominic, Loco, and Sokodomo.

[50][51] The following month, he joined the performance lineup for Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, held on December 31, and sang a medley comprising "= (Equal Sign)", "Chicken Noodle Soup", and the Holiday Remix version of "Butter" by BTS.

[54] In a 5-star review for NME, Rhian Daly wrote that the album was "smartly presented with a clearly signposted narrative" and "flows in a way that makes it a treat to enjoy from start to finish rather than dipping into songs at random.

"[58] She described it as "thought-provoking and full of fresh new flavour", noting that while "J-Hope might have taken off his bright, optimistic mask...to show another dimension of his character [...] those qualities [...] still creep in here in places, pushing forward his empathetic, sincere messages with glimmers of positivity.

[58] Clash's Abbie Aitken complimented J-Hope's "experiment[ation] with genres not normally associated with his artistry", describing the change as "refreshing" and "resulting in a second album that completely juxtaposes his previous sound."

He singled out "Equal Sign" and "Safety Zone" as the "rays of light" countering "the gloomier pits" of the rapper's personality in "the rest of the album's darkness.

[63] In Japan, with only three days of availability, Jack in the Box debuted at number two on Oricon's weekly Digital Albums Chart for the period dated July 11–17, 2022, selling 2,439 copies within that time.