For day 12 of analyzing one song every day until BTS’ Tampa concert, I decided to analyze “MONA LISA” by j-hope. As one of the songs J-Hope released after he was discharged from the military, “MONA LISA” serves as a homage to his roots and a step towards a new beginning through it’s hip hop lyrical style and dance.

The song is pretty straightforward and describes J-Hope’s type in women. The aspect of the song that makes it interesting is the way he describes his type. He does describe that he likes pretty women (lines 1,3,etc) however, he doesn’t describe them specifically, leaving it open to assume that it can apply to all women. This then shows the audience that there’s no beauty standard that he’s enforcing, all of them are beautiful in their own way.

He also specifically expresses that the women he likes are all , “Independent… got her own check,” basically describing that they are strong women who supports themselves (line 14). This is another really interesting line as it shows how J-Hope does not conform to the societal standers set upon women when describing his ideal type. Instead, he likes someone who is independent and working just as hard, or even harder, than he is.

All of these aspects of the song makes it such a fun one for me. I love the way he described women in this song, they are described with a respect that is sometimes rare for pop music now-a-days. I do hope he will perform the song as I loved hearing it live at his solo concert. I don’t know how likely it is but you never know.