Read on Twitter
THREAD— An Analysis of “Still With You” 
Thank you for your patience in waiting for this thread! I’m going to analyze the song part by part, paying attention to both the production and Jungkook’s vocal techniques. Because he produced this, I think it’s important to analyze the type of sound and genre he’s using here.
First, I want to talk about the song’s clear jazz influences. Jazz was created in America by African Americans and it has gone on to influence every other genre, particularly r&b, rap, and hip hop. More on the history of jazz here: https://americanhistory.si.edu/smithsonian-jazz/education/what-jazz
And here’s some further reading on the way jazz has gone on to influence other genres: https://www.indigoboom.com/single-post/Jazz-Influence-on-Modern-Music
I think it’s really important for us to understand the history and elements of jazz in analyzing this piece, and also appreciate that it came from African Americans.
The jazz influences of STW were quickly noted by reviewers upon the song’s release: “Opening with heavily falling rain, “Still with You” is a ballad smoothed by jazzy double bass, trumpet, and piano.” - Consequences of Sound. https://consequenceofsound.net/2020/06/bts-jungkook-shares-first-ever-solo-single-still-with-you-stream/
So what are some elements of Jazz? As pointed out by the review, the use of bass, trumpets, and piano are important. Still With You includes all of these in its laid back instrumental. The song has a low melody that drifts between the ears when you’re wearing headphones.
The instrumental also features piano chords at the base and then a lighter piano melody, sprinkling notes as ornaments but following the melody of the chorus. To me, this lighter piano hints to the improvisation that’s important to jazz music, even though this is a recording.
There’s also the snare and drums that give the song momentum, moving it forward despite it being pretty mellow and comforting. This could be an element of Jazz called “Swing”, which keeps the song going but has a laid back quality.
The last thing I’ll touch on is Syncopation, another important element of jazz. This means that the vocalist will change the length of notes, making some shorter and some longer. Between My Time and STW, I would say that Jungkook is a fan of this technique, especially in adlibs.
Here’s some further reading on elements of jazz: https://newyorkjazzworkshop.com/what-are-the-elements-of-jazz/#:~:text=The%20key%20elements%20of%20Jazz,use%20of%20the%20blues%20scale.
Alright, so now that we have a small background on Jazz, let’s start listening to the song piece by piece. Starting with the intro, we get that rainfall and then a textured, echoing version of his voice opening the song.
In this opening, Jungkook drifts easily and smoothly from lower to higher notes, going up into his head voice. There are no vocal breaks, which shows how easily he can move to different parts of his voice.
There’s also plenty of breath in this part, and he shifts from breathy to clearer tones throughout, particularly on the higher notes. His higher notes are clear and not breathy, and this shows his mastery of incorporating breath into his voice as he wants.
After the vocal intro, we get to hear the instrumental as we ease into the song. Again, there’s the piano chords anchoring the song and then the trilling piano over it, song with the snare and some grounding bass notes. Hello, jazz!
In the first verse, the song quite literally “kicks off” with the added bass lines. Jungkook comes in with a very velvety sound, suiting the instrumental perfectly. Again, here he moves easily from lower to higher notes and incorporates breath as he wants.
The rhythm of the verses is really interesting - it has this mellow but sort of bouncy feel, as he moves from lower to higher notes. The notes also change often between syllables, which gives it an interesting melody.
Jungkook also makes use of vibrato in this song, often at the end of phrases, but the vibrato is very quick and more of a trill. This shows his control over his vibrato. It also adds little lilts and ornaments to the song without overpowering the laid back feel.
In this verse he does these trills at the end of every phrase, so take another listen and pay attention to those ending syllables.
Notably he does this quick, small vibrato both on the lower and higher notes, which again shows his control of his voice. In the lower notes, the vibrato is more velvety, while in the higher notes it’s more of that trill.
The prechorus is also in that clip, and here he adds a lot more breath. The rhythm at the beginning of the prechorus alternates between quicker and drawn out notes, which to me adds that element of syncopation into the song.
The prechorus also included a very light higher harmony layered subtle under his melody to give that part more texture.
I point that out because it shows an attention to detail from the production side, because the song offers both just his melody at some parts and then layers at others. This gives the ear something different to listen to and gives each part of the song something special.
Now for the chorus - here it moves up so the whole chorus is pretty much in a higher place. I would say this seems like the middle part of his voice. He spends most of it in head voice with some breathy falsetto and again makes use of the small bits of vibrato.
There’s also little bits of harmony here, layered under key phrases and very carefully mixed. Of course Jungkook is the harmony fairy and used to taking care of backing layers, so this is no surprise. I do like how the harmony comes in and out in the chorus.
I overall enjoy hearing Jungkook over this laid back kind of instrumental - his vocals really shine and you can hear more of his color. The melody of the chorus also follows that twinkling piano, so his voice and the piano come together really well.
Before the second verse, we get another instrumental break. These breaks really complement the laid back and mellow vibe of the song. During this one, we also get to hear the trumpet, which really shows off the jazz influences in this song.
In the second verse, Jungkook changes some things up. He adds more breath and even drops some notes to inaudible. This shows off the emotion in the song. However, he then goes up into head voice and you can really hear his lilting vibrato shine.
Him changing it up for the second verse also speaks to the jazz influences. It surprises the listener who might’ve expected the same singing pattern of the first verse. The notes are the same, but the delivery is different. And he shows off his lovely breathy and clearer tones.
In the second pre-chorus, we get more of that breath but the song feels like it’s building a bit. Again pay attention to those tiny bits of vibrato at the end of phrases.
In the prechorus he incorporates breath more on the higher notes, while the lower ones are clear and sit in the deeper part of his voice. That’s really where that velvety color comes out.
For the second chorus it’s much the same - plenty of falsetto and breath and then layered harmonies underneath.
I’ll add that I love how each chorus begins with the twinkling chimes - again, he’s added something in the production that gives each part of the song a special entrance or something different about. These chimes also help with leading the song into the higher chorus.
Now we’re on to the end of the song! We’ve got another iconic section of “ah”s here, which I honestly think he could’ve improvised in the studio. They sit mostly in his chest voice until the last few, which are in falsetto.
Behind the “ah”s we have some beautiful layered harmonies to add texture and depth to the song, as well as that twinkling piano soaring over his voice.
After that we have the outro, which is again filtered for that more textured, echoing song. This really gives the song its lofi vibes. Even though his voice is filtered, you can still clearly hear him seemlessly moving from chest voice to head voice and falsetto.
With the Outro, the instrumental also becomes more muted and the sound of the rain more prominent. The intro and outro are great ways to ease the listener into and out of the song and act as bookends.
The last “still with you” is breathy and I like how the “still” is sort of held a bit - again, this shows Jungkook’s use of syncopation. I think he’s very influenced by jazz in his singing and this song really shows that.
He was able to create a laid back instrumental that still has momentum, and a beautiful song that has a special meaning for Armys. He showed off his breath control, vibrato, and the way he can move easily between his lower and higher registers.
He also showed his mastery as a producer because he created a mood with the song and used influences from other genres. It’s the perfect song to listen to when you want to calm down and relax.
I read something that reminded me of Jungkook while researching - “Jazz musicians are jacks of all trades in their craft. The detailed musical knowledge of Jazz musicians has allowed them to be hired for rock, pop, R&B sessions and everything in between.”
“...which makes the Jazz musician truly unique.” Sounds like Jungkook, no? A master of music from production to lyrics to harmonies to singing, and a master of all genres, versatile enough to fit everything.
Jungkook may not be classified exactly as a “jazz musician”, but I think he does use and fit its qualities well, especially in this song. I look forward to him exploring these types of sounds in the future and letting his musical knowledge shine. 
Adding this clip from his vlive of him singing Still With You: https://twitter.com/blackxagustd/status/1365617376427995140
His velvety undertones and use of breath is coming through so clearly when he sings it accapella here. I love the way he emphasizes certain syllables, and you can hear that “trill” I talked about in those lovely lower notes.
