THREAD— An analysis of Jungkook’s vocals in “Dynamite”, the original, hidden vocals, and his verse in the acoustic version.

BTS finally came back and released the song of the summer, “Dynamite.” This disco-inspired song includes piano, trumpets, and a distinctly Michael Jackson vibe in both the vocals and dancing.

The song has already smashed records and Bighit has also released some different versions. Today I’ll be focusing mostly on the original, though I will touch on the acoustic version.

I’ll also be pulling from the hidden vocals to spotlight the harmonies and layering in the track, which often include Jungkook! Much of the thread will also focus on his iconic intro, which starts the song off perfectly.

Before I begin, I want to again say that I currently can only wear one earphone because I got some new piercings. So please forgive if I miss something or mishear something that doesn’t play in the ear phone I’m using. (Sometimes sounds only play in one ear.)

Okay, let’s begin with the opening in the original version. I was immediately struck by his use of a stronger sound in his verse, as well as the rasp throughout. This vocal tone and approach is clearly inspired by Michael Jackson.

At the very beginning of the song, Jungkook begins in a very light tone, in falsetto with some breath. He then kicks off the song for real with that stronger tone. In just these two moments, you can hear his ability to create a clear, pure tone and also a raspier tone.

The rasp he’s using is clearly a stylistic choice and sounds very healthy to my ears. It’s not too gritty, and we know he’s used rasp in the past as well. This shows off his versatility, as this tone fits the genre and influences perfectly.

In particular, the rasp on the words “King Kong” and “got my ping pong” is really nice. It adds some texture to the vocal and again calls back to the MJ inspiration.

He also ends the words very powerfully, with clear stops and quick breaths in between lines for style and rhythm. This is different from the fading technique he often uses on notes. See songs like Still With You and Jamais Vu for examples of that.

For this, I believe he’s engaging something called the glottal stop. I’ve talked about this before, but it basically allows singers to cut off notes more sharply or strongly for style. Vocalists have to be careful though to make sure they’re not being harsh.

You can tell he’s not being too harsh here because though he ends sharply with clean cut-offs, you also have those light breaths and puffs of air, which show that his cords are still a bit open and relaxed.

To hear what I mean more clearly, take a listen to the acoustic version. The technique I’m talking about is very clear at the end of lines, like “rock and roll” and “stone.”

You can also hear the way he uses his falsetto in the beginning, then transitioning to a pure head tone before he goes to his chest voice. The way he does this so smoothly shows how his ranges are connected.

I’d also like to talk a bit about the rhythm of this intro verse. I don’t know if you’ve tried, but I find this difficult to sing to because it’s SO fast and the lines bounce off of each other in interesting ways. It would definitely take me a few tries to get it right.

I’m sure he practiced a lot, but the fact that he can handle such a quick paced verse in ENGLISH is really impressive to me, and shows just how far he’s come in practicing his pronunciation.

Throughout the verse, he’s in full chest and also adds that little chesty fun on LeBron, which I love. He perfectly displays the attitude needed for this song.

Next, let’s take a look at his chorus part. Here, they’ve added some layering and a bit of autotune on “bring”, but they pull off to let his clear vocal shine on “set the night alight.”

His tone here is light but still strong, and I’m pretty sure he’s in chest here. I’m always really impressed how light Jungkook can keep his chest voice, as it can be easy to let that get a bit heavy. The lightness of his voice really matches the happy, pure vibe of the song.

And again, he starts off the chorus with more breath, in his falsetto, before transitioning seamlessly to a more pure tone. The “ah, ah, I’m” is falsetto, but by “in the stars” he’s already taken the breath out for that clearer vocal tone. Very quick transition!

Now let’s take a look at the hidden vocals to hear the layering more clearly. You can hear that he’s added some extra parts in his falsetto, and then some layers in the melody before Jimin comes in on a lower harmony.

Credit to K26 on YouTube for this really helpful video!

In the next chorus, he does the same thing - starting in falsetto and transitioning to pure chest. I’ve also included the bridge (Dynanana...) here, since he’s singing this part and also present in the layering.

By this time in the song, the groove has really kicked in and he does a great job matching it. I also love the bridge part because again, he manages the quick melody really well and keeps the pitches clear.

For that chorus, let’s take a look at the hidden vocals for the harmonies. You can see that Jungkook is everywhere in this backtrack.

The part where the whole maknae line harmonizes is really nice, with Tae on the melody, Jimin on a lower harmony, and I believe Jungkook is either on that lower part or on middle part. This part is hard for me to hear with just one earphone, so please forgive me.

Now for the next part, again the Dynanana melody comes back. Jungkook leads this easily and even in this version you can hear the layers of harmony he adds when Jimin takes the melody.

He also adds a slight slide to the last “Ey” to add forward momentum to this part. From what I hear, the word is on two notes, but the slide makes them transition seamlessly. It’s super subtle but I really like that! Jimin does it with his part as well, just slides lower.

Now here’s the hidden vocals for that, which I’m completely obsessed with. I hear AT LEAST three layers of harmony from Jungkook - melody, middle, and higher.

I actually think there’s a lower harmony too, which would make that like four layers! He keeps the harmonies super light even on the lower one so they blend perfectly. When Jimin takes the melody, Jungkook does a higher harmony to help the song build up.

That highest harmony is in a super light head voice so it doesn’t overwhelm the melody. It just sits lightly on top as a great accent and helps the energy get higher. He also harmonies when Jin takes the melody as well.

I also think that last “Dynamite” sounds like Jungkook to my ears, even though Tae is highlighted, but maybe it’s just using one earphone again! Either way he is aallll over these harmonies.

Now for the last chorus and the adlibs. I believe the first “Ah” high note that starts the key change is Jungkook, and then he has a bunch of adlibs and runs to accent this final chorus.

These adlibs help the song’s energy reach its peak. He also does a sort of “call and response”, repeating the words in between. Ex: “light” “light”.

Now there’s a fair bit of autotune on these adlibs which makes me a little said, I hope he sings them live so we can hear them more clearly, but he handles both high notes and lower runs here. He seems to be in his chest voice aside from the high note, which would be head voice.

Before the key change, he also starts the last chorus by singing in a deeper tone on “shining”, then letting his voice build as he goes up in pitch and leads us into that final chorus.

I love that his adlibs here are often sort of responding to the chorus, because it adds nice layers and textures to the chorus and helps it feel more powerful. His runs are really neat but also very powerful, because he’s in chest voice for all the runs I believe.

In the hidden vocals, the adlibs are not that clear because they’re a part of the main track. But you can hear that nice middle harmony Jungkook adds in the chorus and can hear some of his adlibs well.

To finish up, what does Dynamite show about Jungkook’s vocals? First, his versatility and ability to sing in any genre with style and confidence. Secondly, his ability to add breath or take it away as needed, aka breath control.

Third, his ability to add rasp or take it away to create different sounds. Both his raspy and pure and clear vocals shine in this song.

Fourth, his ability to transition into his different ranges - falsetto, head, and chest. Fifth, his amazing runs and adlibs. And sixth, his harmonies and layering in the hidden vocals.

The intro to the song is just so powerful, and I’m happy to hear him exploring different sounds in official releases. I really like his raspy tone and hope we hear more of it.

He has once again proven how well his voice fits different genres and how he takes inspiration from artists who came before him. I think his vocals really shine in this song and help it have that happy, bouncy vibe.