Getting into JAY B before 'Chptr. 1': from 'Switch It Up' to 'Layback', the words at the front of each album

JAY B, the leader of GOT7, releases the third single 'Chptr. 1' at 6 p.m. KST on October 27. The schedule posted by the label, 528Hz, lists two songs: 'Honeydew' and 'Sweetie'. According to news reports, it's the first chapter of a single series that takes a different direction from the full-length albums and EPs, and the series is meant to carry on like an epilogue. Before this, JAY B had put out seven releases under that name, going by 528Hz's website. Open the seven album introductions on Bugs one after another, and six of them begin with words someone else wrote: Ernest Hemingway twice, and Confucius, Alexandre Dumas, Aristotle and Yu Yeong-man once each. We followed those openings to pick seven songs. Def., which shows up in the credits, is the name JAY B uses to write songs and to put out separate releases. Credits come from the song pages on Bugs, release dates were checked on Bugs and Apple Music, and times follow the official videos.

At a glance

Year	Song	How the album introduction opens	Moment to catch first
2021	'Switch It Up'	Hemingway, "doing the thing"	1:28 waves on a screen in the woods
2021	'B.T.W'	Hemingway, "former self"	1:35 Jay Park behind an airplane window
2022	'Rocking Chair'	"for my fans"	0:24 the sound of a cassette deck
2022	'go UP'	Confucius, "Respect yourself"	2:19 a barge on the river
2023	'One Moment'	Dumas, "Wait and hope"	3:00 the closing stretch without drums
2024	'Crash'	Aristotle, "To love someone"	2:25 a tiered lookout at sunset
2026	'Layback'	Yu Yeong-man, "a tree that shakes"	1:57 eight seconds without drums

2021 · 'Switch It Up'

A single released through H1GHR MUSIC on May 14, 2021. The Hemingway line at the top of its introduction is "The shortest answer is doing the thing." In other words, the quickest answer is to actually do it. JAY B wrote the lyrics with sokodomo and Jay Park. The official live clip starts in the woods in daylight. At 1:28 night has fallen, and waves roll across a big screen set up in the middle of the woods. Four seconds later, the lyric is '파도처럼' (like the waves), too. At 2:12 sokodomo steps in, and the screen turns into a purple swirl. Apple Music

2021 · 'B.T.W'

The title track of 'SOMO:FUME', the first solo EP, released on August 26 the same year. The introduction opens with Hemingway again, with a line saying true nobility comes not from being better than other people but from being better than your former self. Jay Park is featured on the song and wrote the lyrics together with Def. At 0:28 in the music video, a white two-story house moves across a bridge over the water, with a blue car right behind it. At 1:33 JAY B stands on a rooftop, one hand raised to the forehead, looking at the sky. At 1:35, the moment the picture cuts to Jay Park behind an airplane window, '뭐든 내가 해줄게 Oh girl' (I'll do anything for you, oh girl) begins. Apple Music

2022 · 'Rocking Chair'

The second single, released through 528Hz on August 23, 2022, and filed under ballad on Bugs. Instead of a quotation, the introduction has a short text that ends with "For my people, for a few, for all, for my fans." Of the seven songs here, it's the only one with neither JAY B nor Def. among the lyricists or composers. The lyrics are by IHWAK and RoyalDive, and the credits in the album introduction also list JAY B on background vocals. At 0:24 in the video, there's a short sound of a cassette deck being pressed in a dark room, and two seconds later the first line begins. The drums never come in. The "you" in the lyrics has grown used to '열림 버튼보다 많이 닳아버린 닫힘 버튼' (a close button worn down more than the open button), and the chorus line is '내가 흔들의자가 될게요' (I'll be the rocking chair). Apple Music

2022 · 'go UP'

A month later, on September 21, the second EP 'Be Yourself' came out. Its introduction opens with Confucius: "Respect yourself and others will respect you." The title track 'go UP' is based on 'Get Up', written by Thomas Troelsen and others, with Def. among the writers of the Korean lyrics. The song notes in the introduction say the aim was to carry one thought: step a little outside what others expect, shake off the pressure, and live your own time freely. The music video opens with someone flipping backward through the air between two people standing on a riverbank, slowed right down over eight seconds. At 2:19, people dance on a barge floating in the middle of the river at dusk. Apple Music

2023 · 'One Moment'

Released on February 14, 2023, as the title track of the special album 'Seasonal Hiatus'. The Dumas line at the top of the introduction says all human wisdom is summed up in two words, "Wait and hope". Def. wrote the lyrics alone. The drums come in at 0:28 with the first line, and from 3:00 they drop out while '괜찮다면 나를 기다려 줄래' (if it's okay, will you wait for me) carries on. The last line, at 3:19, is '돌아올게 가을 바람과 함께' (I'll come back with the autumn wind). Times follow the official audio. JAY B's next release came one year and nine months later. Apple Music

2024 · 'Crash'

A title track from 'Archive 1: [Road Runner]', the first full-length album, released on November 27, 2024. It was a double title with 'Cloud nine', and the agency at the time was mauve company. The introduction begins with Aristotle: "To love someone is to identify with them." All eleven songs released for streaming list Def. among the lyricists. At 2:25 in the director's cut of the 'Crash' music video, people stand here and there on a tiered lookout by the sea at sunset. In the 'CLOUD NINE' music video, released a week later, an identical-looking lookout returns at 2:26 as a night scene. Apple Music

2026 · 'Layback'

The title track of 'TR.EE', the third mini album, released through 528Hz on June 10 this year. The introduction opens with four sentences from Yu Yeong-man's '나무는 나무라지 않는다' (roughly, 'A Tree Doesn't Scold'), and each sentence contains the verb 흔들리다 (to shake) once. JAY B took part in the lyrics of all six songs and wrote 'Layback' alone. The introduction describes it as a track where a dreamy vocal chop (a voice cut into small pieces and played like an instrument) and flowing piano spread slowly and deeply. At 1:54 in the music video, the bass drops out on '빛이 없이 밝혀주네' (lighting it up without any light), and from 1:57 the drums stop too, for eight seconds. At 2:18 the picture turns black and white, and a grand piano stands at the side of a forest path at night. Apple Music

October 27, 'Chptr. 1'

According to the schedule 528Hz posted on its official social media on October 6, concept photos come on the 13th, 15th and 17th, a mood film on the 20th, and music video teasers on the 23rd and 26th, and after the release, the performance video follows on November 4. 'Sweetie' shares its title with an unreleased song first performed at the June concert in Seoul, 'tape: roots'. At the show, JAY B reportedly said of that song, "I remember making it and listening to it over and over, letting out little exclamations." On the same stage came another remark: "I used to think making an album was like writing a book, but now it feels like the book is only finished once I perform it." 'Chptr.' is short for chapter, as in a chapter of a book. In a four-second video posted on JAY B's YouTube channel on September 30, a lightning-like streak of light draws 'Chptr' one letter at a time, flashes at around three seconds, and leaves the white 'Chptr. 1' logo. What line will open the introduction of this first chapter? It's worth checking on Bugs on the 27th. The first music video teaser went up at 6 p.m. on the 23rd under the title 'Honeydew'.