It’s been six months since V of BTS released his solo project, Layover, and it turns out he wasn’t quite finished working on music. Despite the fact that V is in the midst of completing his mandatory period serving in the South Korean military, alongside his bandmates, the members of the BTS ARMY now have a new single, titled “FRI(END)S,” to enjoy from the perpetually jazz-inspired vocalist.
“FRI(END)S” is about the desire to take things to the next level with a romantic interest, and it’s accompanied by a music video that allows V to flex his acting skills to the silliest extremes. The all-English track does feel akin to the sound V developed on Layover, where he spent time with similarly mid-tempo, confessional arrangements.
“Friends are not supposed to get too close and feel emotions that we’re feeling now/ We ain’t slowing down/ But once we cross the line, there’s no denying, you and I can never turn around,” he sings before a small choir of background vocalists kicks in.
The music video features a storyline where V’s character lives the same day through multiple storylines — one is the perspective of a lonely, mournful individual, while the other shows him happily in a relationship. Like almost all of his other music videos, though, it just has to end in death, a choice the accompanying press release describes as “a motif to distinguish between the life of a lonely man and a lovestruck man.”
This latest chance for V to step into the acting space closely follows his appearance in IU’s music video for “Love wins all,” which was unpacked in a recent episode of Consequence Podcast Network’s Stanning BTS.
And for anyone keeping track, the count for V’s discharge from the military (along with his bandmate RM, who began service the same day) is currently tallied at 452 days. Stay strong, and watch the music video for “FRI(END)S” below.
