Seasoned ARMYs are already familiar with V’s great love for strawberries, his fondness for Mozart and Bach, his exemplary photography skills and propensity for using the names Renoir and Van Gogh, instead of his own, to introduce himself on Bon Voyage Episodes.
The group’s second youngest, V AKA Kim Taehyung is the only baritone from the vocal line (the other three are tenors) and his great vocal ability in the lower ranges is pivotal to BTS’s sound. V is also credited with coining the phrase I purple you, a clarion call for ARMY that was adopted by UNICEF for its anti-bullying campaign.
On Christmas Day, 5 days short of his 25th Birthday, V released Snow Flower, a song co-written with singer, songwriter, composer, rapper and member of the famed Wooga Squad, Peakboy. V released the song on Soundcloud and Youtube as a present for his fans. Sharing a message via Bangtan Blog, V wrote,“This year feels like a stopped time, and as the end of the year approaches, I think there will be a lot of people with increased anxiety and depression. For today, I hope that white flowers will come down to your hearts and feel a little warm comfort and happiness.”
In Snow Flower, V declares that the one thing he is ready for this year, is the falling snow. The lyrics “In this cold season/ Your coming to me is a special event/To the warm you who will melt my blue and grey” is a direct allusion to Blue and Grey, on BTS’s album, “BE”. When V sings “The whole world gets filled with white flowers”, it evokes BTS’s song Crystal Snow; the beautiful snowy imagery becoming a metaphor for courage and strength.
The theme of overcoming an initial struggle is ubiquitous in V’s singing and songwriting. Inner child is V’s musical bildungsroman– it chronicles the blossoming of his music, from the bittersweet naivete of youth and dreams to the world-weary notes of hope and healing. V’s penchant for the “best part” ― a dream-like, ethereal world, or a romantic fairytale, if you will― is also evident from his song Scenery. His repertoire is astoundingly impressive for someone in their mid twenties― sometimes avant-garde, often whimsical and tackling difficult subjects, but always doggedly hopeful.
Snow Flower is a testament to V’s sonic and thematic maturity , and picks up beautifully where another ballad Winter Bear, left off, where he sings the refrain, “Imagine your face say hello to me/Then All the bad days/they’re nothing to me/With you ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh/Winter Bear.”
Snow Flower brings to mind a few words from Albert Camus: “In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.” – words which, like Snow Flower, gives us enough beauty and hope to carry on in dark times.
