BTS’ V Performs ‘Love Me Again’ Live For First Time, Along with Solo Tracks ‘Rainy Days’ and ‘Slow Dancing’
BTS‘ V celebrated the release of his six-track debut solo album, Layover, last week by performing the latest single, “Love Me Again,” on Naver’s NPOP variety show. As part of a 12-minute mini-concert, V stood alone on a stage surrounded by a quartet of backup singers and large canvases with his image on them (a well as digitally shifting images from famous artworks) as he crooned “Love Me Again” over a lite jazz arrangement.
The special also featured a moody run through the album’s “Rainy Days,” which found V — dressed in white sweats and a matching white beanie — seated on a stage in front of a bank of computer screens crooning the ballad from on office chair as the set was slicked with digital precipitation.
Footage of waves rolled in during a short intro film to “Slow Dancing,” which opened with V swimming in the ocean before transitioning to the forlorn-looking singer crooning the low-key soul track on a fog-enshrouded stage. During the flue solo, V walked through a curtain to reveal a watery room filled with backup dancers who joined him in for some slow-motion choreo.
The singer’s debut solo album also features the songs “Blue” and “For Us,” as well as a bonus track piano version of “Slow Dancing.” V worked with NewJeans creative director/ADOR president Hee Jin Min on the album, with label BIGHIT also noting that Min oversaw the entire production of the collection, including music, choreography, design and promotion.
V is the latest member of the K-pop super band to release his own music as the group is in the midst of a pause as the singers pursue solo careers while the performers prepare to enlist in mandatory South Korean military service: to date, Suga, Jin and J-Hope have begun their service.
Watch V’s performances below.
Gil Kaufman
Billboard