Let’s go back today to the moments demonstrating the passion that V has for jazz, to imagine what his life would have been like if BTS had not existed.
1. His Icons
On Weverse, he declared last year that he thinks it’s a great blessing to be able to be moved by Jazz, and on the same occasion, he recommended the movie “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” to a fan asking for some jazz content. This movie is about the life of Billie Holiday, a jazz singer, struggling with addiction, but also surrounded by love and fame. After he recommended that movie, it trended on Melon’s real-time search, proving his influence even though he talked about it on Weverse, a fan-dedicated website. He didn’t stop there, as he shared a video on BTS’ official Twitter, ‘Now You Has Jazz’, a 1956 song from the movie “High Society”. He captioned it with “This is the video of my life. I’ll share it with you”. This song was performed by icons like Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong, to describe what it needs to create jazz. His passion for this genre isn’t new. Few years ago, during an interview, he declared listening to LPs, such as Frank Sinatra and Samy Davis Jr.
— 방탄소년단 (@BTS_twt) November 6, 2021
2. His jazz collection
V doesn’t really share his collection with fans, rather he would recommend songs or upload videos of him listening to jazz. It is a way for him to express his passion, and the only time he actually shared his collection was in 2020, on Weverse. He simply said that he has a lot of songs he would like to recommend, but he doesn’t know their titles. He just shared a pic of them, and you can see on it Norah Jones’ ‘Come Away With Me’ and Tony Bennett & Diana Krall’s ‘Love Is Here To Stay’. V likes to introduce his jazzy life to fans when he’s looking for a new song, going out in bars, or simply living his life as a jazz fan as well. For example, he met this year Jon Batiste, the creative director of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, and also a musician. As a big fan of jazz, V must have been really happy to meet one of his idols, and have lunch together after Grammys 2022. V taught a little bit of korean to Jon and they even hugged. V declared that he would love to collaborate with him, but also Kurt Elling, another jazz musician who replied he hope the same! During the Grammys 2022, V also met Lady Gaga, whom he refers to as the “jazz queen”.
3. The songs he shared
As previously said, V would share the songs he’s listening to rather than show pics of LPs and CDs. On Instagram, he likes to include videos of jazz in his publication, even if sometimes his post has nothing to do with music. For example, he included some videos when he was playing golf, or when he was on a plane. He would mostly share publications as he did on his Instagram when he uploaded ‘Me and My Shadow’ by Frank Sinatra & Sammy Davis Jr., ‘It’s Been A Long Time’ by June Christy, and the same video he uploaded on Twitter from “High Society” so that everyone can listen to his favorite song. More recently, we saw V enjoying some time, dancing in a jazz bar with some old couple dancing around him as if he was a stranger and not a famous celebrity. For sure he must have enjoyed this moment a lot!
A post shared by V (@thv)
4. Him playing jazz
On several occasions, V shared how much he would like to try something jazzy with BTS, and we could feel that when he released his solo song ‘Singularity’. This song has a particular style, groovy and quite sensual, and it definitively possesses some jazz inspirations! V’s voice is quite marvelous, the same as his previous song ‘Stigma’. He shared in a Weverse magazine interview that he gained inspiration from Frank Sinatra’s body language to dance on the song ‘Dynamite’, same with Sammy Davis Jr.
V caught a lot of attention when he actually shared footage of him playing the trumpet. For people watching BTS’ show “In the Soop”, it wasn’t the first witnessing him playing, but it took him some courage to do so on social media. In the video he shared, he’s playing Frank Sinatra’s ‘Autumn Leaves’ and even BTS’ J-hope was surprised at how good V was, asking him if he didn’t act. The video trending, The Jazz Estate (TJE) shared it, V receiving the recognition he deserved.
A post shared by V (@thv) Every time V is asked what kind of music he likes, he would answer jazz, for the past several years. V is the most followed Korean on Instagram, and thanks to him, more and more people discover jazz every day. If you also like jazz, let us know in the comment below your favorite song, and if V inspired you with his tastes and publications!
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