V
Who was V?
South Korean singer, songwriter, and actor who performs as a member of the globally successful K-pop boy band BTS under the stage name V.
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on V (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Kim Tae-hyung, professionally known as V, was born on December 30, 1995, in Daegu, South Korea. He went to Changnam Elementary School and Geochang Middle School and later studied at Global Cyber University. From a young age, he was interested in performing arts, and his journey into music started when he was scouted by Big Hit Entertainment as a teenager.
Before Fame
Growing up in Daegu, one of South Korea's biggest cities, Kim Tae-hyung was surrounded by the country's booming entertainment industry. In the early 2010s, K-pop's worldwide popularity skyrocketed, and management agencies were on the hunt for young talent to train. Kim auditioned for Big Hit Entertainment and spent years in intense training in singing, dancing, and performance before making his public debut.
Kim's journey to fame wasn't instant. He was mostly kept out of the spotlight during BTS's pre-debut phase, and his group membership wasn't confirmed until their debut day in June 2013. This unusual reveal only increased interest in him, and he soon became one of the group's most recognized members.
Key Achievements
- Debuted as a member of BTS in 2013 under Big Hit Entertainment, contributing to the group's rise as one of the best-selling music acts in history.
- Released the solo EP Layover in September 2023, marking his official debut as an independent solo artist.
- Made his acting debut in the 2016 KBS2 historical drama Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth, contributing the original soundtrack single 'It's Definitely You'.
- Three of his solo BTS tracks — 'Stigma', 'Singularity', and 'Inner Child' — all charted on South Korea's Gaon Digital Chart.
- Self-composed and released 'Scenery' in 2019, demonstrating his capabilities as a songwriter independent of BTS's broader production team.
Did You Know?
- 01.V's membership in BTS was kept secret by Big Hit Entertainment and was not revealed to the public until the actual day of the group's debut on June 13, 2013.
- 02.He adopted the stage name 'V' to represent victory, chosen by Big Hit Entertainment at the time of BTS's debut.
- 03.His acting debut in the 2016 historical drama Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth saw him appear alongside fellow BTS member Jin, marking a rare instance of two members of the same group sharing screen time in a major production.
- 04.V self-composed and released 'Scenery' in January 2019 as an independent track on SoundCloud, and it gained millions of streams within hours of release without any prior promotional announcement.
- 05.His debut solo EP Layover, released in September 2023, charted in multiple countries and was accompanied by the single 'Slow Dancing', for which he filmed a cinematic music video that drew comparisons to classic European art cinema.