I’m not sure about you, but I was in desperate need of new music to add to my spring playlist, and with BTS’s V releasing an all-English single titled “Fri(end)s” on March 15, my playlist ambitions were restored!
On March 3, the group’s social media sites announced the release of V’s single, which was a complete surprise to ARMY. What piqued ARMY’s interest even more was that he planned the single before the release of his solo album, Layover, back in September 2023.
In a Weverse message in December 2023, V offered his thoughts and a brief goodbye to ARMYs before his military enlistment, which was scheduled shortly after the announcement. In his statement, he mentioned that he had a lot planned ahead of his enlistment, saying, “I’ll be back after 18 months of being healthy, so please take care of your ARMY, and if you’re looking for something to be happy every day, cheers! I’m here! I’ll come back after that. And I prepared a lot of things in 18 months. Please look forward to it.”
The release of “Fri(end)s” is only the beginning of V’s plan for ARMYs, and I can’t help but fangirl over the song itself, with the lyrical messages highlighting the most vulnerable and emotional feelings connected to developing a friendship and discovering love. The accompanying music video also provides a diverse perspective on what the song’s overarching message is, and ARMYs everywhere (including me) are striving to decipher its symbolism.
In the first verse of “Fri(end)s,” V addresses the shift in friendship dynamics as the other person lingers in his head. This escalates when he sings about adjusting his schedule for the other person in the lines, “You’re in my head/ I had plans for the weekend,” highlighting his unintended desire to be near this person even if it clashes with his personal objectives. He closes the verse with “Back here again/ Got me deep in my feelings/ When I should be in your bed,” another attempt to emphasize how extensively he begins to analyze his newfound emotions and come to terms with the all-too-real feeling of crushing on a friend.
V highlights the friendship’s long history in the song’s pre-chorus by singing, “You and I go back to like ’09, it’s like forever.” He reflects on the times the two spent together, as the other person offered him support during difficult moments while also keeping him sane in the lyrics, “And you were there my lonely nights, yeah/ Keeping me together.” V then expressed a desire to change the direction of the friendship into something more by singing, “So wouldn’t it make sense if I was yours?/And you could call me your baby.”
As the pre-chorus transitions into the song’s main chorus, V sings about how, despite a change in his desire to pursue the relationship, the two remain “just friends.” The lyrics go, “But we say we’re just, say we’re just/ Friends, just for now.” It’s worth noting the “just for now” line, which opens up the possibility of the two potentially moving forward in their relationship at some point.
V also mentions how the other person provokes these lingering emotions by telling him things that heighten his crush even further, singing, “Yeah, but friends don’t say words that/ Make friends feel like more than just/ Friends, just for now (Just for now).”
The chorus then concludes with V finally coming to terms and recognizing that his feelings are actually his desire to pursue something more, “Now, I’m over pretending/ So let’s put the ‘end’ in friends.”
V continues to sing about how the close nature of their relationship has resulted in this shift in perspective, making him wonder how far the friendship can go before crossing that hypothetical line. He also emphasizes how the two of them are developing new emotions for each other, indicating that this change is not one-sided. In the second verse, it says, “Friends are not supposed to get too close/ And feel emotions that/ We’re feeling now, now, now.”
In the second half of the verse, V admits that the tension between the two is still rising, in lines “Friends are not supposed to get too close/ And feel emotions that/ We’re feeling now, now, now/ We ain’t slowing down, down, down.” He confesses that if the two began to pursue one another openly, it would be something they could not come back from singing, “But once we cross the line/ There’s no denying you and/ I can never turn around, ’round, ’round/ Know we’ll never be the same.” I think my heart is actually melting from the song’s meaning!
The music video provides a distinct perspective from the lyrics messaging by highlighting V in two separate realities: one where he is alone while everyone else is in love, and another in which he is in a relationship while everyone else is unhappy and arguing. ARMYs are split on what the interpretation of the unaccompanied music video is intended to convey, and they took to X/Twitter to dissect the messaging together.
Listening to “Fri(end)s” makes me want to confess to my crush and share my emotions. BRB, let’s see if it ends in the way the music video depicts.