BTS’ V depicts two contrasting outcomes of putting an ‘END’ to just being friends in his official MV for FRI(END)S

On March 15, 2024, BTS’ V rolled out his new digital single, FRIENDS, the hype around which had been building up for the past few days. This, as described by BTS' company, BigHit, is a sweet confession song, however, with unexpected twists. FRI(END)S is a song that confesses the desire to end the relationship between friends and develop into something more.

This music video has also proved why the BTS member can never be trusted with only teasers and concept photos since he always escapes the cage of expectations to deliver something contrastingly different.

In the music video, he takes the audience through two possibilities of what can turn out when escaping the friend zone. His deeply reverberant vocals, however, stand out as the song scales up and down graphs, with him smoothly delivering it all.

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The timeline of events in BTS' V's music video, FRI(END)S

The music video starts with BTS' V waking up from his bed and executing his routine. He gets up, brushes his teeth, and grabs a cup of cold noodles from the refrigerator as was revealed in the teasers. Here he looks exhausted and in no mood to get things done. He then proceeds to take a bus with his headphones on, where he keeps spotting various couples on his way. He, however, despises those couples for being lovingly immersed in each other, possibly thinking about his complicated relationship with someone special.

His first destination is the supermarket, where he spots more couples. All these couples around him are busy making out and he finds himself unable to communicate with any of them. One of the other things that fans loved about this production was the portrayal of even LGBTQ couples along with the other straight ones representing a diverse sea of love and relationships. However, the BTS star is shown to be “cringed” away by all the overflowing love around him while he sits alone.

He then goes to a fancy restaurant all suited up, again, with everyone romantically and sweetly engaged to one another while he is all alone. His expressions in this scene clearly represent unhappiness and loneliness while everyone around is happy. While leaving the restaurant all dejected, he is hit by a car which shows the "end" of him.

His death was not taken well by the fandom raising the question of why he always has to portray death in almost everything he does. This dislikeness was, however, of a playful nature by the fandom. The scene then transitions towards him only dreaming of all this. The BTS singer once again wakes up in his bed, but this time with a female next to him. This female friend of V has been played by British actress Ruby Sear.

In the scenes following this one, the two act like partners, brush their teeth together and eat together while being lovey-dovey like the couples portrayed in the first part of the MV. This time around, the scenes flip completely as he boards the same bus with the same couples, not getting along with each other, fighting and arguing.

In this parallel, the BTS member and Ruby seem close and affectionate towards each other, while everyone else is at one another’s necks. In this world, V is the only happy one amongst all the people he was despising during the first part. While both of them seem romantic with each other, the lyrics of the song suggest otherwise. According to the lyrics that bind this scene, the idol expresses how there’s no turning back if he confesses to her his desire to be more than just “friends”.

These lyrics convey the idea that both of them are indeed in the friend zone, where V is afraid of the fact that his friend might not reciprocate the same feelings, with his confession ruining their friendship forever. The first part of the music video seems like a sequel to the second part according to the fans. In both parts, V is troubled in his own way and his own feelings, bottled up in one and possibly the aftermath in another.

In this second part as well, he faces a similar outcome where he is run over by a seemingly reckless driver causing him to die. In the last scene, he wakes up next to another himself, supposedly from different parallels or “outcomes.” According to the lyrics, he suggests that whether or not he chooses to tell her, he faces the result of “death” whatsoever in the end.

Even the word “END” is displayed on the screen during the last part. Fans couldn’t stop pointing at his double death in this song and have expressed their mixed reactions to it. However, they were smitten by BTS’ V’s impressively deep vocals and also how the entire song and its lyrics went. Despite how the story of the song turned out, fans deem it a beautiful and catchy track with V’s vocals looking sharp throughout.

BigHit even released a statement regarding this song via K-media where V himself left a message for the fans. He said,

"FRI(END)S is a song I prepared because I was looking for a song that I would like to share with my fans and I really wanted to record it, I think the ARMY will also like it because it is an attractive song. I hope you enjoy it to your heart’s content,”

He mentioned that he recorded this song even before the release of his solo album, Layover as a gift to the ARMYs for when he’s away in the military.