Happy V-day Kim Tae-hyung!

By Nadine Kam

Our birthday boy V, Kim Tae-hyung from BTS, turns 23 (24 in Korean culture) Dec. 30, so I made a video in appreciation of the person I consider to be one of two ultimate cute boys (BTS’s Jimin is the other).

It was hard to finish the video because there are so many photos and videos of him I would have loved to incorporate.

It’s easy to make fangirl videos of Tae because he works so hard at making people happy, and tends to be the one running around on stage doing aegyo and lots of crazy things to the point a lot of people call him weird or refer to him as “the dumb blond of BTS.”

Initially, I thought the same way, but I have since learned he acts that way to bring cheer to his fellow members and to fans because he considers it to be his job to be “on” whenever cameras are rolling. He has been through a lot with the loss of grandparents, including the grandmother who raised him, and untimely death of friends in the past couple of years, but K culture in general is one of steeliness, and K-pop stars are required to put up a smiley front even in light of tragedy in their personal lives.

He does have eccentricities that I now believe come from being very intelligent and artistic, who understands the nature of human desire and importance of symbolism.

He developed the BT21 character Tata as an alien with a heart-shaped head, that he predicted would be successful, when other BTS members didn’t fully understand his concept. Their own characters were mostly rooted in familiar animals used frequently in the character/animation world.

He also coined the phrase “I purple you,” which caught on with millions of people after he defined it this way: “Purple is the last color of the rainbow colors so it means I will trust and love you for a long time.”

There is so much more to Tae than a pretty face, which makes him all the more fascinating to watch. To be honest, I didn’t take much interest in him when I first got into BTS. He was one of those people who are too good-looking. Subconsciously, and perhaps wrongly, I associate great beauty with such negative traits as shallowness and vanity, so I ignored him. I have since changed my mind, and consider him to be a person beautiful inside and out.

In the Western calendar, he is a hard-working, ambitious Capricorn. In the Chinese calendar, he was born in the Year of the Pig or Boar, like me, Both signs indicate a certain degree of stubbornness and waywardness, as people who just want to do what they want to do.

In the K-pop world, Tae is unusual because of his deep lyric baritone voice. K-pop favors tenors.

I see that in him. Recently, I had a reading that said I should not do stupid or wrong things this year because it is a year of self-punishment and self-sabotage. That is, if we do something as simple as eating lots of hamburgers, when we know it’s not good for our health, it will hurt us.

I hope Tae finds out and is good to himself this year. Because he is headstrong, I can see how he could get into trouble.

So Tae, you are such a wonderful person. Your health and happiness means everything to me and BTS ARMY. There will always be haters, but they don’t mean a thing when the rest of us purple ? you!