BTS’s ‘V & Park Hyo Shin’ Have a New Christmas Song: Release Date

V is doubling down on its holiday releases this year, with the BTS star announcing a new seasonal duet with Park Hyo Shin titled “Winter Ahead” on Thursday (November 21).

“Winter Ahead” arrives on November 29th ahead of V’s highly anticipated “White Christmas” collaboration with Bing Crosby and is described in a release as a jazz-pop collaboration inspired by the 28-year-old K-pop star’s “desire for his fans to have a warm and cheerful winter.” It joins a long line of Christmas releases from V, who has already celebrated the festive season with the titles “Snow Flower” and “Christmas Tree”. In 2022, the star also reported on “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas.”

V has long been open about his love of jazz and personally reached out to Park – with whom he has a “long-standing friendship,” according to the release – to record “Winter Ahead” together. The track was written by Jesse Harris, the songwriter behind Norah Jones’ contemporary jazz-pop classic “Don’t Know Why.”

The collaboration comes just a week before another festive duet from V, who has teamed up with the Crosby estate to release a brand new version of “White Christmas.” Produced by Gregg Field, the track combines the “FRI(END)S” singer’s voice with a restored, isolated recording of one of the late legend’s archived performances of the famous track.

“I’m so grateful to have had the chance to feature on a song with my favorite jazz artist of all time, Bing Crosby,” V said in a statement when the project was first announced on November 6th. “I grew up listening to his song “It’s Been a Long, Long Time” countless times a day, and I feel incredibly lucky and honored to have sang along to “White Christmas” in the voice of someone I consider Idol hold.”

V is currently completing his mandatory service in the South Korean military, as are four of his BTS bandmates: SUGA, RM, Jimin and Jung Kook. Earlier this year, Jin and J-Hope separately completed their service commitments, and activities with the full band are expected to resume in 2025.

Just a few months before signing on, V released a six-track EP titled stopover in September 2023. The project peaked at number 2 on the Billboard 200.