V and Park Hyo Shin made a winter duet that feels warm until the sculpture room starts asking uncomfortable questions.
Quick facts
V with Park Hyo Shin
November 29, 2024, 2 PM KST
BIGHIT MUSIC
Jazz-pop winter duet
The song
“Winter Ahead” understands that seasonal music does not have to arrive jingling a bell in your face. V and Park Hyo Shin lean into jazz-pop instead: soft piano, an unhurried pulse, and two voices that sound expensive without fighting for the fanciest note.
The duet works because their colors are different. Park brings polished weight; V brings that low, grainy warmth that makes a line feel close even when the arrangement is roomy. The melody was developed by the two singers, with Jesse Harris among the writers. That explains the song’s relaxed, classic-pop shape, but the performance keeps it from turning into tasteful wallpaper.
My favorite choice is the restraint. Nobody treats “winter” as permission to drown the song in strings. It stays intimate enough to feel like somebody saved a seat for you.
The video
The film gives V the role of a sculptor and keeps slipping between workroom solitude and a beautiful social fantasy. Tables fill, faces gather, romance glows, and then the polished surface starts to feel suspicious. The statues are not decoration. They turn the entire fantasy into a question about who created whom, and whether perfection can ever answer back.
That slight unease is exactly what the song needs. A straightforward cozy video would have been lovely for three minutes and forgotten by breakfast. This one leaves a splinter.
RaeRae take
RaeRae verdict: This is winter music for people who want velvet, not glitter. The duet is elegant, the voices actually complement each other, and the sculpture story keeps the pretty pictures from becoming empty luxury. Put it on when the room is quiet enough to hear the space between the notes.