Exactly a year ago, I drew BTS member V as a part of my challenge to draw BTS every single day until they returned from the military. Now, I am embarking on a journey to analyze one of their songs connected to the member I drew a year ago while I await their upcoming concert in Tampa. The song I chose to analyze for today is Inner Child by V of BTS.

This song is a special song as it is one of the songs from BTS’ Map of the Soul: 7 album which was never able to be performed with an in person audience due to the pandemic. Although there was a performance through an online concert stream, the audience attended online. This is something I hope changes with the upcoming BTS tour as it is such a beautiful song inside and out.

With each lyric, V expresses a heartfelt letter to his younger self, cherishing the little boy inside who brought V to where he is today. V further continuously expresses his wish to comfort that young boy who worked so hard and yet had no idea what the future would hold. More specifically, V writes:

“It must have hurt, it must have been so difficult. / I ran towards the endless light…” (Lines 5-6)

Something that I really enjoy about BTS is how the continuously reference their past songs and journey throughout their lyricism and music. I say this because the lyric in line 6, “I ran towards the endless light,” could possibly be a reference to BTS’ song “RUN” from their album, “The Most Beautiful Moment in Life Pt. 2. I go into more detail about the song “RUN” in my video analysis on YouTube, however in summary, the song is about the band chasing after their dreams while battling with the stress and struggles that come with it.

In regards to this song, I feel that V is distinctly making a reference to his younger self’s journey as a musician and his run with BTS towards their dreams. Through a subtle reference that only people who are familiar with their music would understand, V highlights the pain his younger self must have felt back then; the constant striving for change. But the story does not end there, V makes sure that both the audience and his younger self knows this. In the chorus and in verse 2, V describes that although it hurt back then, it will be okay in the end; things will change, and he is proof of it.

At the bridge, V consolidates his past and present by expressing the sentiment that both his inner child and his present self are one in the same. That no matter what, the person who ran endlessly towards their dreams is the same person standing on the stage they dreamt of. V then solidifies his message to his younger self by expressing that he became the person he used to look up to:

“The lights illuminating your eyes / They’re the me of now.”

Through this line V shows his younger self that he made it; he fought for his dreams and won the battle. He reached the place that all the people he would look up to and admire reached. He did the one thing his inner child wished him to do.

He changed.

NOTE: I accessed the Inner Child by V of BTS English Translation hyperlinked in this article on January 17th, 2026 in order to assist in writing this article. Special thanks to Genius for their accessible translations.