On August 31, BTS member, Jungkook hosted a V-Live for his birthday. Titled “Happy Birthday to Me,” the 2.5-hour livestream ended with over 20 million viewers. This record places Jungkook second for the most viewed V-Live, first being held by himself at 22.1M. Jungkook did, however, break the record for most real-time likes. Shooting past the previous record of 925 million, Jungkook received over 2 billion likes.
Jungkook's ended his live in 2 hours and 30 minutes with 20 Million viewers. Thank you to our best boy, we enjoyed it so much! 🥺💜 pic.twitter.com/Ys4Qp31caW
— ˙ᵕ˙ (@taebokkiii) August 31, 2021
[Info] #Jungkook now holds the Most-Viewed, Most-Liked and Most-Commented Real-time VLIVE records of all time.
VLIVE Real-time Records🏆ALL-KILL🏆
Most Liked: 925M likes
Most Commented: 31.16M comments
Most Viewed: 22.11M views#방탄소년단정국 #정국 #ジョングク@BTS_twt pic.twitter.com/N84Jn97gnx— MagicStar_JK (@MagicStarJK) July 30, 2021
A Gift For ARMY
To celebrate his 24th birthday, Jungkook started the V-Live by recording a special song. A day earlier, Jungkook asked fans to post words they wanted to say to him but as lyrics.
weverse 210831
jungkook: everyone.. it’s not quite my birthday yet… ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋlol
you guys, you need to understand what i’m trying to say..! hehe
i meant i want you to write
anything you’ve ever wanted to say to me, regardless of my birthday
in a few sentences “like lyrics”hehe pic.twitter.com/rcL70qWc7L— 「 claire ⁷ 」 (@btstranslation7) August 31, 2021
He took the lyric-like comments and used them to record a song. While the lyrics written by fans were originally written to Jungkook, he took the lyrics and made it about ARMY. Jungkook has countlessly shown his love for ARMY through song dedications, so this was yet another sweet moment where he showed his appreciation for fans.
🐰 when you wrote messages you put 'jk' but i'll make it into 'army'
— 미니융 🧸 (@miiniyoongs) August 31, 2021
Fans had a front-row seat as he recorded, re-record, layered, and even arranged the sound. Although he repeated multiple times that it was hard, Jungkook finished the song and left fans amazed.
https://twitter.com/DailyofJK/status/1432713426795630605?s=20
JK V LIVE “HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME” SONG pic.twitter.com/UlmMGINJpB
— haruharu💜 (slow) (@haruharu_w_bts) August 31, 2021
jungkook recording the second verse sobbing it sounds so good he is insanely talented oh my god pic.twitter.com/8BG3g0gtng
— jungkook vids 🎥 (slow) (@jjklve) August 31, 2021
https://twitter.com/namseokr/status/1432715536631320584?s=20
A Surprise Visit
After he finished writing his song, Jungkook started singing Justin Bieber’s “Off My Face.” He told fans about the cake he prepared for himself while counting down the minutes to his birthday.
At 12 AM KST, a series of loud knocks was heard on the studio door. It was none other than fellow member and rapper of BTS, J-Hope. Entering with a bright smile and cheers for the birthday boy, J-Hope joined the V-Live for a few minutes. The two members lit a candle together as J-Hope picked up Jungkook’s microphone and sang a sweet “Happy Birthday” song. J-Hope even stepped out for a moment only to return with another cake for the birthday boy.
Hobi singing JK a happy birthday !❤️#JHOPE #JUNGKOOK @BTS_twt pic.twitter.com/HGHMyJX7c1
— ✿ (@jhsource_) August 31, 2021
hobi entering jungkook’s vlive with this much happiness will remain the most devastating moment of 2021 🥺 pic.twitter.com/Xh8DfTInMr
— bts 🪁 SE(ꪜ)EN (@dilijeon) August 31, 2021
A Mini Concert
After the birthday celebrations were over, Jungkook promised fans a last song. Reading the comments, he started with BTS’ highly requested song “Paradise.” This sent fans into a frenzy. “Paradise” was never performed before so fans have a long-running joke that BTS have forgotten the song.
WE FINALLY GOT ONE MEMBER TO PROPERLY ACKNOWLEDGE PARADISE 😭 pic.twitter.com/lde9d3lCVe
— eevee⁷ (@eeveefm) August 31, 2021
ARMYS WHEN JUNGKOOK FINALLY SANG PARADISE ON HIS BIRTHDAY LIVE https://t.co/bqeA1rQOWE
— hanna (@adorebusans) August 31, 2021
Following “Paradise” to the end of the livestream, Jungkook kept repeating it’s the last song. Instead, he proceeded to hold a mini-concert for the next hour.
🎤 | Setlist de Jungkook en Vlive
Paradise
Dimple
Born Singer
Pied Piper
Let Go
2!3!
Mic drop
Autumn leaves
Spring day
Heartbeat
Film Out
Zero o'clock
Sea
Best Of Me
Mikrokosmos
Home
Love Maze
Waste It On Me#HappyBirthdayJungkook#JKbirthday @BTS_twt pic.twitter.com/BH9XMFjViu— Mιᥒᥣყ ✦ ┊ playlists (@BTSparkles) August 31, 2021
There were multiple stand-out moments that made fans go crazy. Jungkook sang some of BTS’ early tracks that haven’t been heard in a while. He also sang their Japanese song “Let Go,” a rarity. From there Jungkook traveled back to 2016 with the song “2! 3!” and changed the lyrics as he sang. Where the original lyrics are “Seeing how you act, I can see that you’ll fail real soon,” Jungkook sang instead, “We didn’t fail.”
After multiple other songs, Jungkook saw fans were requesting “Heartbeat.” Earlier in the live Jungkook brushed off the song, not remembering the track. But seeing the fans’ persistence, Jungkook searched for the song and had the most adorable reaction.
https://twitter.com/Keeks_twt/status/1432738550202523649?s=20
He finished out the live singing rarely performed songs such as “Film Out,” “Sea,” and “Waste It On Me.” All the performances left fans celebrating on Twitter with their lively reactions.
HE IS SINGING PIED PIPER. AND HE SANG PARADISE. AND DIMPLE. IS THIS DAY REAL pic.twitter.com/crqiD4ojxG
— 미니모니💜⁷ on indefinite rest🐢 (@minimoniT_T) August 31, 2021
jungkook is literally producing a song with army’s comments during a vlive with us while waiting for his birthday…is this heaven? i feel so lucky
— ✩⡱ (@taeteland) August 31, 2021
ARMYs watching Jungkook vlive
🥺💜 pic.twitter.com/O6Ro9JK9GS— BTS Charts Daily (@btschartsdailyc) August 31, 2021
paradise and heartbeat in one live…. this is surreal
— am ⁷ (@calvinkjk) August 31, 2021
In a period where in-person concerts are not possible, Jungkook brought the concert to fans’ homes. Although it was Jungkook’s birthday, he gave the best gift to ARMY.
Want more on BTS? Read about their collaboration with Megan Thee Stallion here!
Thumbnail courtesy of Big Hit Entertainment.