Outside of his music projects with BTS, V had his acting debut in the 2016 television series Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth and contributed the single "It's Definitely You" to its soundtrack.

[8] With his father's support,[9] he began taking saxophone lessons in early middle school as a means of pursuing a musical career.

The New York Times ranked it twentieth on its list of "The 65 Best Songs of 2018" alongside "Fake Love",[19] Los Angeles Times critic Mikael Wood named it the fourth "best and most replay worthy song of 2018",[20] and Guardian critic Laura Snapes included it as one of her favourite tracks in her "Best Music of 2018: Albums and Tracks" list.

[22][23] V and J-Hope collaborated with Swedish singer Zara Larsson on the song "A Brand New Day" for the soundtrack album of the BTS World mobile game.

[28] In 2016, V made his acting debut with a supporting role in KBS2's historical drama Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth under his real name.

[34] Seven months later, V released his second solo and first all-English song, "Winter Bear", through SoundCloud, accompanied by a self-directed music video via BTS' YouTube channel on August 9.

[36][37] Self-written and produced,[38][39] it received generally favorable reviews for its composition, vocal performance and warm lyrics,[39][40] debuting at number two on Billboard's Digital Songs chart in the United States.

[42] A second holiday song, "Christmas Tree", followed in December 2021 as part of the original soundtrack for the Studio N television series Our Beloved Summer.

[46] He appeared in a second reality series, the Prime Video exclusive cooking-travel show Jinny's Kitchen, alongside Park Seo-joon and Choi, in February 2023.

[51] "Scenery", "Winter Bear", and "Snow Flower" were made available on digital download and streaming platforms worldwide as official singles on August 28,[52] ahead of V's debut solo album Layover, which was released on September 8.

[53] Per Hanteo Chart, Layover recorded the highest first-week sales by a K-pop solo artist in history, with 2.1 million copies sold.

V possesses a baritone singing voice that has received a generally positive critical reception, with particular praise for his vocal range and "husky" tone.

[58] V's tonality on "Singularity", the opening track of BTS' Love Yourself: Tear (2018), was noted as a prominent "tone setter" on the album by music critic Blanca Méndez.

[64] British journalist Rhian Daly, writing for NME, particularly noted this when discussing V's performance of "Singularity" during the Love Yourself: Speak Yourself World Tour, describing his movements as "precise and deliberate".

[71] Various artists have cited him as an influence and role model: The Boyz's Younghoon and Hwall;[72] Golden Child's Jaehyun[73] and Jangjun; MVP's Been;[74] Rainz's Byun Hyun-min;[75] Cravity's Serim;[76] Ateez's Yeosang and Mingi; D-Crunch's Jungseung and Dyla; Lucente's Bao;[72] Newkidd's Yunmin; Boy Story's Hanyu; Tomorrow X Together's Beomgyu; Produce X 101 contestants Koo Jungmo,[77] Lee Taeseung[78] and Mahiro Hidaka;[79] and former Wanna One member Park Ji-hoon.

[83] In October 2021 V's agency announced he would abstain from choreography during their Permission to Dance on Stage concerts due to a calf injury and would remain seated while singing.

[84] On November 22, 2023, Big Hit announced through Weverse that V, along with bandmates RM, Jimin, and Jungkook, had started the enlistment process to carry out his mandatory military service.