BIGBANG first debuted in 2006 under the management of YG Entertainment. Their first debut album “BigBang Vol.1” placed No. 3 was released after they had made several debut singles that gained much success and attention. No wonder that on its release date, the album went on to sell over 110,000 copies. The group’s method of album release is more or less the same. They will promote at least two singles – or more – from their soon-to-be-released album. These singles include the release of the music videos. Once the videos are up, the song will be brought to live stages where the group performs them on music show broadcasts. However, we will not be seeing this group soon enough from now. While T.O.P is dealing with a marijuana scandal, the rest of the boys are reported to be joining the military soon. With that being said, here are their latest two album releases – known as comeback.
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BIGBANG COMEBACK 2012: ALIVE & STILL ALIVE
On February 21, 2012, Blue, a slow hip-hop, was released. It was the first single to be introduced from the 5th Mini Album ‘ALIVE’. The song received an all-kill in the same week it was released. The song depicted the feeling of sadness, and sorrow as the lyrics sung “I’m singing my blues” to express the heartbreak of the singer. Following the release of Blue, the group introduced their fans to another single Bad Boy on February 28. The song stands as a message to the girlfriend that have been hurt by their boyfriend far too many times because he is ill-tempered and stubborn. Despite being like that, the boy still wants to be with the girlfriend and hopes she will still come back to him. In the music video, many fans are astonished by G-Dragon’s unusual hairstyle of long strands on the right side, whereas his hair was perfectly short in the Blue music video.
One week after the singles were released, on February 29, BIGBANG served their hungry fans with the full release of the album Alive. Their 5th mini album gained explosive attention all over the world ranking #1 in Taiwan and other Asia countries and #7 on iTunes international chart. The album itself consists of six tracks:
- Intro (Alive) 2. Blue 3. 사랑먼지 (Love Dust) 4. Bad Boy 5. 재미없어 (Ain’t No Fun) 6. Fantastic Baby 7. 날개 (Wings) – 대성 SOLO While the album is not their first, it is their declaration on the new, modern, and distinct image of BIGBANG. Their music videos use more cinematographic angles to better depict the story and emotions. Their music embraces more sick flows and amazing vocals, complimenting greatly to their hip hop genre. Their fashion has also notably changed to something more edgy than traditional. Fans were beyond happy with the release of the two singles and the mini album, but that’s apparently not all! BIGBANG dropped another music video from their 5th mini album on March 6. This music video would soon stir up many dancing feet and bopping heads. Fantastic Baby was definitely the perfect jam to forget all your stress. The upbeat hip hop song showcases rebellion and the fun of rebelling with music in its music video. G-Dragon, once again, spotted with his unique hairstyle, but longer! Way longer! His red Rapunzel-like hair became an instant sensation. The electro-urban sound of the music was also a sensation. It gave off a certain vibe to the listener that was certainly new and unique in K-Pop.
On June 2, BIGBANG dropped one more single ‘Monster’ to wrap up the promotion of ‘Alive’ as well as releasing a special edition album ‘STILL ALIVE’. The special album was released four days later on June 6, consisting of nine tracks, including Blue, Bad Boy, and Fantastic Baby:
- Still Alive 2. Monster 3. Feeling 4. Fantastic Baby 5. Bad Boy 6. Blue 7. 빙글빙글 (Bingle Bingle) 8. Ego 9. 사랑먼지 (Love Dust)
BIGBANG COMEBACK 2015-2016: MADE Series
From the end of ‘ALIVE’s promotion until early 2015, BIGBANG focused more on promoting more of their music. This includes music concerts, solo or sub-unit comebacks, and releasing Japanese albums. On April 30, 2015, the group made their Korean comeback with what they introduced as MADE Series, wherein they would release the tracks of the full album one by one. There wasn’t only one single to be released to kick off the series, but two! On April 30, the group released two new music videos: LOSER and BAE BAE, under the album ‘MADE SERIES [M]’, that was released on May 1. The former conveyed a more sentimental sound than the latter. It reflected the negativity in how a person often looks at themselves; he was ashamed of himself. On the other hand, the latter song was a whole different guy. He was playful, flirty and confident. He showered compliments to girls and there was no regret, only thrill. Could this song be the epilogue of LOSER? Could be~. Either way, these two singles were capable of turning heads once again and attracted many fans into the distinct sound of BIGBANG.
Two months later, the group dropped one of the hottest tracks they had ever made, BANG BANG BANG on June 1. The song would remind you to their previous dance-hit Fantastic Baby and Taeyang’s RINGA LINGA with its upbeat techno sound and colossal party people dance routine. The party continued on with the release of WE LIKE 2 PARTY on June 4. The music video was vlog-like where the members recorded themselves going to the airport then flew to Jeju Island. A representative even stated that the members were given the chance to drink and relax themselves for the shooting in order to show “natural atmosphere”. These tracks were included in ‘MADE SERIES [A]’ that was released on June 1.
The release of SOBER on June 30, 2015 marked the promotion of ‘MADE SERIES [D]’, that was released on July 1. The music video uses a variety of images to depict the drunkenness of the members as they were singing “It’s hard for me to be sober”. The spinning room could be the inside of a drunken person’s head where everything didn’t stay still and just kept rolling. The location changes and the members were also the sign of this drunkenness that they’re experiencing at that moment. After all, BIGBANG is known to be a group whose members enjoy a night of drinking together; it doesn’t surprise us at all that they will be singing about not being sober. Aside from SOBER, a slow hip hop song IF YOU was also included into the series. Unfortunately, there is no MV for this song.
With the first three letters spelled out, one last letter was needed. On August 4, the group released two music videos of LET’S NOT FALL IN LOVE and ZUTTER. The latter was performed only by sub-unit G-Dragon and T.O.P. The song itself talked about doing something awesome or cool as the Korean title 쩔어 (slang for ‘it’s awesome’) suggested. Contrasting with ZUTTER, the former was about being honest and real with your newly-developed crush. There shouldn’t be anyone falling in love just yet as no one knew what would happen tomorrow. These two tracks were included in MADE SERIES [E] that was released on August 5.
The series was yet to be completed until December 2016. On December 12, the final two tracks were released. A heartfelt ballad ‘LAST DANCE’ depicted the message of living your life well since you would miss it in a heartbeat the moment you realized that it is long gone. Once more, the group showed their sentimental side as grown-up men. On the other hand, ‘FXXK IT’ threw away all the sentimentality and went back on with drinking and flirting. However, that is apparently the sound of BIGBANG that many people have been accustomed to now. The music also sounds more like the group rather than their ballad. Even though their slow songs are good, BIGBANG is truly different and unique with their quirky hip hop music and rebellious lyrics.
MADE Full Album Tracklist:
- 에라 모르겠다 2. LAST DANCE 3. GIRLFRIEND 4. 우리 사랑하지 말아요 5. LOSER 6. BAE BAE 7. BANG BANG BANG 8. 맨정신 9. IF YOU 10. 쩔어 (GD&T.O.P) 11. WE LIKE 2 PARTY
BIGBANG COMEBACK 2017: Current Activity and Future Plan
So what’s next from this hit group? Unfortunately, they will not be making a comeback anytime soon. The group is in a difficult situation of returning together as a five member band since T.O.P is caught up in a marijuana scandal. The use of marijuana is a huge deal in Korea, so not many people are in favor of T.O.P at the moment. On June 1, 2017, he was arrested after his test of marijuana use came back positive. The investigation began when a female trainee was called into an investigation of marijuana use and she mentioned T.O.P’s name. The investigators went on to call him in and tested him. He claimed that he had used it around October the previous year with that female trainee at his house for a couple of times. Sadly, his military service was also put to a stop since he was dwelling with the case. The rest of the members, however, will move on to enlisting into the army some time in 2017. It was reported that the members would take turn enlisting, but they seemed to be ended up enlisting together after all. This decision apparently doesn’t come from the scandal T.O.P is going through but has been a unanimous decision within the group as they would like to be able to come back together soon. We are hoping for the best for BIGBANG. Hwaiting!
