Big Bang
Big Bang (빅뱅) is a five member South Korean kpop boy group established by YG Entertainment in 2006. Big Bang is one of the most accomplished Korean boy group and has achieved considerable national and international success and is considered the most successful YG boy group.
BIGBANG Members
- Seungri – Vocal
- Daesung – Main Vocal
- G-Dragon – Leader
- Taeyang – Main Vocal
- T.O.P. – Main Rapper
BIGBANG Discography
Korean Discography
Studio Albums:
- 2007 – Bigbang Vol.1
- 2008 – Remember
- 2012 - Still Alive - Special Edition
Extended plays:
Japanese Discography
Studio Albums:
- 2008 – Number 1
- 2009 – Big Bang
- 2011 – Big Bang 2
- 2011 – The Best of Big Bang
- 2012 – Alive
Extended plays:
- 2008 – For the World
- 2008 – With U
BIGBANG History
Pre-Debut
G-Dragon and Taeyang were already signed with YG Entertainment before debuting as members of Big Bang. At the age of eleven, the two received training from professionals under the company.
T.O.P was an underground rapper better known as Tempo. He was mostly known for being featured in NBK Gray’s song “Buckwild” before debuting with Big Bang. G-Dragon scouted him due to his rapping capabilities and slight experience in the underground hip hop world, but his visuals were not liked as he was overweight. He was recruited into the company six months later, after losing a significant amount of weight.
DaeSung was recruited through an audition because of his strong vocal abilities. Though he did not look as attractive as an idol of his generation, he won because of his talent. His vocal trainer was none other than YG Entertainment’s star singer, Wheesung.
SeungRi was the leader for his local dance group and appeared on Battle Shinhwa, a TV show to assemble the next Shinhwa group. His dancing skills eventually won over the judges and joined the training program under YG Entertainment. SeungRi made it to the last rounds where he outperformed his rival trainee So-1, who later debuted as Jang HyunSeung in the next generation kpop idol boy group BEAST (B2ST) under Cube Entertainment.
Debut
On August 19, 2006, Big Bang made their debut at the Seoul Olympic Park for the YG Family 10th Year Concert. Soon after, they released their first single, “Bigbang”. “Bigbang” contained “We Belong Together”, “A Fool’s Only Tears”, and “This Love”. It went on to sell almost 40,000 copies. One month later in September, they released their second single, “BigBang Is V.I.P”, selling over 32,000 copies. Later, they released their last single, “Bigbang 03″, selling about 40,000 copies. They held their first concert in December 2006 and released their debut album, “Since 2007″, selling about 48,000 copies.
Breakthrough
After the release of their first mini-album, “Always” in 2007, Big Bang decided to make some change to the group. They started experimenting with electronic music and decided to undertake more control over their music. In fact, G-Dragon composed and wrote most of the tracks in “Always”. Notably, the one track titled “Lies” (거짓말) gained much popularity. It was a revolutionary change for the group and their style of music. “Always” was successful due to “Lies” and went on to sell about 87,000 copies. They released their second mini-album later that same year, “Hot Issue”, to similar success and the lead single, “Last Farewell”, topped many Korean music charts.
At the end of 2007, Big Bang decided to test the Japanese market. They released their first Japanese EP, “For The World”, in early 2008 and it reached the #10 spot on the Oricon chart despite little promotion. They also held a concert at the JCB Hall in Tokyo Dome City. Big Bang released their third mini-album, “Stand Up”, after returning to South Korea. The mini-album featured artists such as Daishi Dance and No Brain and it surpassed 100,000 in copies sold. ”Stand Up” consisted of five songs that made the Top 20 chart: “Day by Day”, “Heaven”, “Oh My Friend”, “A Good Man”, and “Lady”.
Later that year, Big Bang released their first Japanese album “Number 1″ which peaked at #3 on the Oricon chart. They also released their second Korean album, “Remember”, in 2008. With extremely popular singles, “Sunset Glow” and “Strong Baby”, “Remember” sold over 200,000 copies resulting in an “Artist of the Year” award from M.Net.
Solo Activities
Big Bang went on a break in early 2009 which allowed the members to pursue their own individual activities. They reunited briefly to collaborate with their label’s new kpop girl group 2NE1, who had been nicknamed, “The Female Big Bang”, for the commercial song “Lollipop”. They released their first self-titled full-length Japanese album in August 2009 and it debuted at #3 on the Oricon chart. After that, Big Bang returned to their solo activities. On August 18 2009, G-Dragon released his debut album “Heartbreaker”. Taeyang released two digital singles, “Where U At?” and “Wedding Dress” for his second album. T.O.P tested his acting chops and joined the cast of the Korean drama “Iris” playing an assassin named Vick. Seungri released his first mini-album “VVIP”. DaeSung went on various TV shows, most noted for the variety show “Family Outing” with MC Yoo JaeSuk. Later that year, G-Dragon and T.O.P teamed up to release their collaboration album “GD & TOP”. Big Bang reunited again to record the song, “Let Me Hear Your Voice” (声をきかせて), for the Japanese drama “Ohitorisama” ( おひとりさま).
Return From Hiatus
By their official return in 2011, it had been almost two years since their hiatus. Big Bang made their return with their 2011 Big Show concert held in South Korea. They performed songs from their latest EP “Tonight”, which easily topped the charts upon its release. The album held the distinction of being the first kpop album to reach the top 10 placement on the US iTunes Chart and the only non-English language album in the top 100 at the time. Furthermore, it shattered the record for most pre-sale orders on Cyworld with 10,000 copies, previously held by TVXQ’s 6500 copies set in 2008. By this time, Big Bang’s world wide success was obvious.
After finishing up promotions for “Tonight”, Big Bang revealed their special edition EP with two new track: “Love Song” and “Stupid Liar”. On December 14th, Big Bang released their fourth Japanese studio album “Best of Big Bang”. It immediately topped the Oricon Daily chart and sold over 14,000 copies in the first week.
On February 29th 2012, Big Bang released their new mini-album titled “Alive”. It immediately topped the charts in South Korea and impressively managed to reach the #5 spot on the Top Albums on iTunes for the United States. To promote their album, they held their annual concert, “Big Bang – Big Show 2012″, in Seoul, South Korea on March 2. They will also embark on their first world tour titled “ALIVE TOUR 2012″ visiting 16 countries and 25 cities in total.
On June 3, 2012, Big Bang launched a re-vamped edition of the “Alive” album titled, “Special Edition ‘Still Alive’”. It contains eleven tracks in total and came out on the same day as the Wonder Girls Wonder Partyalbum.
G-Dragon announced that his own solo album would be released sometime in August.