[매일경제 스타투데이=한인구 기자] BIGBANG (G-DRAGON, T.O.P, TAEYANG, DAESUNG, and SEUNGRI) who debuted on August 19, 2006, celebrates the 10th anniversary of their debut today. The teenaged boys have now become men in their late 20s and they stayed in top of the music scene for 10 years. During that time, numerous boy bands have appeared, shone, and disappeared. However, BIGBANG has established themselves as the idol of idol singers, firmly maintaining their own color.

Just as the name “bigbang” suggests, BIGBANG has created sensation for every step they took forward. YG Entertainment recruited trainees to find out talents in singing and dancing, as well as a variety of field. G-DRAGON, T.O.P, TAEYANG, DAESUNG, and SEUNGRI were selected as the members of BIGBANG, after winning a survival audition.

BIGBANG gave their first performance on the stage of YG Family’s 10th anniversary concert held in 2006 at Seoul Olympic Gymnastics Arena. Then, they released first single album “La La La” and then second single album “BigBang Is V.I.P”. In December that year, BIGBANG released their first full album and held first concert.

The time when BIGBANG ‘s success became more striking was when “LIES” and “LAST FAREWELL” included in their first mini-album made big hit in 2007. The two songs stayed in No.1 on music charts for seven and eight weeks, respectively, enjoying popularity from fans and music lovers of a wide range of age groups. That year, BIGBANG received best male group award and song of the year award in Mnet’s KM Music Festival.

After their debut in Korea, BIGBANG also made debut in Japan. Then, each member began to perform as solo artists, from 2008. TAEYANG released “Only Look At Me” to get recognized for good performance and singing. Then, he released “HARU HARU” and “Sunset Glow” remade from Lee Munse’s song, to become top idol boy band.

BIGBANG has the root of their music in the hip-hop genre polished by YG so far, but they transplanted popular melody in it. In early days of BIGBANG’s debut, YG’s planning and production exerted big influence on the direction of BIGBANG’s music and performance, but as BIGBANG members themselves took part in their own members more and more, BIGBANG’s unique color was added to the team’s music and performances.

G-DRAGON presented trendy music that went well with his fashion, in his first solo album “Heartbreaker” released in 2009. TAEYANG released his solo track “Wedding Dress” and T.O.P, DAESUNG, and SEUNGRI displayed their talent in TV dramas, musicals, and TV shows. The success of BIGBANG made each member of the team spread their wings in a variety of fields.

BIGBANG held concerts overseas and swept music awards. Then, in 2011, BIGBANG released their fourth mini-album “Tonight”. That year, BIGBANG made big success with their music, but DAESUNG got involved in a car accident and a scandal of G-DRAGON’s weed smoking emerged, to become a topic of gossips.

That crisis could have led to a slump. However, fifth mini album “Alive” released in 2012 gave BIGBANG an opportunity for a new leap forward. As BIGBANG said “All the six songs in the album are title tracks”, “BLUE”, ‘BAD BOY”, and “FANTASTIC BABY” boasted perfect quality. The album made a record hit, taking the 150th place on “Billboard 200”, American Billboard’s main albums chart.

BIGBANG members concentrated on their solo careers again in 2013. DAESUNG released his first full album in Japan and SEUNGRI released his second solo mini-album. G-DRAGON released second full album “COUP D’ETAT” and TAEYANG released his second full album “RISE”. T.O.P appeared in movie “The Commitment” and released digital single album “DOOM DADA”.

In celebration of the fifth anniversary of their debut in Japan, BIGBANG held five dome tours in the country, to attract total 741,000 fans to 15 concerts of the tours in five cities. BIGBANG held seven concerts at Osaka Kyocera Dome, setting the record of the longest period of concert at dome by a foreign artist.

Last year, BIGBANG announced news of their new release, and then carried out “M.A.D.E” project, releasing a single album every month from May to August. During the period, “LOSER”, “BAE BAE”, “BANG BANG BANG”, “IF YOU”, and other songs of “M.A.D.E” albums took No.1 on music charts.

BIGBANG released documentary film “BIGBANG MADE” that showed BIGBANG’s performances in tour and their daily lives, in celebration of the 10th anniversary of debut. Then, exhibition “BIGBANG EXHIBITION A to Z” was held. Now, on August 20, a concert for celebration of the 10th anniversary of BIGBANG’s debut will be held, to spend the meaningful day with fans.

2016. 8. 19.

[헤럴드POP=노윤정 기자] Boys who fascinated audience on the stage have now become a brand, BIGBANG. The boy group who is recognized not only in Korea but also throughout the world now celebrates the 10^th anniversary of their debut.

BIGBANG is a boy group formed in real documentary TV show “Real-docu BIGBANG” aired in 2006 on MTV Korea. The documentary depicted the process of BIGBANG’s debut, making BIGBANG members get familiar to the public even before their debut album’s release. BIGBANG members had to win in the survival audition, where five out of six were given the opportunity to debut as BIGBANG. The five winners who managed to survive in the competition took their first step into the music scene in YG Family’s 10^th anniversary concert held on August 19 in 2006 at Seoul Olympic Gymnastics Arena.  

BIGBANG became famous upon their debut, with hit songs such as “We Belong Together” and “La La La”. From their very debut, BIGBANG members actively participated in production of their album, writing the melody and lyrics for their songs. That was how BIGBANG was different from “cookie-cutter” idol boy groups of other music labels. Indeed, “We Belong Together”s melody and lyrics were written by G-DRAGON, with help from T.O.P for the lyrics. All the members wrote the lyrics of “La La La” together.

Since their debut, BIGBANG members have played leading role in making their own music and performances, to enjoy big popularity from music fans for their unique color. Notably, G-DRAGON’s producing greatly contributed to maintenance of BIGBANG’s special color. Along with G-DRAGON’s growth as an artist, the quality of BIGBANG’s albums has also grown. BIGBANG’s hit songs such as “V.I.P”, “DIRTY CASH”, “LIES”, “HARU HARU”, “LAST FAREWELL”, “FANTASTIC BABY”, “STILL ALIVE”, and “MONSTER” were all born from G-DRAGON and the other members of BIGBANG.

Notably, “LIES” recorded mega-hit, making BIGBANG the top idol group in Korea. BIGBANG received their first No.1 trophy in a TV music show for the song and swept trophies in music awards at the end of that year. Every song released since then recorded big hit. On the basis of the remarkable success of BIGBANG, each member performed as solo artists and in unit teams, giving even bigger fame to BIGBANG.

BIGBANG was away from the music scene for three years since “STILL ALIVE” album. BIGBANG’s potential was proven once again when they made comeback after three years of hiatus. Last year, BIGBANG carried out “MADE” project in which they released one single every month for fans who had been longing for BIGBANG’s music. The project was a great success. Single “M”, “A”, “D”, and “E” released from May to August last year all swept top places on charts and TV music shows. All songs in those albums including “LOSER”, “BAE BAE”, “BANG BANG BANG”, “IF YOU”, “SOBER”, “ZUTTER” (GD&T.O.P), and “LET’S NOT FALL IN LOVE” created sensation and BIGBANG swept trophies in music awards at the end of last year. Notably, “BANG BANG BANG” and “LOSER” surpassed 100 million views on video-streaming website “YouTube”, following “FANTASTIC BABY” and “GOOD BOY”. With the record, BIGBANG became the first Korean boy group who has four music videos that have reached the 100 million view mark on YouTube. 

The reason why BIGBANG is recognized is not just because of the large number of their hit songs and trophies they have received. Other than Korea’s longest-lived boy group SHINHWA, BIGBANG is the only idol boy group in Korea who has performed for more than 10 years without any change in the members. That enhances BIGBANG’s value even further.

BIGBANG is not just a long-lived idol boy group. The name BIGBANG has enormous influence. Last year, BIGBANG held world tour “MADE” in 32 cities of 13 countries. Total 66 concerts were held in the tour and more than one and a half million people went to the concerts. A concert held at LA Staples Center in the United States was included in the list of “world’s top 10 highest-earning concerts” selected by Billboard (total 13,361 entrances, $1,715,587/$1,940,000,000 of ticket revenues).

Plus, BIGBANG has recently been appointed as “CREATIVE ICON” selected by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism to promote Korea’s new national brand “CREATIVE KOREA” throughout the world. BIGBANG will work as the PR ambassador for “CREATIVE KOREA” until the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games in 2018. BIGBANG’s appointment as “CREATIVE ICON” is the proof of BIGBANG’s big influence on people of all age groups in the entire world.

After their constant growth for the past 10 years since debut, BIGBANG is now celebrating the 10^th anniversary of their debut. BIGBANG has recently been celebrating the 10^th anniversary with fans in documentary movie, exhibition, and concerts. As BIGBANG is still the top idol boy group in Korea in the 10^th year of their debut, constantly writing new history in music, it will be worthwhile to look forward to their next 10 years.

2016. 8. 19.