Basic Facts: Big Bang

Although SHINee was my first love, Big Bang was my second and if I was forced under penalty of death to choose from the two I would have to choose Big Bang. I’m legit in love with them, partially because they’re so cute and talented and partially because they’re so different and it’s so refreshing. Well, anyway, my love has become boundless and I have to express it here on my blog because that’s why I’m doing this in the first place. I mean, let’s be honest with each other, no one is reading this blog anyway.

Big Bang or 빅방

• Currently a five piece, South Korean boy band under YG Entertainment. They started out with six members but one was eliminated during their trainee days, which were documented in a eleven episode show. Look it up. It’s really good.
• They are also in the genre of Kpop although not quite the same section of the genre as SHINee. They do a lot of Hip-Hop and Rap as well.
• God, they are known for being…Big Bang. They’re one of the most popular boy bands in South Korea and to be honest that’s all you can say. They’re pretty much perfect in every way. Then again I’m obviously biased.
• The fans are called VIPs and they don’t really have a color but at concerts people wave around these yellow crown like glow sticks, which I would love…you know if someone wants to get me a present or something.

Members

This is from their pre-debut days, like when they were filming that show, so they still had six members. From left to right: TOP, Taeyang (front), Hyunseung, G-Dragon (front), Daesung, Seungri

This is them currently. From left to right: Seungri, Daesung, TOP, G-Dragon, Taeyang

So if were doing the music videos, we have a lot to choose from because Big Bang has been especially prolific. But if you’re on the edge of becoming a fan than you should start with the songs that made them famous. For their earlier song I’m gonna do “거짓말” or “Lies” because the release of that song was the true beginning of Big Bang.

So this and “Haru Haru” were the two songs that made them as popular as they are today. Of course, they had a fan base before this but this was when they got HUGE. This song was written by GD (G-Dragon) and it was originally made for himself. I think that he was a little pissed when YG made him give it to the whole group, but I honestly don’t think it would have been as popular without the rest of them.

Seungri: 1:13-1:19 he’s the one singing to her with the black shirt with blue shoulders. He’s also got that blonde streak in the front part of his hair.

G-Dragon: 0:01-0:58, he’s the only one on screen and that’s actually his voice in the background. When they start sining to her he’s the one in the blue shirt. And he’s basically the main character, he’s the one speaking in english at the end.

Taeyang: 2:44 the guy in front of GD with a white button-up shirt and black hat. He doesn’t have a ton of solo time in this video. 3:37 in the black sweatshirt.

TOP: 1:58-2:27 he’s the one rapping the in green jacket and glasses. He also is the second male on screen in the very beginning, green jacket the whole time.

Daesung: 1:34 he’s the one skating in the white wife beater shirt. He’s also to the left of TOP in the car.2:21-2:23 signing in her bathroom over TOP’s rap.

This is their newest song. It just came out somewhere around mid April of this year. It’s a great song and the MV is pretty fantastic, very artsy and new age and whatnot. However, since it’s in black and white it might be a little difficult to tell them apart if your new to this, so I would go back through their other videos and work on it there. Nonetheless, I will be doing this video cause it’s amazing.

Seungri: 1:02-1:13,2:25-2:31

G-Dragon: 0:41-0:55 (the blonde one), 1:30-1:43

Taeyang: 0:56-1:01, 1:59-2:06

TOP: 0:10-0:25, 2:48-3:00

Daesung: 0:26-0:40 (not the blonde one), 1:44-1:58

I know. Amazing.

Seungri (V.I)

• Real name: 이승현 or Lee Seung Hyun
• Birthday: December 12, 1990 (which would currently make him 20)
• Position: Vocalist, dancer, and maknae
• Fun facts: Little Seungri is the groups maknae (youngest) and fully fulfills that role (even though he may not look like it–none of them really do, they’re pretty old looking for Korean standards). He’s adorable and cute and funny and all his 형(older brothers) take care of him. Honestly, out of all the members he is probably the most ridiculous. He tries really hard to be the funniest and often succeeds. Certainly, his imitations of the other members are hilarious. I’d definitely want him for a best friend…or you know…more than a best friend :P. YG (Yang Hyun Suk) has said he is the most high maintenance of the five. Its ok Seungri, your cute so that makes up for it. He was the last member added to the group when they were forming. Good old YG had originally wanted the group to be four members but Seungri battled it out and showed how amazing he was not just in dance (he was the leader of a dance team in his home town) but also in singing and made the cut…pheww. I don’t know where we’d be without him. He’s made his own “Seungri Insitute”, which are these schools for kids who want to go into music/performance. I don’t know much about them but there are a few in different areas of South Korea and he’s really proud of them. He, like the rest of the members, has gone solo. His first solo song was “Strong Baby” (also written by GD). And not too long ago he came out with a full album, the two singles off of that were “What Can I Do” and “VVIP” (in VVIP check out 0:33, yup that’s our little maknae pretending to be his hyungs). Both really fun songs but the rest of the album is even better. Check it out. Seriously.

G-Dragon (GD)

• Real name: 권지용 or Kwon Ji Young
• Birthday: August 18, 1988 (which would, at the time of this post, make him 22)
• Position: Rapper, dancer, vocalist, song writer, leader
• Fun facts: So, our fearless leader trained under YG Entertainment with his buddy Taeyang for something like six or seven years before debuting with Big Bang. He and Taeyang were the two members that were for sure going to be in the group when YG decided to make it. However, prior to that, he had been doing stuff in show biz since he was in elementary school and maybe even before, I’m not sure. But he’s definitely been around for a while. He, along with TOP, is the groups main rapper but he does soooooo much more than that. He’s really into fashion so he takes really good care of his member’s styles. In fact he is always taking care of them, he’s a fantastic leader and always does what’s right (at least from my point of view). He’s also really musically talented in that he has written a good percentage of Big Bang’s songs and a shocking number of their big hits. He has written songs for himself (i.e “Heartbreaker“), for some of the member’s solo activities, and he has even written songs for other groups and people. The only help he really gets is some occasional input from the members, rap help from TOP, and some production help from YG producers like Teddy. He is also one of the highest grossing Kpop artists in South Korea according to Mnet. This makes a lot of sense considering he is literally South Korea’s trendsetter.  He’s kind of like South Korea’s Lady Gaga, except a little less strange. If GD does something or wears something, it will suddenly become popular (which is why it’s ok that he wore a skirt when they had their big comeback this year). If you were an advertising company, you’d want that kind of popularity behind you too. So, he has a lot of endorsements plus all the money he makes off of his music. I guess all that training time literally paid off, and quite well too.

Taeyang (Sol)

• Real name: 동영배 or Dong Young Bae
• Birthday: May 18, 1988 (which would currently make him 23)
• Position: Vocalist, lead dancer
• Fun facts: Taeyang is an amazing person. He has this sweetheart image that comes from his melt-your-heart smile. He is also constantly saying how he’s never been in a real relationship but he really wants to be (I’m not sure if this is still true but whatever). I guess it’s seriously understandable seeing as he has been training with YG just as long as GD and during training there isn’t really time for girls, so now he’s all shy. Well, it for sure doesn’t show in the emotion he puts into his songs. He’s had the biggest solo career out of the five with more than one album and a huge international fan base. Even my very non asian friends like his “Wedding Dress“, in fact one of them found it before I did. I’m a huge fan of his music and his fantastic dance abilities. He’s a bit like a gymnast and it shows when he goes on variety shows and shows off his dance moves (wow, that was a lot of shows). He’s the shortest of the group, which is saying something considering the whole group-excluding TOP-is pretty damn short. This is the reason why his hair is so tall and why he is always standing in the front in pictures. But his height doesn’t stop him from being incredibly handsome and popular and altogether amazing….in fact he was rated as South Korea’s most talented Kpop artist or at least the one producers would like to work with. I can’t find the link, but I know I saw it. It’s true though. He’s got an amazing voice, he’s a fantastic dancer, has a talent with languages (he’s nearly fluent in English and Japanese) and he seems like a genuinely nice guy. Sounds like a good combo to me.

TOP

• Real name: 최승현 or Choi Seung Hyun
• Birthday: November 4, 1987 (which would currently make him 23)
• Position: Rapper
• Fun facts: TOP is my man. Like if I had to choose one person in the whole asian entertainment industry, for whatever reason, it would be TOP. No hesitation. He’s just….perfect….swooooonnnnn. But I digress, because how much I love him is not a fun fact. TOP has a pretty interesting background story. He was originally quite overweight in high school and at some point between then and when they first started airing the Big Bang documentary he lost all of that weight and got into fairly good shape. But that time had a huge effect on him which is why, to this day, he refuses to show the world his stomach (unlike many other group’s members). But that doesn’t stop him from being the hottest member of Big Bang (this is according to the other members, not just my own personal opinion) and possibly one of the hottest Kpop stars. He was discovered by YG Entertainment, I believe, but pior to coming into the company he was an underground rapper. I think he was fairly popular because you can still find recordings of his rapping before Big Bang. He’s the tallest member of the group and he used to be the jokester. Although he no longer maintains that image outwardly I think that within the group he is still the funny guy. GD was once heard to have said that if TOP was a girl, he’d marry him. The story behind his stage name is pretty funny too. Apparently, YG originally wanted his name to be Mark (the name of YG’s fav guitarist–thanks Celina :D) but TOP didn’t like that so he went to his 선배 (senior) in YG, Se7en, and asked what his name should be and they both came up with TOP. Ohhhh YG. He’s famous for his incredibly deep voice (it’s sooooo sexy) and his acting skill. He sorta became famous in the acting world through his role as the killer in the popular drama IRIS. I have yet to watch it but I think that if anyone looks like a killer it’s TOP (in a sexy way). He’s done a few other things a won a few awards as well. He had a short but popular solo career with “Turn it Up” (the epitome of sex). And he also did a collaboration with GD (see “High High” and “Knock Out“) which was pretty popular. However, besides his acting and his rapping, TOP can’t really do much. Although he’s not bad, compared to the other members, his singing is eh, his dancing is eh and the only thing he seems to be good at is rapping and looking sexy. To be honest, I’m not sure why he didn’t get kicked out of the group. In fact, when the group’s producers were choosing the members that would stay during the documentary, not one of them mentioned TOP. He got fewer commendations than the member who did get kicked out. Yet, he was kept in the group. Well, I can’t say I’m sorry that they did keep him. He’s my favorite member and I’m sure there’s a whole slew of fan girls and boys out there who would agree with me. He’s just so….sexy.

Daesung (D-Lite)

• Real name: 강대성 Kang Dae Sung
• Birthday: April 26, 1989 (which would make him 22 right now)
• Position: Lead vocalist
• Fun facts: Daesung was originally considered the ugliest member by the people at YG Entertainment. God knows why. He had the most fans before their debut and he has the sweetest smile on the planet. Even sweeter than Taeyangs. In fact, one of his nicknames is smiling angel. He’s a sweet heart through and through and lately he’s even become pretty sexy (see the “Tonight” MV). Currently, he is considered the master of jokes in Big Bang. So, he’s sweet and funny and he even likes to do laundry and clean. He is definitely the one I’d want for a husband. He’s also a bit old fashioned and likes to sing Trot (korean ‘folk’ music) which is why leader, GD, wrote him a trot song for his solo activities. I would look up a video of him doing it live. He’s so funny. Well, anyway he’s got an amazing voice and so no matter what he does he’s amazing, including his newest solo song on the new album, “Baby Don’t Cry“. He’s been an MC on a few variety shows and because of that we know such interesting fact about him such as that he has a vanity area in his room that’s like a princesses’ with so many creams and gels and stuff for his skin that when GD’s mother comes, she’s jealous of him. We also know that he, most of all the members, stores his money and lends it out without a care in the world. The members love to borrow from him because he will willingly give it too them with no interest, as long as they return it the next day. There is one sad thing that must be said about our angel. He was recently in a very bad car accident. He wasn’t severely injured and neither was the man in the car he crashed into. However, it seems that he may have been involved in killing a man who was laying, unconscious on the road at the time of the accident. I don’t want anyone to make snap judgements though because it was dark and he was driving a little over the speed limit. For full information I’d go here and here. Whatever the case may be, we VIPs care for him and no matter what we hope that he is ok. This has got to be especially difficult for him because no matter what really happened that night, it’s hard enough to see someone dead or to think you killed them without having billions of fans wanting to know what happened and the possibility of your career being ruined hanging over your head. So, we’re going to put this topic to rest because I don’t want to cause him any more pain and I hope that some day this will all be a horrible thing of the past. 대성 오빠, 화팅!

Hyunseung

• Real name: 장현승 or Jang Hyun Seung
• Birthday: September 3, 1989 (which would make him 21 at the moment)
• Position: Almost member
• Fun facts: Hyunseung was kicked out of the group in the 10th episode of the documentary and therefore did not debut under Big Bang. He and Seungri were given one last chance to prove themselves by YG. Seungri did, Hyunseung, unfortunately, did not. According the documentary the reason for him being let go by the company was that he was not mature enough and had no emotion when he performed. Honestly, I couldn’t tell, but then again what do I know. But there’s no reason to fret fans, he is still pretty friendly with the current members of Big Bang anf he is happily situated in his own group now called B2ST or BEAST. And they are very popular (although they’re no Big Bang :P). I’m a B2ST fan as well, so I’ll do a post about them eventually.

Ok, that’s pretty much it. If you want more information go to their Wiki here. Although, this is another pretty epic post, so I’m not sure you really need anymore information. But we both know no one is actually reading this so it doesn’t really matter how long I make it. Plus I love them sooooooooo much so they deserve an as long, if not longer post than SHINee. Especially considering they’ve been around much long than SHINee and they have a much bigger fan base (including a HUGE one in Japan). If you have a lot of time on your hands I would watch the documentary of their creation, it says a lot. And then maybe go through all their MVs. If you’re gonna waste time, it’s the best way to do it.