BIGBANG: K-pop princes of gender-fuckery and family dysfunction

GD's PR people working overtime on damage control:

http://omonatheydidnt.livejournal.com/11549876.html

Can't really defend this one, it's pretty bad.

http://oi44.tinypic.com/2hgu175.jpg

It's not even good trolling: at least when Big Bang dressed as Bloods made it onto the world(starhiphop) radar, there was a pretty good song to go along with the viral outrage. This time the backlash against - not even cultural appropriation - but straight-up racist caricature, only spreads an unattractive picture of GD around.

And by unattractive I mean unattractive on the inside, of course.

Yeah he doesn't deserve a pass on this one (or on the other examples either tbh) and it's way past time that he/YGE got called out on it. Like it's impossible for them not to know that this stuff upsets people, given that the language barrier isn't exactly an obstacle for YG artists as it might be for other K-pop companies.

Yup.

Though I am doing some self-reflecting now, 'cause it's been obvious since forever that GDragon enjoys crossing lines and upsetting people. When the lines he crosses are lines I don't agree with, I generally cheer - like gender lines or restrictions on what idols are "allowed" to say on television, and so on.

Obviously, GD should continue to cross the lines I don't agree with, but not cross the lines I do agree with.

When I say I'm self-reflecting I mean that in a joking way, BTW, honestly I haven't been too invested in any of this for a while now. Losing your audience, dude(tte)!

Really excited for Seungri's solo album, especially after hearing that the single wasn't going to be "ft. G-Dragon and Taeyang", but was instead going to be a "90s house beat" club song:

13/8

BB Seungri’s 2nd mini album "LET’S TALK ABOUT LOVE"

I will introduce the first of it’s songs ‘LETS TALK ABOUT LOVE’. It wasn’t very hard deciding on the theme of this album. I wanted to make an album filled with songs about love since the easiest type of songs our fans and the public can relate to, as well and look forward to, are love songs. My age is twenty four. Wouldn’t you say this is the best age one can deeply talk about love? Love… Yes, love. I’m not sure if it was love or not, but I’ve had times I was happy and times I was in pain. It might have been love after all. A love song sung by three handsome guys, Seungri, G-Dragon, Taeyang. The combination of our three names is a little awkward however it does not feel any bit unfamiliar or distant. Because although they are my fellow team members, they are beings with an undoubtedly overflowing sense of existence (people whose existence makes it all the better)…. Because we were all working on our separate solo albums around the same time, there were many instances we would run into each other in the studios. I really wanted to work with my hyungs. Just thinking about it made me think that it would be so enjoyable. With classy beats and simple instruments, that was all I needed. I made my own part and the hyungs made their own separate parts. Jiyong hyung made an awesome rap part, Taeyang hyung finished off the awesome melody in the bridge of the song. It was so much fun. Though we are in the same team, it felt like I was working with different artists. It felt as if I drew a drawing and the hyungs colored it in. I’m feeling so confident with this song myself because it’s a song made by working with these awesome people. I think this will be a song that will uplift and heighten the anticipation of even the hyungs’ solo albums coming out in the near future. PS: Jiyong hyung, Youngbae hyung, I love you guys, really.

14/8

I will introduce the title song of this album 'GOTTA TALK TO YOU'. Do you remember my first solo debut? You will probably remember a 20 year old boy in tux sexy dancing with female dancers. Yet it was awkward to see a younger man pretending to be an older man.. Even now when I watch videos from back then, I can still feel the awkwardness. 4 years since, a long time has passed. Many things has happened to me. Things I cannot fully explain in words.. Now as a man I want to build a character that can attract female fans. I had to be different because I understood that I can only survive by having different colours than other male solo artists. So I tried to find a voice that I had never had before. From the very first line of 'GOTTA TALK TO YOU', you will experience a new singing style that is different from the styles that I had before. Before I became a member of Big Bang, I was a dancer. Maybe that's the reason why I seek songs that I can dance to, fast or slow. The composers of GTTY, Ham Seongcheon and Kang Wookjin have worked as club DJs. Because they are people who understand what kind of beats and music can excite people, GTTY is a piece that wouldn't be awkward to be played anywhere. Daebak GOTTA TALK TO YOU!

Read more at Omona They Didnt: http://omonatheydidnt.livejournal.com/11616116.html

Teaser for ft. GD and Taeyang song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOLWAh9m9LY

So psyched, it's everything I wanted and expected from Seungri.

Haaaaa omg you're right, that's perfect

Aaaaaand... the album is out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZcxvQujCQ0&list=PLAYhz80dUVjTwLPYym8jAvLg2q03VR0pG

A little derivative in places, but overall really solid and... consistent! Dude as a consistent sound and vision for sure.

Also, I wasn't expecting much from the track with GD and YB on it but it's actually pretty great??? GD in no way attempts to steal the spotlight away from Seungri - if anything, YB is the ungracious attention-hogger here. Unexpected.

Maybe it's a case of low expectations being exceeded but really, I'm quite happy and satisfied with this release :D

Full album playlist:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAYhz80dUVjTwLPYym8jAvLg2q03VR0pG

Or https://soundcloud.com/seung-ri/sets/seungri-lets-talk-about-love, rather

GDragon ft SKY FERREIRA! And it sounds pretty good, too:

http://yijong.tumblr.com/post/60042295254

Jennie Kim is gonna sing this on the music shows, I think. But Sky sounds great here.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/1238723_512250275521645_1379211568_n.jpg

This tracklist looks like it could be the best or the worst album ever. Guessing you're excited about the Zion T track? :p

oh and about Seungri's record, I liked the first three songs, though Jennie Kim was pretty unnecessary on "GGBe" (find her unnecessary in general, but YG obvs wants to keep putting her on everything). Could do without the rest, which were just a little too derivative, esp the one that's basically Seungri's version of "What Goes Around..."/"Mirrors".

Don't you mean the first four tracks? Come to My might be the best song on the album. Unless that's the What Goes Around rip off you were talking about? In which case... I guess I kind of just expect Seungri to rip off JT, so it didn't even register, haha.

Apart from that I don't necessarily disagree, really.

These will probably disappear soon, so here's the rest of Part One of GD's album:

http://yijong.tumblr.com/post/60042403781
http://yijong.tumblr.com/post/60041666918
http://yijong.tumblr.com/post/60041872266

That first track with Missy is the worst of the lot, no wonder it was in the vault forever, lol. Missy herself sounds great but when GDragon tries to match her he sounds like a clown.

The rest of the album is decent! Very surprised that Teddy produced some of these, either they've been in development hell a long time or he's back on his game.

Diplo/Bauuer produced intro track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8T6771Sdj8

I'm actually not looking forward to the Boys Noize track because it's called I Love It, and I had very mixed feelings about Feeling. But I am looking forward to Zion.T and GD on the same track, I hope it's a love song like his song with Lydia Paek, that would be amazing.

Your daily dose of portentous symbolism, explained:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/164805066/G-dragon-s-Coup-D-Etat-MV-Symbolisms

Spell-checker auto-corrected that to "pretentious" symbolism and it was so perfect I almost kept it, ha.

"Crooked":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKhsHGfrFmY

Better, still not that great. Dude really shouldn't have gone on the road so soon after BigBang's world tour - feel like so many of these songs could be better if he had had more time in the studio and wasn't under any pressure to release this record quickly.

Wait, the Zion T/Boys Noize song is great! Might be my favourite right now:

https://soundcloud.com/shimei-chan/g-dragon-i-love-it-feat-zion-t

"Shake the World" and "Runaway" are good too - second half of this record definitely way better than the first. Full album here:

https://soundcloud.com/michelle-talunay-dela-cruz/sets/gd-new-songs

I like the first half more, but I think it's the featurings - GDragon doesn't know what to do with his voice when he's the only one on the track. In Shake the World he sounds like Taeyang, in Runaway he sounds like Zion T.

Speaking of Zion T though... that collaboration is the tortured-love-song I was hoping for, and more :D Very happy with this track and the duet with Lydia. We were so right about Zion T's "Babay".

Niliria is growing on me - I like the beat more now than I did before. I like Crooked too, but that might be my ex-Libertines fan self speaking. Was this video directed by Seo Hyun Seung, who put the Pete Doherty reference in Crayon, or by the director of the video for That XX, which also had a couple Pete Doherty references?

(I mean it's just generic British punk imagery, but because of the previous videos, I see a connection.)

The left turn into disco Michael Jackson territory on "I Love It" is unexpected but it works (somewhere in the YG building, Taeyang is silently weeping GD didn't ask him to guest on this track instead).

I like "Niliria" a lot, but mostly because of Missy. I know Seo directed "Coup D'etat", not sure if he directed "Crooked" too, but it doesn't really look like his style. The London punk look suits GD though.

Excellent graphics on this: http://www.complex.com/covers/g-dragon-interview-september-2013/

GD always says sensible things in magazine interviews when he has an album to promote

TOP's solo track is a banger.

https://soundcloud.com/bubblefeetgravitych3/doom-dada

Best part is where he rhymes Korean with Basquiat, obvs.

oh this is niiiice.

The video is out and it's FANTASTIC. lol, he wasn't kidding about the Dada:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAoME_aMm1w&feature=youtu.be

I like Taeyang's Ringa Linga a lot too! Even if he can't perform it live without losing the (forced) vocal tics. TOP's song is better (obv) because he's got a more versatile voice & is going harder & and it's got more than just most superficial trappings of ~high art~. But I like that Taeyang's sounds like a gospel ode to partying: choir boy gone bad.

BTW here's the GD/Hyundeong song with the "hong" rap part I was talking about in the other thread. Okay, now back to TOP.

I heard that the fast rap part at the end is the Korean alphabet.

yeah, and the line after the alphabet is from the national anthem iirc

still jamming this. Can we talk about the video for a sec? This is basically TOP letting all his weirdness and eccentricities shine and it's glorious.

I like how it starts by explicitly referencing "Turn It Up", with his back to the camera, silhouetted against the lights. In a way, this is him casting off the "Turn It Up"/BigBang icy cool playboy rapper persona, and embracing his actual personality, which is all about losing himself in art, films, and high-end furniture and goofing around like a demented baby.

And goddamn it, that face. He's so beautiful.

MIB appreciate Let's Talk About Love as much as I did (unless there's another song both are referencing):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X7k3LauAFQ

There's been much more relevant Big Bang news (as always), but this comes with a pretty dope song attached.

That's a really nice song

MIB always have good songs, even though their lyrics are kind of gross sometimes.

hmm I always thought Seungri was referencing this, he just replaced the word sex with a Korea-friendly alternative:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzfo4txaQJA

NICE. Yes, that's the reference I was looking for, thank you <3

Songs from Taeyang's upcoming album sounding GREAT live:

http://youtu.be/ZmaEKBAkKZ8?t=1m2s
http://youtu.be/ZFwwcc9bJlg?t=1m18s

Watching this it's kinda clear why he wanted to change up his style from Solar, the high-energy tracks are probably more fun to perform.

the hair though remains a tragedy

lol, true

one of his backup dancers had the old Taeyang mohawk. I think he's just taunting the fans at this point

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElxF92Dpz2E

lol these mad fools <3

I like the commenter on omona who pointed out that TOP barely dances Big Bang's songs, but goes all out for these 2NE1 numbers.

Taeyang's solo album out on Monday:

http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/waves_of_light/19973005/8820/8820_600.jpg

01. Rise *INTRO*
Composer: Peejay, Taeyang
Lyrics: Tablo, Choice37, Taeyang
Arrangement: Peejay

02. 눈, 코, 입 *TITLE SONG*
(Translation: Eyes, Nose, Lips/Mouth)
Composer: Teddy, Dee.P, Rebecca Johnson
Lyrics: Teddy, Taeyang
Arrangement: Teddy, Dee.P

03. 1AM
Composer: Teddy, Choice37, Boys Noize
Lyrics: Teddy
Arrangement: Teddy, Choice37, Boys Noize

04. Stay with Me (Feat. G-Dragon)
Composer: G-Dragon, The Fliptones, JHart
Lyrics: G-Dragon
Arrangement: The Fliptones

05. Body
(Korean Title: 아름다워/Beautiful)
Composer: Teddy, Taeyang, PK, Dee.P
Lyrics: Teddy, Taeyang
Arrangement: Teddy, PK, Dee.P

06. Ringa Linga
Composer: G-Dragon, Shockbit
Lyrics: G-Dragon, Tokki
Arrangement: Shockbit

07. 이게아닌데
(Translation: This Isn't It/Not What I Meant)
Composer: Airplay, Jo Sung Hwak
Lyrics: Airplay, Jo Sung Hwak
Arrangement: Airplay

08. 버리고
(Translation: Throw Away/Abandon)
Composer: Taeyang, PK, Dee.P
Lyrics: Tablo
Arrangement: PK, Dee.P

09. Love You To Death
Composer: Happy Perez, Britt Burton, Taeyang
Lyrics: Tablo, Britt Burton
Arrangement: Happy Perez

Apparently the single is "a slow RnB song" that was added "at the last minute" and is the only track Taeyang will promote on music shows, though "Body" is getting a video from our favorite guy Seo Hyun Seung.

Or in other words holding the album hostage until Taeyang agreed to record and promote an RnB song seems to have worked out for YG.

Seungri endorses this album:

http://photos-c.ak.instagram.com/hphotos-ak-frc/10401769_228202727390418_1378828382_n.jpg

http://instagram.com/p/oia9nNPNfM/

More Tablo, less GD is good for me.

The title of that last song is so dramatic though, haha.