popular kpop | Dramas Whoo!

Here is the Artist of the Week! Posted on Wednesdays as something to get you through the rest of the week~

This week’s artist is…

BigBang

BigBang is one, if not the, most popular Korean boy bands right now… and they deserve it. It’s strange to even call them a “boy band” since they’re all so talented in many other aspects.

A lot of them can write their own music and/or act. They also have their own styles of singing/rapping.

A big part of their success goes to YG Entertainment. Notably, the CEO was a part of Seo Taiji’s revolutionary group back when Kpop was just getting started. After enough training was given to the boys, YG gave them a lot of free range to do their own things and pursue their own interests, which isn’t very common in the manufactured Kpop world.

Every member has done something independent of BigBang. G-Dragon, Daesung, Taeyang, and Seungri all have solo albums. TOP has won awards for his acting in the movie “71: Into The Fire”, and has also teamed up with GD to make a separate rap unit.

At first, BigBang was designed as a hip-hop group, but over the course of the years, they’ve grown into their own style. (Especially G-Dragon with his solo work, haha.)

Members:

G-Dragon: The Leader/Rapper
Birthday: August 18, 1988
GD started his music career at an early age and writes a lot his own music.

TOP: “Deep-Voice” Rapper
Birthday: November 4, 1987
Writes his own raps. Used to be an underground rapper. Actor.

Daesung: “Smiling Angel” Vocalist
Birthday: April 26, 1989
One of the strong vocalists of the group. Acted in a big-time play as well as a drama called “What’s Up?”.

Taeyang: The Dancer/R&B Vocalist
Birthday: May 18, 1988
Great dancer and singer.

Seungri: Strong Vocalist/Maknae
Birthday: December 12, 1990
Can write music and sing well.

Trivia/Info

OFFICIAL LINKS:
Facebook | Youtube | Twitter | Weibo
Website | Fan Cafe

NOTABLE FAN PAGES:
BigBang Updates | Tumblr: BigBang For Life | BigBang Gifs
Dirty Fan Confessions | Airport Fashion

MORE INFO:
Big Bang Mini Drama; Idol World (Really crazy mini movie they made when they were still new.)
1N2D (One Night, Two Days) (Daesung gets the guys together for a retreat. Funny games & see their personalities.)
Video Archives (Download ALL the videos!)

TRIVIA:

“TOP never shows skin”. Fans good-naturedly joke about how TOP fan-service involves him showing his ankles or neck since he never likes to take off his shirt, and even tries to avoid T-shirts when possible. (There’s probably only one photo of TOP showing his stomach, and that’s when they first debuted and had to lift their shirts up for a dance). Some memes involve him putting on more layers instead of taking them off.

The one time TOP showed his stomach….

…But then TOP stopped lifting his shirt… lol.

Another good-natured meme is how TOP can’t really dance. It’s not as common, but fans aren’t mean about it. (Even Big Bang themselves tease TOP about it). That’s usually known as “Choom TOP,” in reference to a recorded conversation with TOP where he drunkenly refers to himself by that title.
Taeyang memes are “swan prince” and “never wearing a shirt”. There are screencaps and clips of Taeyang being hyper, dancing and twirling around at random places, which spawned the “I am the swan prince!” meme. Taeyang also is shirtless on many, many occasions.
One meme, that might not really be a full-blown meme yet, could also be how TOP has kissed all the members of Big Bang on the lips except for Taeyang. (TOP is usually cast as the male lead in the drama spin-off mini movies they do for their concerts, and as a result, he has kissed each member as fan-service in those movies).

Videos:

They have many good songs and music videos. Since they promoted in Japan for awhile, some of the songs are in Japanese. Here are a few:

“Fantastic Baby” is very popular right now: