TW: PTSD, sexual harassment, sexual assault, depression, suicide

BigBang is possibly one of the most famous (and most infamous) groups of kpop’s second generation. The famous part is easy: they were incredibly popular in their time, debuting in 2006 and each of the five members—Taeyang, G-Dragon, Daesung, T.O.P., and Seungri—had huge careers as solo artists too. But the infamous part is to do with Seungri alone. If you’d like to just skip to the music review, please do so now. If you’d like to just read about the Burning Sun Scandal, click here.

(Part Two)

Intro: Burning Sun

If you’ve never heard of the Burning Sun scandal, I’m going to give a ludicrously brief summary. Please, please heed the content warnings at the top, because this is horrible. Burning Sun was a nightclub owned by Seungri that, in 2019, was revealed to have been an epicenter of prostitution, spy cameras (also known as “molka”), sexual assault, and drugging women with GHB to commit said crimes. These crimes were often videoed and then this footage was spread in chat rooms. And Seungri wasn’t the only idol involved, despite being the most well known; there was also Yong Jonhyung of B2ST (now Highlight), Lee Jonghyun of CNBlue, Choi Jonghoon of F.T. Island, and singer-songwriter Jung Joonyoung (JJY). Despite the mountains of evidence, I’m really not doing it justice, so if you’d like to learn more (which you really should), please read Vox’s article, look at Billboard’s timeline of events, or watch the excellent Burning Sun documentary that came out earlier this year.

So, after all of this, you may be wondering, why do this now? Why give Seungri more press, why thrust all this pain back into the spotlight? And the answer is because it hasn’t gone away. Seungri was released from jail almost two years ago at age 32, after serving less than a year and a half, a new sex scandal involving chat rooms and nude photo leaks has begun to break in South Korea, the late kpop idol Goo Hara has been revealed to have been a vital part of bringing the case to light, and most importantly, the survivors still have to get up every morning and go about their lives with the pain of what happened to them. 

And where do I fit into this? I’m a music review blog, after all. True. But for a moment, I’d like to explain. I was once a witness to a sexual assault, when I was very, very young. I never reported it, because I was scared and I had no idea what was going on, and the victim lost her chance to get justice because of me. Since then, I’ve been committed to doing whatever I can to help survivors of sexual and/or domestic violence. It won’t make up for what I did, or, I suppose, what I failed to do, I do know that. But I do have a platform, small as it may be, and I’m going to use it as best I can. So, deep breaths, grab a pillow, grab your best friend and your fluffiest cat, and let’s do this. Together.

Single #1: BigBang

We Belong Together is very similar to the sound of SHINHWA’s transition years. There’s the R & B beat, the whiplash back and forth between in-your-face raps and supposedly sweet lyrics, and lastly, a hook that will be stuck in my head for the next 5-7 business days. I loved Park Bom’s feature—partly because I’m fresh off the heels of a 2NE1 deep dive and her unique tone is always welcome—and it was actually my favorite part of the song. Which does have the effect of just making me want to hear 2NE1, not BigBang. I’ll also say that while I’ve disliked a lot of music videos from this generation, I quite liked the down-to-earth feel of this one. Though, the box braids? I know it was 2006, but, really guys?

Single #2: BigBang Is V.I.P.

As soon as La La La started, I immediately groaned. Oh, so we’re going for the I’m-cooler-than-you-I’m-such-a-goddamn-badass-despite-being-sixteen-and-not-allowed-to-swear sound. Great. I don’t mean to be such a nitpicker; I enjoyed some parts of the song, like the smooth verses and the solid beat, but this kind of song annoys the hell out of me. It hits all my pet peeves. Even the pet peeves I didn’t know I had. Next!

Single #3: BigBang 03

Forever With You also features Park Bom, and in almost every other way, is pretty similar to We Belong Together. This one also annoyed me, from the “hey baby girl” that opened the song to the affected voices they keep putting on that veer very close to a blaccent. I know none of these things are unusual for the time, but that doesn’t mean I have to like them. Again, Park Bom was my favorite part of the song. Park Bom should just be a feature in every song; her voice is so moldable to different genres and she’s got great tone.

Album #1: BigBang Vol.1

Dirty Cash is not an encouraging title, considering both all the cultural appropriation gripes I’ve had so far, the very reason I’m doing this review, and the frankly cringeworthy intro does nothing to convince me otherwise. But, overall, this song is a much better complete piece than any of the others: the electric guitar and percussive beat are great, the chorus is catchy without being annoying, and besides the aforementioned intro, there’s  no more very overt AAVE. It’s not perfect, but it’s absolutely a step in the right direction. Its music video is also very funny, intentionally so, and that works much better than trying to be cool. I wish that the box braids hadn’t made a return again, though.

From the album, I enjoyed the mix of hip hop and R & B in the intro, the strong SHINHWA inspo (in a good way) in Can’t Get Enough and the easygoing beat of My Girl. Mostly, though, it wasn’t for me.

EP #1: Always

Lies is more of a ballad, or at least that’s where I thought it was going when it started. But I was wrong; it slowly turned into a far more bombastic and dramatic song than I was expecting. Really, it’s a ballad in the same way that in the way BTOB’s Pray (I’ll Be Your Man) or SHINHWA’s Wedding is a ballad. For the first time, the disparate genres of hip-hop and electro and the melodies come together, something new for boy bands at the time. The stretch of the bridge into the final chorus is especially great, layering the boys’ voices.

The music video is fascinating; (spoiler) it seems to be that the girl committed a murder in self-defense and the boy she actually loves (who I believe is G-Dragon, but don’t quote me on that) takes the fall for her. It’s a great twist, and I didn’t see it coming at all. It’s not a perfect song, sure but it was the start of a new era for Big Bang, being the first song they produced and wrote and being the one that would determine their sound for years to come.

From the EP, I enjoyed the fast pace of the intro We Are Bigbang, the synthy sound of Unknown Number, the featured artist in Pretended (whose identity I cannot for the life of me figure out).

EP #2: Hot Issue

Last Farewell, despite the sad title, is anything but. It takes a little bit to get started and for the listener to reorient themselves, but once they do, it just sweeps them off their feet. It has this experimental dancefloor sound that’s a lot like something out of F(x)’s catalog, and it went right onto the roller skating playlist. This felt like the first BigBang song to truly be great all the way through, building on what Lies started and catapulting them into what would become the second generation of k-pop. Is it incredibly unique? No, but it’s good.

From the EP, I enjoyed the surprisingly light, falsetto-reliant Fool (my hidden gem) and the crashing thunder of the ultra-dramatic I Don’t Understand.

EP #3: Stand Up

Haru Haru is the first of BigBang’s songs that I would say is considered a classic, though it’s not as well-known as later hits like Bang Bang Bang or Fantastic Baby. Piggybacking off of the dramatic hip hop power ballad sound of Lies, Haru Haru perfects it, twisting in the knife with light footed piano, soaring vocals, and even a string section, that all come together in that smash of a chorus. Its deceptively gentle instrumental leaves room for the performances to take center stage, and what performances they are, god damn. It’s easy to see why so many people loved this. 

And that’s not even counting the music video, which apparently decides that Lies wasn’t dramatic or homoerotic enough, because G-Dragon and T.O.P. are over here supposedly fighting over a girl, and for some reason have to be an inch from each other’s faces. But I digress. The lynchpin of this MV (spoilers again) is that the girl is dying of an illness and was only pretending to cheat in order to spare her boyfriend the pain of losing her. I admit it, for all of my making fun, it’s impossible not to feel something when G-Dragon learns the truth and started running towards the hospital at full speed, arriving just a moment too late. Was there a ridiculous amount of eyeliner and a plot straight out of a telenovela? Yes. Did I tear up anyway? Maybe.

From the EP, I enjoyed the ridiculously catchy chorus of My Heaven, the melancholy acoustic guitar of A Good Man (my hidden gem), and the driving, angsty rock of Oh My Friend.

Album #2: Remember

Sunset Glow, as far as I can tell, is a remake. A complete departure from the kdrama-worthy plots of both Lies and Haru Haru, it goes for a colorful, lighthearted music video that, I admit, did make me smile. The song itself, I’ve got to say, doesn’t feel like anything special. It’s good, sure, especially when it veers into anthemic during the choruses. It’s fun, and I wouldn’t turn it off if it came up on shuffle. But I’m not going to search it out either.

Strong Baby is a Seungri solo, and goes for an almost militaristic sound, from the opening trumpets to the drum line to the intermittent yells of “Victory!”. I full-on winced at the supposedly sexy lyrics at the beginning, I admit it. I already have fight-or-flight reactions whenever there’s some singer whispering in my ear, and when I say that this being Seungri didn’t help, that’s an understatement. There’s something so quietly menacing about it, that’s definitely projection, but is unsettling nonetheless.

From the album, I enjoyed the breakneck speed of Oh Ah Oh’s dancefloor beat, the soothing sounds of Foolish Love, and the acoustic version of Haru Haru. I think the acoustic version was my hidden gem, actually; it’s so good without feeling like a carbon copy of the original with a different instrumental.

Next time, we’re onto Part 2 and then a girl group. Tschüss!