[Star Column – G-Dragon] Part 1. What does ‘tour’ mean for G-Dragon? : a mental fight with himself.

America’s world-renown music magazine, Billboard, praised G-Dragon’s concert as ‘eye-popping.’ This was regarding his first solo world tour, ONE OF A KIND, that was held in Jamsil, Seoul on March 30 and 31. Billboard was not the only one. There was a huge hype about the talented artist among international media. ‘Could not take my eyes off it’, and ‘a time filled with awe and amazement’ were only two of many, many comments by the foreign media. G-Dragon in Jamsil was no longer simply an idol we have always known – at his first solo concert he was reborn as a true artist.

His new song ‘GO’ was revealed to the world in an unprecedented way: by a mobile phone application LINE. And the latest tour of his made the fans go crazy, just like the song ‘GO’ suggests (the Korean title of this song is MichiGo, which means ‘go crazy’ in its original form Michida). G-Dragon, or GD, is an icon of music, fashion and creativity. He has this spirit of facing challenges with such innovation and provocative character. The CEO of YG Entertainment, the agency to which GD belongs, is showing unswerving support for the extraordinary artist by putting together a concert 2013 G-Dragon WOURLD TOUR that is worth 3.5 billion won.

Thanks to this, GD was able to finish his tour in Japan on April 6 at Fukuoka Yahoo Japan Dome with a huge success, joined by 50,000 fans. Until the end of June, GD will travel to eight countries to perform 26 times, joined by his 550,000 international fans in 13 cities. He is the first Korean solo artist to hold concerts in Japan’s four largest stadiums (Fukuoka Yahoo Japan, Saitama Seibu, Osaka Kyocera and Nagoya Domes), and despite his extremely busy schedule, he kindly offered to write for the readers of Naver Star Column. The column will tell the story of GD in three different parts, so stay tuned!

# Even when I’m exhausted, I get this energy as soon as I go on stage

Hello everyone! It’s G-Dragon here. I remember writing about the unrevealed happenings from BigBang concert with all the members, but now I’m here alone. But BigBang is always there for each other so I’m not lonely. The members have been and will always be my friends and also my support group. I will do my best for my first world tour. In the three parts of the column, I’m going to write about my boss and the CEO of YG Yang Hyun-suk, about my family, my daily life and hobbies, and also about my dreams. I hope you will enjoy my story!:)

I don’t ever remember having stage fright. I have no memory of being nervous on stage. Because BigBang performs more often on stage than on television programs, we should not and cannot be nervous on stage. And we are quite used to it as well. World Tour helped us a lot in that sense. So my solo tour is no different. But going overseas alone is harder than just performing in Korea.

But I am so fortunate to be given with such an opportunity because there are so many artists who can’t even dream of having a concert like this. So I am always thankful for all the hardships I go through. It hasn’t been long since we started performing internationally, so I am thoroughly enjoying it at this stage.

Of course, it could be physically demanding. But there is a reason when we artists say being on stage is addictive. Even when I am exhausted, as soon as I go on stage, I get this enormous energy. A huge number of people are focused on me, and me only. It’s the same when shooting for photographs or music videos. All these staff members are working for me, and I can’t be withdrawn just because I am a little sick.

And it actually works like that. When I get all the attention and energy from the staff and the audience, my performances are great. But when I feel uncomfortable or nervous on stage, it is directly related to the result. So no matter how I feel, I try to soak in this energy that floods in when I go on stage. I feel all better, even when I’m sick. I think this is a large part of the reason why other artists do their best on stage.

# I take a bath to relax, and watch movies to be inspired

When we are on World Tour, all of BigBang including myself enjoy shopping on streets. I love looking at clothes, and because each country has their own unique style, I go out and observe what they have. To recharge after a concert, I usually take a bath and relax. That simple. And while I’m talking a bath I watch movies or dramas, too. I sit there without saying a word, just watching the screen, for 10 to 15 minutes. And that’s how I recharge.

Movies are a great source of inspiration for me. I watched ‘New World’ a while ago. I exchanged phone numbers with one of the main characters, Hwang Jung-min, when we met at the MAMA ceremony overseas. That was when I first met him. But we didn’t really keep in touch, but he invited me to the premier of ‘New World’, and since I couldn’t make it, I went to the theater to watch it in my own time. It was awesome. To thank him, I invited him to my concert and he told me he enjoyed it. I’m really glad.

I don’t feel attracted to good-looking or ‘normal’ people. Hmm, I’m not sure if it’s entirely appropriate to say what I’m going to say, but I am more attracted to people who look ‘bad’. You probably can see it from how I perform on stage, but being ‘cool’ does not suit me at all. I think there is something ‘unusual’ about me. I don’t know why, but the impression that people have of me is quite unusual, I think, and in movies I am more attracted to the villainous characters. I’m not attracted to them simply because they are villains, but because there is much depth to them. They make the story go forward. That really draws me in.

# My nights and days are flipped!

My nights and days are usually completely opposite from those of other people. Actually, most people at my office have the same lifestyles. So for World Tours or other performances, we have to start looking after ourselves. But I often sleep a lot so I don’t have much trouble fitting my physical rhythm around concert schedules. For some odd reason, musicians can’t really think clearly in the morning. I just stare into the blank space in the morning. So I wake up at night, and at around 2 or 3 in the morning I’m up working or talking to my friends. And at around 5 or 6, my brain really starts to come up with ideas.

This could be a bad habit, but by morning I usually come up with some new ideas. And then I go to bed and wake up at around 5p.m. I repeat this every day so no wonder my body feels tired. People’s lifestyles here at the office are quite similar.

So even if I come in to the office at 2 or 3 in the morning, everyone’s up working so it feels quite normal. So my friends and I rarely get a chance to meet up. Our lifestyles are dramatically different. Sometimes I sleep through 2 or 3 days without waking up. That’s how I look after myself, by sleeping a lot and soundly! 🙂

# Naver’s LINE promotion for World Tour

We started promoting for my first solo world tour through LINE, a mobile phone application by Naver, so please stay tuned! 🙂 My boss and CEO of YG, Yang Hyun-suk, has always been far-sighted in terms of planning and supporting my music. I love the way he works. Releasing a song on a mobile phone app has never been done before, and I am excited that there is an unlimited potential in this medium.

I trust my boss completely and follow whatever he says. And this goes the same for my boss. Whenever I give him suggestions, he respects my thoughts and always supports me. I can depend on him.

Frankly, I am a musician and I don’t have much room to spare for promotions and everything. It could be exhausting and I can’t focus on my music. So LINE is a great way to do this.

And now the market for Social Networking Services is expanding its territory, and there is an automatic translation function so I keep in touch with my overseas friends on LINE often. Almost everyone in Japan uses LINE. So I think it is really clever and meaningful that we have released my song on LINE, because the number of our international fans is increasing steadily as well.

Obviously the promotion for my album will be different, but ‘GO’ is a song to celebrate my first world tour, and it was fitting to show the song on LINE. ‘GO’ is one of the most popular songs overseas. Because it was the first attempt ever, there are still systems that need to be established more soundly, and you need to buy stickers to listen to the music, but it was indeed an interesting project.

Until just a few years ago, I enjoyed ranking number one on music websites or television music programs, but that’s not so important anymore. Now I feel like it is much more important to make a song that is competitive in the global stage, rather than just inside of Korea. To do that, I need to write songs that go well with the current trend and are tasteful. That is the way to compete in the international environment.

I felt this even more strongly when I was doing BigBang’s world tour. I have never even imagined that there would be so many fans outside of Korea. In the U.S. and China in particular, we have never even done a promotion and yet scores of people came to see us at our concert. And I finally understood why YG invested so much on music videos, Youtube and social networking services.

And it is the same with the LINE promotion. It is YG’s attempt to expand our music to the world, I’m sure.

I meet with my boss very often to come up with new ideas to promote my music. Some of the fans expressed concerns, but I am doing my best with him so please wait and see! 🙂

If this LINE promotion becomes a success, I believe that this can provide a new world of opportunities for future artists, especially the underground musicians.

# SNS? I didn’t know why people were into it!

I am an active user of SNS now.

It’s like sharing my thoughts and feelings with my fans. It feels like a small event for my fans who are interested in what I do. A small even where I tell them what I’m doing. There aren’t many chances to see my fans in person, so posting photos is like telling them how I am, and it feels awesome to be communicating with them.

Wow, I didn’t notice I had written this much. Next time, I will come back with more interesting stories! See you soon!