BIGBANG, Style Leader Beyond Music… Power that Drew All Hot People of Osaka
[일간스포츠= 이경란] There used to be a time when people believed that “Korean singers who perform in Japan are fed by old lady fans”. Starting from early 2000’s, Korean singers began to penetrate into the Japanese market in earnest. At that time, the main customer base was middle-aged women, rather than teenagers. At Korean singers’ concert scenes, it was easy to see well-dressed Japanese women in their 40s and 50s shouting “Oppa~”. Korean singers who gained popularity in Japan at that time focused on imitating the style of J-POP, instead of highlighting that they were different from Japanese singers. J-style was thought to be nicer than K-style.
Now, 10 years later, K-POP has a different status in Japan. In the meantime, young K-POP singers who are called third-generation idols have entered Japan. They have continuously evolved to create a K-style that takes Japanese fans’ taste into account, while expressing each team’s unique individuality at the same time.
BIGBANG, a team standing at the top of the hot fashion and style, held concerts on November 29 to December 1 at Kyocera Dome, Osaka. As many as 150,000 fans in the Kansai region in Japan were drawn to three concerts held for three days. The scene of 50,000 people who crowded the front of Kyocera Dome on November 29 showed the status of BIGBANG who is called the style leader in Japan, at one glance. All fashion people of Osaka in their late teenage years and early twenties gathered at the concert hall and the scene reminded of a hot nightclub. People in stylish outfits comparable to that of G-DRAGON have one reason why they like BIGBANG. “Their music, dance, and fashion are so cool and gorgeous. BIGBANG is a hot boy group who leads style.”
▶ Fans’ Age Bracket Went Down
Most of BIGBANG fans are teenagers or in their early twenties. They are the main group of trend setters, who are the most conscious of the latest fashion. Another notable phenomenon about BIGBANG is that they have higher share of male fans, compared to other boy groups. They focus not only on BIGBANG’s dance and music, but also on their polished style and fashion. Fans spotted at BIGBANG concert are mostly stylish people dressed in hot hip-hop style. This is a scene quite different from that in concert halls of other K-POP groups. Takuma Hitomi (22, female) says, “Everything of BIGBANG including their music, dance, and fashion, is cool. I go to a nightclub with other BIGBANG fans and dance the night away to BIGBANG’s songs.” Fujii Yuma (16, male) says, “My favorite singer has been BIGBANG from my elementary school days. Their stylish music and fashion is the coolest.”
Not only the concert hall, but also the area near luxury shopping malls in Shinsaibashi in downtown Osaka, was crowded with BIGBANG fans. “Fashion people” on the street surrounded by brand shops were dressed in BIGBANG’s MD goods like G-DRAGON’s bandanas and shoulder bags as if they were told to do so. Japanese fashion people were absorbing BIGBANG’s style in their entire body. It feels like a different age, when thinking about K-POP’s past, when stylists of Korean singers were busy visiting Japan to find out and imitate Japanese singers’ fashion items.
▶ BIGBANG-Style Freedom and Music
The biggest merit of BIGBANG’s concert in Japan is that Korean fans can enjoy it, too, since they sing original Korean hit songs mostly. BIGBANG differentiated themselves by putting YG music which was released in Korea and made hit in Japanese albums. This plays the central role in completion of BIGBANG style. Majority of Korean singers release their albums in Japan after selecting title tracks that can cater to local fans. However, BIGBANG’s Japanese albums mostly contain songs written by YG producers or members themselves. In 2011, when YGEX, a joint corporation of YG ENTERTAINMENT and AVEX in Japan, was established, YG’s head Yang Hyun Suk said, “I met the head of AVEX and said we would not change YG’s music style to fit into Japanese style. AVEX accepted it, saying that YG’s strength was its unique style. So, I said we will show you a new trend of “YG POP”, that goes beyond existing K-POP.”
YG maintained this direction and delivered BIGBANG’s uniquely free and stylish music and performance to the Japanese market. An insider of YG Japan explains, “To succeed in the Japanese market, singers usually have to rewrite existing Japanese songs and sell the remade versions. However, BIGBANG didn’t give up YG’s flagship music style.” “Ironically, just because of that, BIGBANG is treated like a famous foreign pop star, not trapped in existing K-POP or J-POP style. Polished color of BIGBANG was able to be delivered to local fans in that way”, added he.
At the stage of the concert on the day too, BIGBANG members’ unique and free performance shone. BIGBANG raised the curtain of the stage by singing their hits like “HARU HARU”, “BLUE”, “LA LA LA”, and “BIGBANG”, and then, each one of them appealed to the audience on their solo stages by expressing their own colors. G-DRAGON, who has proven his popularity by attracting 570,000 fans to his first world tour, sang “CROOKED” and “CRAYON”, and TAEYANG showed outstanding vocal and powerful performance by singing “RINGA LINGA”. T.O.P stood on the stage as a charismatic rapper, singing his solo song “DOOM DADA”. DAE SUNG performed “WINGS”, a track in “DISCOVER”, his solo album released in Japan and ranked in the second place in Oricon weekly album chart, and finally SEUNGRI sang “GOTTA TALK TO YOU”, one of the tracks in “Let’s Talk About Love”, his solo album that topped Oricon daily album chart. Then, BIGBANG went on to sing more than 30 songs including “FANTASTIC BABY”, “LIE”, and “TONIGHT”, as well as re-encore performances, for three hours, captivating the stage and the audience.
Takahashi Ayako (18, female), one of the audience, said “BIGBANG gives us a music that is different from J-POP. They have the YG style. The five members who are so cool and charismatic to the degree that cannot be described by words like “nice” or “awesome” always make my heart beat.”
BIGBANG’s Japan dome tour that was kicked off at Saitama Seibu Dome on the 16 and 17 last month will go on until January next year. In the six dome tour that is the first-ever case for a foreign artist, BIGBANG will meet total 771,000 fans.
2013. 12. 2.
