YG’s success comes from the music [iKON sensation ③]
[OSEN=최나영 기자] The music that shows the biggest influence in the year 2015 is music of YG Entertainment (“YG”).
From those who came back to a dark horse and a rookie who have just made debut. All those YG artists are highlighting YG’s formidable influence on charts. YG is continuing to “chew up” music charts, in some expected and unexpected ways.
JINUSEAN marked the beginning of the YG lineup for this year. JINUSEAN swept the No.1 on a variety of charts with their new song “TELL ME ONE MORE TIME” released on April 11, after 11 years of absence.
Then, group BIGBANG’s long-term project began. BIGBANG has been carrying out “MADE” project since May this year, releasing new songs every month to sweep charts and record a long run. “LOSER”, “BAE BAE”, “BANG BANG BANG”, “WE LIKE 2 PARTY”, “IF YOU”, “SOBER”, “LET’S NOT FALL IN LOVE” and “ZUTTER” are the songs released in the project so far. Those songs with different genres and colors showed BIGBANG’s enormous potential on charts, by staying in top places on charts for a long time.
Band Hyuk-Oh was an unexpected dark horse. Hyuk-Oh’s label HIGHGRND was established by YG artist TABLO, to nurture musicians armed with talent and unique colors. Hyuk-Oh is the one whom the label recruited as its first artist. The song that Hyuk-Oh band performed in the music festival of MBC’s entertainment TV show “The Infinite Challenge” as well as the band’s past songs such as “Weeing Weeing” stayed in the first place on charts for a long time. The band’s songs released in the past could have been able to climb up the charts again thanks to the recognition the band gained by appearing in the TV show, but the long-run recorded by the band shows the fact that the band was not just an one-time hot issue.
Group WINNER’s member SONG MIN HO also boasted his strong presence. Even though he was the runner-up in Mnet’s “Show Me the Money 4” show, he was a practical winner in terms of record on charts. “The Turtle Ship” (feat. Palo Alto), a graceful hip-hop song performed by SONG MIN HO in ZICO-Palo Alto team, “GUP” (feat. TAEYANG) in which SONG calmly confessed his story that could not have been told so far, “Money Flow” (feat. ZICO) for which SONG displayed his explosive performance like a rocker, and “Okeydokey” in which the witty harmony between SONG and his colleague and close friend ZICO stood out. All these songs played a big role for the popularity of “Show Me the Money 4”’s music.
Among the songs of the music festival of “The Infinite Challenge” show, which proved the power of songs performed in TV shows along with the songs of “Show Me the Money 4”, YG music was also the winner on charts. The songs of “The Infinite Challenge: Yeongdong Expressway Music Festival” dominated charts so quickly upon their release, and “Oh My God” of “HwangTaeJi” (the team of Hwang Kwang-Hee from ZE:A, and TAEYANG and G-DRAGON from BIGBANG) drew the biggest popularity. This hip-hop dance song created by YG’s producer TEDDY and G-DRAGON catches the ears strongly, with its full energy that makes listeners naturally dance to the rhythm.
Meanwhile, TABLO also showed a surprising potential on charts with “HOOD”, in which he presents a reflective rap in collaboration with Joey Bada$$.
In terms of official comeback, this August was actually a time for YG to catch up with breath, but ironically, YG music stood under the biggest spotlight in August. Even though other singers were complaining about failing to take top places on charts, as many as six YG songs were ranked within top ten during the month.
After such success that continued all the way until August, this September is an even more ambitious month for YG. iKON who built enormous fandom from even before their debut is staying in the No.1 place on charts with “MY TYPE”, their debut warm-up release. The team’s formidable potential that went beyond their fandom to appeal to a wider range of the public is not like that of an ordinary rookie idol group. The next lineup of YG artists to come back will carry such success of YG music on even harder.
It is true that YG’s flagship musical style that is based on artistic quality tinged with a popular appeal, not based on popular appeal with only a little flavor of art, made such success possible, even though the influence of TV shows played some role. That kind of style is possible because YG has its roots on hip-hop, even though it is a large music label. The establishment of subsidiary label HIGHGRND also seems to be a factor for the successful expansion of YG’s musical spectrum.
2015. 9. 18.
