It truly is the ’00s again: Iconic K-pop group BIGBANG is finally back.
ICYDK, the boy group initially went on hiatus after its members started to undergo their mandatory military enlistment. The boys dropped the single “Flower Road” in 2018 as a temporary goodbye to their fans.
They planned on making their big comeback earlier. However, with now-former member Seungri convicted in the Burning Sun scandal and then the COVID-19 pandemic, the plan was stalled.
YG Entertainment announced today that the group, now consisting of just T.O.P, G-Dragon, Taeyang, and Daesung, will be releasing their new single in spring. A spring comeback, we love to see it.
The group has been dubbed the “kings of K-pop” after soaring through the industry in the late ’00s and 2010s and helping to usher in Hallyu 2.0, or the New Korean Wave. The idols have been able to make their sound stand out with self-produced music: As USA Today puts it, they’re known for their “punchy club bangers and trippy electronica” while still being grounded in their roots of “emotional hip-hop.” An example of the latter is “Lies,” their breakthrough track that continues to be one of the band’s signature songs.
One slight wrinkle, though: The entertainment company also announced that T.O.P was leaving the company. “T.O.P’s exclusive contract with YG has ended, and he will be taking on a wide variety of new challenges as both an artist and an entrepreneur,” it said, while also assuring that he will still be taking part in the group’s activities. “As long as the conditions are right, [T.O.P] will always participate in BIGBANG’s activities whenever he is able.”
I’m going to be honest, I’m a little bit suspicious of the wording here—does “activities” mean promos? Does it include new music?—but I’m choosing to be cautiously optimistic. The boys are back!
Photo screengrabbed from the “A-Z” promo video
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