After almost three years of hiatus BigBang have finally returned with two songs, planning to release more feature tracks from their new album over a course of months.
This comeback is genius, but not for the reasons that VIPs are fangasming over it.
Let’s be real, the Loser MV is just the same old rehashed concept that BigBang did before their hiatus, just with the latest in swag-infused bad-but-not-too-evil-looking gangster-lite fashion. The MV for Bae Bae, while slightly more interesting, was probably just a result of somebody smoking suspicious looking cigarettes from a stranger, not some masterpiece that it’s being made out to be. Sane people can see that these shitty songs are a pile of shit that no one would give two shits about if they were done by some shitty nugus. So what, then, makes this comeback so genius?
It is these songs’ very shittiness that makes them so brilliant. Here is one of the biggest kpop groups coming out with some of the worst music this year, and they are getting showered with praise aplenty. So how did they manage to achieve this success?
1. A long hiatus
Three years of waiting... for another fucking MV of them walking through the streets again?!
This comeback has been delayed again and again and again and again for about two years, which is about a millenium in kpop terms. All that talk about delaying the comeback to ensure the quality of the final products sounds like bullshit when you look at it. It was probably just deliberate to make fans hungrier for more BigBang.
But in all that time if they’d stayed quiet they might have lost fans. Instead they decided to do solos to keep enough interest going and to serve as a reminder of BigBang’s existence, keeping fans anticipating more from the whole group together. It’s also well documented that some of these truly awful solos were used to gauge just how low they could go and still get their fangirls to hand over their cunt-soaked wads of money for utter trash. Seeing their commercial success despite said low quality, they decided there was no point whatsoever in even trying to bring out good songs.
And talking of solos, they helped with…
2. Recognition of individual members
Someone said Seungri's represents the calm after sex here but nah, it's definitely drugs.
If you’re not into boy groups in general, how many generic boy group members from other popular groups can you name AND put faces to? Probably a lot less accuracy than with BigBang. Even for casual kpop fans BigBang members are maybe some of the first names they hear. In their marketing, the emphasis is bigger on them as individuals rather than as a group. This is important because it makes kpop fans feel more connected to BigBang members (not in a creepy way you weirdos, their love for oppa is innocent and pure) before they even become VIPs. Just imagine how much more attached they do become when they officially become a fan.
Look at the line distribution for Bae Bae. Fairly even, and each member gets one long part (approx. 25 seconds each) except for the end where they all sing together and get so high they fly off into outer space. By and large, the majority of both songs and MVs is one member getting the spotlight for long parts at a time. Even the live performances follow this formula of one-member-at-a-time. All this helps solidify their image as distinct individuals rather than one big bland group.
3. Years of built up propaganda
Wtf did this even have to do with anything?
It’s no secret to those anyone who’s not been affected by Papa YG’s brainwashing marketing tactics that YG artists (yes, ‘artists’ not idols) are hyped up by the label to be so very much bester than all your faves. Not really much else to talk about here because it’s pretty common knowledge for normal kpop fans. Their fans’ delusion about how great they are clearly helped this comeback hit big.
So yeah, shitty songs were to be expected, especially given a lot of YG’s more recent outputs and Teddy’s honeymoon period, but still a disappointment musically. Nevertheless genius from a business perspective.