[ENG trans] BIGBANG Modelpress Interview Japan 2016-02-23

BIGBANG’s song & MV interpretation! Dissection of “MADE SERIES”, their comeback project after 3 years


CREDIT translation by MShinju. Please credit MSHINJU when taking out any of my translations. Thanks! 

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?BIGBANG / modelpress; February 23? 

In 2015, BIGBANG made the whole world boil with “MADE SERIES”, their comeback project after 3 years. The project has been released as their new Japanese album on February 3, with the popular songs “LOSER”, “BANG BANG BANG” and “IF YOU” recorded as new Japanese versions. Reas about the members’ interpretation of the recorded songs and episodes during the MV recording. After 3 years of solo activities, they have achieved a further “evolution” coming back as BIGBANG and told us about the passion that is compressed into this album.

The members’ interpretation of their “MADE SERIES” songs 

·LOSER 


TAEYANG: This is the very first song we released for this project. When the decision was made that it would be the first to be released I thought it would make for a good start, and when it really did make for a good start I felt very happy. TEDDY who is the producer of this album created an overall concept first, and when someone came up with a good melody or idea we would freely join and participate, and by lucky chance my opinion was adapted for this song, so my name was included in the credits for song composition. 
SEUNGRI: Of all people I am singing the chorus of this song. To be honest, this being our first song as BIGBANG in three years I was wondering at first if my voice would be okay for this important part, but I was eager to let our fans hear my voice after growing with the pressure that I felt, so I really worked hard during the recording. In life there may be moments when nothing goes right and you just want to give up, but you are not the only person loser out there, everyone in this world is a loser, there are no winners, ah there are our juniors WINNER though (laugh) but we as well are losers who struggle with loneliness and agony, so it’s okay; that’s the message of this song. When I heard this song for the first time, I myself felt encouraged by it and was close to tears. For a moment you’d think it’s a sorrowful song, but I think if you listen to LOSER when you are exhausted and in pain it will warm your heart. 


·BANG BANG BANG 

T.O.P: I think this song makes you directly feel the power, the energy of the group BIGBANG. Also G-DRAGON’s “ichigeki de zokkon” (the Japanese equivalent of “Chong majeun geotcheoreom“) and the words “bangya bangya bangya” create a big impact. 

G-DRAGON: As if stirring up many people before something big is about to go off, right from the intro this song creates a kind of feeling of monumental scale. We were able to fill this song with BIGBANG’s style of playfulness by crossing an aggressive sound with humourous elements, and at concerts this is a song where we get wild with the audience.


·IF YOU

G-DRAGON: We have songs like “FANTASTIC BABY” and “BANG BANG BANG” that create a vivid impact and where we go wild becoming one with the audience, but then we have emotional songs like “BLUE” and “LOSER”, or R&B songs with a gentle tempo like “BAD BOY”. I think one of our appeals as BIGBANG is being able to express many different genres of music. “IF YOU” diffuses a sad atmosphere but the way of singing etc, in general is quite pragmatic. I created this song with the image of our Korean seniors’ songs that I listened to in my childhood, so when people from Korea listen to this song they might feel a kind of nostalgia. But since people in Japan do not feel this kind of familiarity some might even feel confused (wry smile) I hope you can indulge into this new side of BIGBANG, this accoustic view of the world.


·BAE BAE –KR Ver.-

G-DRAGON: Personally I think this is the song for which we challenged ourselves the most up until now. The characteristic melody and lyrics like “chapssaltteok gunghabi (rice cake chemistry)”, the sudden change and turn in the chorus, we included many different elements into this one single song, and working on it was a whole lot of fun. 


·WE LIKE 2 PARTY -KR Ver.-

SEUNGRI: You could say this song is the closing of our concerts, it’s a song that we can sing along to and wave our hands together with our fans who came after we invited them our party, it’s a melody easy to memorize for anyone and a soothing beat, I really like it a lot.
TAEYANG: It’s a song that you can enjoy without thinking at all. For the recording, we actually brought the wine that is mentioned in the lyrics, “D’yquem” to the studio and recorded while drinking and having fun in a party mood. The atmosphere of that time is conveyed just like that in the song.


·SOBER -KR Ver.-

DAESUNG: On stage it’s the most free and everyone is in high spirits during this song, but if I were to say something about myself, I am playing the drums during this song (shy laugh). So that makes it special for me. You can have fun listening to this song both when you’re sober and when you’re not.


·LET’S NOT FALL IN LOVE –KR Ver.-

DAESUNG: I think we were able to show a side of us with this song that we haven’t shown before. It has a beautiful melody but the lyrics are cool. It is a love song that describes the separation with a loved one, but to be honest, I do not relate to the lyrics (wry laugh) because I do not want to separate from my dear fans. I want to go on without thinking about separation (laugh). But I think there are many different kinds of love, so I hope you will enjoy listening to this song with the pure thought that there is this kind of love as well. 


·ZUTTER -KR Ver.- / GD&T.O.P

T.O.P: In Korea as well as in Asia as a whole, there is a notable HIP HOP movement, and as the two rappers who represent Asia (GD&T.O.P) we attempted to express our advocated HIP HOP with wit. Including names of characters of the movie “Tazza – Hand of God –“ that I acted in, the song sketches my real life. The sound, the lyrics, the MV, everything makes you feel our characteristic thought-out humor. 


Music Video Focus Points, Shooting Episodes

·LOSER

TAEYANG: This MV was filmed in L.A. We went to America to shoot the videos for our world tour, the schedule was tough and we filmed using every second of time provided. The first scene of LOSER is my scene, there are many scenes where I run or jump so I actually hurt my leg in the beginning. I immediately went to a doctor in L.A’s Korea town and received treatment so it didn’t turn into a big thing and I was able to enjoy the shooting.
SEUNGRI: We expressed the emotions of a man with our acting in the MV, and I acted out the feeling of “anger”. The director suddenly told me “please just get angry!” so in this MV I’m madly angry (laugh)


·BANG BANG BANG

G-DRAGON: In the MV we dress up as soldiers, waving BIGBANG’s flag and riding a huge tank. I think this turned into a startling MV that creates a lasting memory even after watching it one time only and that we were able to express the world of this song with this vividly colored, large scale video.
T.O.P: I approached this shooting with the mind set of acting as a character in a special movie, setting up my own character. My character is a homage to Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey”, and as the exact opposite to the message of the movie, I myself am representing my own ego while wearing a space suite, and I think I was able to express how in the end my ego collapses.


·BAE BAE -KR Ver.-

G-DRAGON: I gave the idea for this MV, directly expressing sexuality. In this song, every part of the lyrics is quite characteristic, so in tune with the lyrics, TAEYANG all of a sudden appears on the back of a horse, Daesung is on a deserted island, T.O.P is in a field of flowers and so on, we filmed the video with each member’s distinct characteristics in mind. Overall we wanted to create a fantasy, other-worldly atmosphere, so in the last scene we are all dancing on the moon. And we’re eating rice cakes (laugh). We also paid attention to the clothes, I’m wearing 10, 20 year old vintage clothes of the fanshion brand RAF SIMONS that I personally like.


·WE LIKE 2 PARTY -KR Ver.-

TAEYANG: We filmed everything from the point where we all took off to Jeju Island by self camera. It’s like our holiday, I think we were able to show the audience what our reality looks like. SEUNGRI: I really took the subway to the airport. With Taeyang driving, we all took a ride together in Jeju island, went to the beach, had fun riding Go-Karts, did a house party in a rented luxury pent house style apartment building, jumped all together into a pool… you can five of us simply having fun, the private life of BIGBANG. It’s a MV where you can see a side from BIGBANG that is different from the glittering image of us standing on stage all with make up and stage clothing.


·SOBER -KR Ver.-

G-DRAGON: Like the meaning of the title SOBER, we tried to express a dream-like, unreal feeling through the MV as well. In between shooting different scenes us members and the staff played with a soccer ball, I have a showdown with Seungri (included in the Making Of video), and since it was open air we felt discharged as well, it was fun finally being able to play around all together like that again.
DAESUNG: The biggest key point of this MV is my drumming… ahahaha (shy laugh). The shooting took place inside a forest, and the sun was very strong, I felt really hot drumming with my whole heart and I was sweating so much. And another key point are the different characters of each member. There are many MVs for MADE SERIES, and we acted in several of those MVs, but in this MV you can strongly feel the different characters of the five of us. The shooting took place on a deserted island in South Korea and we didn’t stay sober for the whole time (laugh).


·LET’S NOT FALL IN LOVE -KR Ver.-

DAESUNG: The five of us acted as couples with five female actors or models, and were filmed in different situations. The shooting time itself was quite short, and we had to act as couples so we were nervous throughout, but I think it turned out light and fresh.
T.O.P: After we finished the shooting, the director told me “this is the first time since your debut that I’ve seen you like this”. But I’m always like this when I’m together with a girl I like (laugh). I think you will be able to see an unknown side of me in this MV.


·ZUTTER -KR Ver.- / GD&T.O.P

T.O.P: As GD&TOP we always create songs and MVs with a playful extra innings [baseball expression] feel, so this MV shows in an abstract way how in contrast to all those people in the Hip Hop scene who are nothing but serious without any specific reason, we can do this much without being serious. The MV starts with a scene of the two of us inside the toilet, and just as in the lyrics pigs appear in the MV, and it develops like a short movie where you really cannot imagine what will happen next.


Third consecutive Japan Dome tour, to be released on DVD soon

BIGBANG are currently on their third consecutive Japan Dome tour “BIGBANG 2015 World Tour ~ 2016 [MADE] IN JAPAN”. The tour final is held in Tokyo Dome on February 23 and 24, and on the 24th the live DVD & Blu-ray of the same tour will be released. ?

Source: http://mdpr.jp/k-enta/detail/1566634