Artist: Big Bang
Album: “Always” EP
Label: YG Entertainment
Year: 2007

Intro

As of this writing, most of the members of Big Bang are currently in military service which gives us a great time to reflect on their achievements to now. I wanted to look further back on their music long before I started listening to KPop music.

One day, I was listening to a stream and came across a Big Bang song I wasn’t familiar with and ended up loving it which was “Always”.

Good

This mini album sparked the beginnings of the group tinkering with the electronic sounds. They wouldn’t fully embrace the new sounds until future releases, but with this one, you can hear the birth of the current Big Bang with songs like “Lies” which not only became their biggest hit to date. “Lies” also transcended the KPop genre and became a generational song.

“Wrong Number” also experimented with electronic music, but more importantly, it was written by Yang Hyun-suk aka the head of YG Entertainment which is rare considering Big Bang members usually pen their own lyrics. “Pretended” was a strong song that allowed T.O.P. to get the spotlight with his own song. “Always” is my personal favorite song off this album which had the classic boy band sound of the 2000’s.

Bad

With so many great releases Big Bang has had over the course of their career, there are albums and EPs I tend to forget about. Because I like most of their other discography more, I often forget about the significance of this release which isn’t saying much because they’ve had so many chart toppers for more than a decade.

Overview

In my mind, it’s one of the most underrated releases in KPop history when in fact, it’s one of the most important releases in KPop history as it launched the group into the top of the mountain in the genre. “Lies” was an important song as it was listed as not only towards the top of the year’s best song, but the decade. Big Bang became the leaders of generation two.

Overall rating: 4/5
Reviewed by: Timtastic