50 Fun Facts About BigBang (K-pop Band)

Which BigBang hit did South Korea blast over border loudspeakers after North Korea's 2016 nuclear test?

Bang Bang Bang was on the propaganda playlist Seoul aimed north in 2016. Months later, university students sang it at protests calling for President Park Geun-hye to resign.

BigBang's T.O.P played Thanos, a disgraced rapper, in season two of which Netflix survival series?

Squid Game cast him as Thanos, a rapper ruined by a crypto scam. Its creator said he wanted an actor whose own career had stopped over a drug case.

BigBang came second in Time's 2016 reader poll of influential people, behind which American politician?

Bernie Sanders was the only name ahead of BigBang in the poll. That same year South Korea picked the group as ambassadors for its Creative Korea tourism campaign.

G-Dragon rewrote 'This Love' for BigBang's first single in 2006, adapting a hit by which American band?

Maroon 5 recorded the original; G-Dragon rewrote it and performed the new version alone. The debut single it appeared on sold nearly 40,000 copies.

BigBang's 'Fantastic Baby' lost Song of the Year at the 2012 Melon awards to which hit by a labelmate?

Gangnam Style, by labelmate Psy, took the prize. BigBang then folded its dance moves into a remix of their own song at a year-end TV festival that December.

BigBang teamed up with which Japanese retailer for a T-shirt line that quickly sold out?

Uniqlo sold out of the BigBang T-shirts quickly. The members' stage outfits were so influential that copies of them were often sold at Seoul's Dongdaemun Market.

BigBang were booked to return at which American festival in 2020 before the pandemic cancelled it?

Coachella would have been BigBang's first show as a group in three years. The pandemic scrapped the festival, and the comeback finally arrived as a single in 2022.

BigBang's 'Fantastic Baby' was featured in a November 2012 episode of which teen television series?

Glee used the song in 2012, and the trailer for Pitch Perfect 2 followed in 2015. Its video was the first by a K-pop group to pass 300 million YouTube views.

Seungri sat out BigBang's 2009 'So Fresh, So Cool' advert because he was too young for which product?

Beer brand Hite hired BigBang for the endorsement single, but Seungri was still a minor and could not appear. The commercial went ahead without him.

Which Korean company sponsored BigBang's first world tour in 2012 and put a product's name in its title?

Samsung's Galaxy phones supplied the middle word of the Alive Galaxy Tour. The run reached 21 cities and drew about 800,000 fans.

BigBang won the first Best Worldwide Act prize in 2011, on 58 million fan votes, at which awards show?

The MTV EMAs gave BigBang the prize as Asia-Pacific's representatives. Google then announced that YouTube would launch its own K-pop channel, citing the genre's popularity.

BigBang's 2012 EP Alive was the first Korean-language album to reach which chart, peaking at number 150?

The Billboard 200 had listed only one Korean artist before, BoA in 2009. Alive got there on first-week US sales of just over 4,100 copies.

BigBang's G-Dragon fronted the 2017 Gabrielle bag campaign for which French fashion house?

Chanel made him a brand ambassador and paired him with Pharrell in the Gabrielle campaign. He also runs his own fashion label, launched in 2016 with his long-time stylist.

BigBang filmed the video for their 2012 single 'Bad Boy' beside a subway entrance in which city?

New York supplied the streets: the shoot took place in the Williamsburg neighbourhood, by the Marcy Avenue subway entrance. Fuse named the song the only non-English entry among its best of 2012.

BigBang's performance wrapped up the closing ceremony of which multi-sport event in Incheon in 2014?

The Asian Games ceremony was a rare group outing in a period the members mostly spent on solo work. A month later they began a second straight dome tour of Japan.

Which BigBang member scored a number one trot single in 2008 and joined the variety show Family Outing?

Daesung topped the charts with the trot song 'Look at Me, Gwisoon', a genre some felt clashed with a hip-hop group's image. He stayed on the hit comedy show from 2008 to 2010.

Seungri quit BigBang and show business in 2019 amid a scandal named after which Seoul nightclub?

Burning Sun counted him as a shareholder and creative director. He announced his retirement on Instagram that March, saying he wanted to protect BigBang and the agency.

BigBang's 2009 phone-advert single 'Lollipop' introduced which girl group, dubbed 'the female BigBang'?

2NE1 used the advert as an unofficial debut, weeks before their first real single, 'Fire'. The collaboration promoted an LG Cyon phone and sold over three million downloads.

BigBang's Taeyang returned in 2023 with the single 'Vibe', a duet with which member of BTS?

Jimin also co-composed the song, which was Taeyang's first release in more than five years. It came out through The Black Label rather than BigBang's long-time agency.

BigBang's fans, shown as white-masked defenders in the 'Fantastic Baby' video, go by which fandom name?

V.I.P also appears in the title of the group's second single from 2006, BigBang Is V.I.P. In the video, black-masked figures stand for those who tried to break the band up.

Which 2007 breakthrough hit did G-Dragon write for a solo album before his label gave it to BigBang?

Lies topped South Korea's Melon chart for six weeks and won Song of the Year at the 2007 Mnet awards. Its success pushed other K-pop idols towards producing their own music.

G-Dragon said BigBang's 2015 single 'Bae Bae' was inspired by which British painter's work?

Francis Bacon's paintings struck him as strangely erotic in a museum, and he kept looking at them while writing. The song won Song of the Year at the critics' Korean Music Awards.

BigBang shot their 2008 'Sunset Glow' video in Taean to bring visitors back after which disaster there?

An oil spill in 2007 had wrecked Taean's fishing and beach tourism. The members said they hoped people would visit the west coast again after watching the video.

Which actress played G-Dragon's dying girlfriend in the video for BigBang's 2008 hit 'Haru Haru'?

Park Min-young plays a woman who fakes an affair with T.O.P's character to spare her boyfriend the pain of her illness. Fans voted it their favourite BigBang video in 2016.

The title of BigBang's 2008 hit 'Haru Haru', seven weeks at number one on Melon, means what in English?

Day by Day is the literal meaning. G-Dragon wrote the song and Japanese DJ Daishi Dance arranged it, and a Japanese-language version appeared on a 2011 greatest-hits album.

BigBang's G-Dragon took up rapping after a friend introduced him in third grade to which American group?

Wu-Tang Clan's music led him to start taking rap classes as a boy. He names another American, Pharrell Williams, as his musical hero.

Before YG, BigBang's G-Dragon spent five childhood years as a dance trainee at which rival agency?

SM Entertainment scouted him on a family ski trip, soon after he had promised his mother he would not try to become a singer again.

BigBang's G-Dragon sold his 2017 EP Kwon Ji Yong in which format, which Gaon refused to count as an album?

A USB drive replaced the usual CD, each one coloured by hand in red ink for a scratched vintage look. The chart compiler would not regard it as an official album.

Which 2009 solo debut by BigBang's G-Dragon drew a plagiarism claim citing Flo Rida's 'Right Round'?

Heartbreaker still became the best-selling album by a Korean soloist at the time. It also won Album of the Year at Mnet's year-end awards in 2009.

Which American rapper performed 'Niliria' with BigBang's G-Dragon at KCON 2013 in Los Angeles?

Missy Elliott guests on his album Coup d'Etat, which followed weeks after that show. The same record also drew in Diplo, Baauer and Sky Ferreira.

Which 2014 solo ballad by BigBang's Taeyang won Song of the Year at three major Korean award shows?

Eyes, Nose, Lips took the prize at the MAMA, Melon and Golden Disc awards. It was covered by a string of other singers, including Michael Bublé.

BigBang's Taeyang married which actress, known for the films Sunny and The Grand Heist, in 2018?

Min Hyo-rin had been his partner since 2013. They wed in a private church ceremony about five weeks before he began his military service.

BigBang's T.O.P won Best New Actor awards for which 2010 Korean War film about student soldiers?

71: Into the Fire was his first film, based on the true story of 71 student volunteers at the Battle of Pohang-dong in 1950. He is usually billed under his real name when acting.

Before BigBang, T.O.P made his name in Seoul's underground hip-hop clubs under which stage name?

Tempo was the name he used on club stages, and it won him a radio rap battle in 2003. G-Dragon, a childhood friend, later got in touch and he auditioned for the group.

BigBang's Seungri grew up in which South Korean city, later home to a branch of his dance academy?

Gwangju is where he was born and raised. Growing up he was known for his dancing and performed with a dance group before trying his luck on television.

Before BigBang, Seungri competed on a 2005 reality show seeking a successor to which veteran boy band?

Shinhwa hosted the search for their own successors, and Seungri was eliminated in the ninth episode. YG then scouted him to audition for its new group.

Jang Hyun-seung, cut from BigBang just before the 2006 debut, later found fame in which boy band?

Beast took him on, and the group won Artist of the Year at the 2011 Melon Music Awards. He had trained for a year and four months to debut with BigBang before being dropped.

Which former Seo Taiji and Boys member founded the agency that put BigBang together in 2006?

Yang Hyun-suk founded YG Entertainment in 1996, the year Seo Taiji and Boys disbanded. He turned from dancing to producing, and the label's early acts included Jinusean and 1TYM.

Which lead single from BigBang's 2012 EP Alive came out a week early and topped every major Korean chart?

Blue ended almost a year without a BigBang single. Two weeks later the group held five of the top ten places on one K-pop chart at the same time.

Which 2015 BigBang ballad got no music video, with all five members singing and neither rapper rapping?

If You was described as the saddest song of BigBang's career, and the label skipped a video so listeners would focus on the music and words. It still topped the Gaon chart.

BigBang's 2010 football anthem 'Shout of the Reds' featured which Korean Olympic champion?

Kim Yuna, the figure skater who had won Olympic gold in Vancouver earlier that year, joined BigBang and the band Transfixion on the song backing South Korea's team.

BigBang's T.O.P played the assassin Vick in which 2009 Korean spy series starring Lee Byung-hun?

Iris cast him as a mysterious hired killer, and BigBang's single 'Tell Me Goodbye' was added when the drama was re-released in Japan.

Which 2007 BigBang single had a jump-rope dance move and topped Melon for eight straight weeks?

Last Farewell led the EP Hot Issue, every track of which G-Dragon wrote and produced. Its eight-week run tied Melon's all-time record for weeks at number one.

Which 2010 single by BigBang's rap duo GD & TOP samples the 1985 hip-hop classic 'La Di Da Di'?

High High was the first single from the duo's self-titled album, released on Christmas Eve 2010. Spin later ranked it the seventh greatest K-pop song of all time.

Which 2008 single from BigBang's album Remember did Seungri perform alone to shed his 'youngest' image?

Strong Baby gave him a more mature look and a stylised dance. It earned him a triple crown on the music show Inkigayo.

Which choreographer of Justin Bieber's 'Sorry' video also created the dance for a 2015 BigBang hit?

Parris Goebel, a New Zealander, also appears in the video she choreographed for BigBang. Its routine became one of the most popular dances of 2015.

BigBang drew a record 65,000 fans to which venue for their tenth-anniversary concert in 2016?

Seoul World Cup Stadium held what was then the biggest crowd ever for a solo concert in South Korea. BigBang's first concert, a decade earlier, had drawn 12,000 fans.

Which broadcaster ruled BigBang's 2016 single 'Fxxk It' unfit to air over a slang word in its lyrics?

KBS flagged a word meaning thug or scumbag, and the label refused to change the lyrics. The song still spent three weeks at number one on the Gaon chart.

BigBang's 2008 hit 'Sunset Glow' remade a 1988 song by which veteran Korean ballad singer?

Lee Moon-sae joined BigBang on stage to sing it at a year-end music festival in 2008. His original came from an album that sold more than 2.5 million copies.

Which former 1TYM member co-wrote and co-produced BigBang's 'Fantastic Baby' with G-Dragon?

Teddy Park became an in-house producer for the label when his old group went on hiatus in 2006, the year BigBang debuted. He later co-founded The Black Label.