YANG HYUN SUK’S INTERVIEW ON BIG BANG’S COMEBACK

Yang Hyun Suk is the recognized, best hit-maker in Korea.

He has an almost instinctive talent in discovering promising rookies and creating hits. He has made today’s Big Bang, scouted PSY and made him a global star, been preparing for CL’s solo debut in the United States, and helped veteran hip-hop group Jinusean come back as a “hot star”.

Seeing Yang’s training of Lee Hi and AKMU who joined YG after winning SBS TV’s “K-Pop Star” to become a “music chart monster”, there is no doubt about his talent and skills. No one would deny that YG is the label who creates the trendiest music in the Korean music scene.

Daily Sports met Yang Hyun Suk, at the after-party held on April 26 in late night to celebrate the beginning of Big Bang’s new world tour. Over a glass of drink or two, we heard about his plans for YG singers. Some point out that YG has too many artists to handle, but Yang has meticulous plans for each and every one of them.

Plus, Yang cares much about the fans of YG artists, too. He even knows well fans’ criticism of him for delaying the release of new albums. However, his plan and intentions are firm, that he should wait until a really good song is created.

Yang says, ultimately, a singer’s success cannot be judged by what it looks like externally, like what is shown in TV performances. The most impressive remark from Yang was the easiest story that a singer can achieve success only when he/she creates the best music and shows the best performance, which is actually the hardest thing to do. Daily Sports is unveiling a series that introduces Yang’s thoughts on YG artists.

– Big Bang’s concert in Korea has just ended. The concert video was especially impressive.
“The video was made only for the concert. Big Bang members stayed in the United Sates for a week to shoot it. The car chase scene was created by the staff of Hollywood movie ‘Fast & Furious’. I cared a lot about the video, investing as much as 2 billion won”.

– Whenever Big Bang comes back, people pay keen attention to how long the team will give TV performances this time.
“My focus is to present a perfect performance even for once, rather than how many TV performances a singer gives. People are saying that YG has an issue with KBS as YG singers do not appear in KBS ‘Music Bank’ that much, but that is a misunderstanding. You see, JinuSean performs in ‘Music Bank’ and ‘Sketchbook’ nowadays. The thing is, both I and YG artists do not have a desire to appear in TV shows that much. Rather than that, we want to create a quality stage performance. You know, the genuine quality of music does not come from the number of TV shows the artist performs in.

– Does that mean that Big Bang will not give many TV performances this time, too?
“I think Big Bang will be able to give performances for a longer period this time. Let’s say they perform in a TV show once a week, and they release new songs for four months. So, think about that. Notably, there is no specific schedule for Big Bang other than promotions in May. Fans have not been able to see them for the past three years, so I’m planning to make Big Bang give as many TV performances as possible.

– How did you come up with the way of releasing new songs on the 1 of every month from May to September?
“After the completion of the new album, I was pondering upon how this should be done. As they are Big Bang, of course their title song will take the No.1 on charts for a few weeks. But, in such a case, only the title song draws attention and that is a mistreatment for the other songs. So, we had a lot of meetings to talk about that. We finally decided to release two songs every month and make a music video for at least one of the two songs. The members like it, and fans will like it, too”.

– The scale of the world tour is expected to be unprecedentedly large, too.
“Yes, it will be the largest-ever scale. I did some research on the Internet, and found out that there are only five teams around the world, who drew 1.4 million people to their world tour for a year”.

– What are your expectations for the comeback of Big Bang this time?
“I wish Big Bang could take the No.1 on monthly chart every month from May to September. I really wish that, because the music is really good this time. I would like to make Big Bang fans realize their dreams at least this time. And the concert will be held in Korea again. Now, only two songs have been unveiled, but when all the songs are released, concerts will be held in Korea no matter what. My slogan for Big Bang in the first place was to make a long-lived idol group. At that time, I thought idol groups in Korea lasted only four to five years. Even Seo Taiji & Boys lasted only four years. I wanted to create a long-lasting idol group like in foreign countries, and now, Big Bang is still here, continuously growing even in the 9th year since their debut. I want to work with Big Bang for at least 20 years. I don’t care if one or two of them are serving in the army. The rest of the team can still perform as solo artists. With or without one or two of them, Big Bang is always Big Bang. If I wish for a bigger goal for this year, I want Big Bang to receive all of the best album award, best song award, and best singer award in the end-of-year music awards, even if that is just a formality. I’ll do my best for promotion, to make every song of Big Bang achieve great success. Big Bang is coming back after three years of long absence, and Big Bang is the very cornerstone of YG. It will not be easy, but I’ll do my best”.