Q. The lyrics of the double title track “LAST DANCE” feel autobiographical. There is a sense of anxiety in them.
G-Dragon: It would be best to see it as exactly how we feel right now - our current situation and emotions. I usually struggle a lot when writing lyrics, but surprisingly those lyrics came out very quickly. As we approach our thirties, the number of people we meet decreases, and meaningless relationships fade away, leaving only the good people around us. When directing the recording, I told the members not to try too hard to sing perfectly. Instead of vocal techniques, I wanted them to calmly express the lyrics they wrote, almost like speaking them. I paid a lot of attention to the emotions.
Q. Do BIGBANG members feel anxiety as well?
T.O.P: Emotionally, we’re always anxious.
G-Dragon: BIGBANG has continued to do well, but there’s no guarantee that we will keep doing well forever. We know that very well. The higher you go, the more you can fall - it’s natural. All the members think about that. Rather than being impatient or fearful, we just hope things continue well and happily like this. But you never know what will happen in life. It’s not a specific fear, more like wondering about the future. Sometimes we imagine what the 11th anniversary might be like. We also think about what things will be like after we return from the military. It’s a mixture of many emotions.
Q. What did you imagine your 10th anniversary would look like when you first debuted? And what is it actually like now?
G-Dragon: When we debuted, we didn’t even know we’d reach a 10th anniversary. (laughs)
T.O.P: Right now we’re living the life of a singer we always dreamed of. Since I was young, my dream was to keep making music for a long time like the Rolling Stones and spend my life performing. I’m grateful that we can tour around the world and stand on stage.
Taeyang: We’re living the most ideal life as singers. Honestly, we couldn’t imagine this when we first debuted. As rookies we were extremely busy. Sometimes it felt like, “Is being a singer really this hard?” because it was different from what I expected. But looking back, thanks to how busy we were back then, we were able to achieve the dreams we have now.
G-Dragon: Not long ago I looked at my elementary school graduation certificate. My photo was there, and in the “future dream” section it said “singer.” Now I’m actually living as that singer. It feels like living in a dream.
Q. BIGBANG’s popularity has already gone beyond Korea. You have fans all over the world. What’s the secret?
G-Dragon: SNS is a communication window where things are shared in real time, so it makes you feel close, almost like friends. It’s fun. I don’t know how other idols communicate so I can’t compare, but for example, when we perform in Japan all the members speak Japanese. The same goes for China and the U.S. Fans seem to appreciate the effort we make to get closer to them through language. When fans say something in a foreign language, we try to catch it and respond. Communication is simply about helping fans feel closer to us. Fans even study Korean to memorize our lyrics and cheer for us, so of course we should study too.
Q. You will appear on MBC shows “Infinite Challenge” and “Radio Star.” It has been a while since all five of you appeared on variety shows together.
Taeyang: As you know, we won’t have many opportunities to promote as five members for quite a while. (T.O.P was scheduled to enlist as a conscripted police officer in February 2017, and the other members would also enlist later.) So we wanted to show our full group as much as possible. Yang Hyun-suk also suggested that it would be good for us to appear on major broadcasts during this promotion.
Q. BIGBANG concerts are famous for being fun.
G-Dragon: To be honest, we’re not very good at choreography. When we were rookies we tried synchronized dancing, but it didn’t really suit our style or what we wanted to pursue. Personally, there’s something both we and our fans love. When concerts get huge, like dome shows - the audience in the very back can only see us as tiny figures. They have to watch through the big screens. Some seats behind the stage can’t even see the screens. So no matter how tired we are, or what happens on stage, we try to get as close as possible to as many fans as we can until the very end. That’s one of the key points of BIGBANG concerts. Of course the stage has to look cool, but what we can give fans is looking at each person and greeting them. Going close to them and singing right in front of them, those moments probably stay with fans for a long time. When I was young, I went to a concert and the singer made eye contact with me. They might not have thought much of it, but for me it felt like, “We made eye contact!” That moment helped grow my dream of becoming a singer. I think the real connection in concerts is playing freely while breathing together with the fans.
Q. Has BIGBANG ever faced a crisis?
G-Dragon: I don’t really feel that we’ve had a crisis. The members are very positive. We don’t try to dwell on anxious thoughts. We always say, “It’ll work out, don’t worry,” and things have worked out so far. When we see senior or junior groups that have disbanded, we feel many emotions, because that could happen to us too. We don’t know what the future holds, but to avoid disbanding we try to compromise, respect, understand, and love each other. That’s how we’ve lasted ten years. More than anything, we’re lucky with the people around us. Meeting T.O.P, Seungri, Taeyang, and Daesung, and also the staff who work with us is very precious. They work hard for us and send us good energy, so it’s hard for things not to go well.
Q. T.O.P will be the first member of BIGBANG to enlist in the military. Do you have any solo activity plans before that?
T.O.P: Solo activities… not yet…
Daesung: A secret?
G-Dragon: There’s not much time left though.
T.O.P: It’s a secret.
