Leader of the popular group, Big Bang. Youngest rapper who participated in the Korean Hip Hop Flex album. One of the 8 greatest songwriters chosen in 2008. Penetrator of all music portal sites with every single song on his solo album. Record-maker of album sales for 2009. Fashionista. Target of ‘sexual suggestion’ controversies at his concert.
There are a lot of ways to describe G-Dragon (Real name: Kwon Jiyong, 23). But not many people know the story behind it; the story of the boy who consistently ran towards his pure and only dream of music, the hidden story of the hard times living in a slightly different world to others. Through this long interview, we found out what he went through to become the much loved leader and artist of a group, from a young boy who just music and dancing.
People who have been to close to G-Dragon for a while say he is ‘very precise and sincere’. He even checks minor details on album jackets and checks the view of the stage from the third floor in concert venues.
He is a target of criticism at the moment because of one of his performances at his first solo concert. The sexy performance of his song ‘Breathe’ has stirred up much unneeded controversy.
”I’m a mainstream singer and I think it’s right that I have to follow the public’s standards. Even if it wasn’t my intention, if it was a bit over the top and people found it offensive, it’s my fault. I just wanted to leave a strong impression on my fans because it was a concert performance not a publicly televised music show. It’s sad and disappointing that the reactions were different to what I intended.”
It was an emotional experience for Jiyong to prepare his first solo concert. It was a stage he had dreamed about for 10 years since the young age of 13, when he first entered YG Entertainment. He concerned himself with all the minor details; the images on the projector, the stage, the views from every corner of the audience. Performing as Big Bang was nerve racking too, but performing as an individual singer in himself in a solo concert meant more to him than could be expressed with words.
”It seems like this solo concert was the thing I was running towards all this time. It might be because I’m young, but after my first concert I thought ‘I have no regrets’. But I went on the internet the very next day and only the ‘suggestive’ bits had been magnified. I was crushed.”
He confessed he felt total frustration and despair when he saw that only one aspect of the concert that he had put his all into had been magnified. Was it really too much for him to want to show his audience variety, especially when he it was the only chance he had?
”I wondered ‘Am I destined to be bashed no matter what I do?’, and forced laughter came out rather than tears. I didn’t want it to turn out like this. I just wanted to show a variety of different images of me to my audience. I showed a lot of different images at the concert, I showed cuteness, liveliness, stylishness.. Why would they exaggerate that one part? The titles of the articles by the media were all so severe, I was upset and ashamed that my parents might see them.”
Though the people who attended the concert and watched the whole thing could easily tell he’d poured his heart and soul into it, but what about the others who only red the biased articles magnifying only the ‘suggestive’ parts in their compressed, fragmented articles? It would’ve added to the prejudice people have of him.
”I was thoughtless. But regardless of that, I wish people wouldn’t judge by one small fragment of the whole picture. The song ‘Breathe’ is about not wanting to wake up because the woman of your dreams keeps appearing. It’s about dreaming, and I was trying to express getting lost in my dreams. That’s why the bed was there, but in the end what the public saw was a ‘sex demonstration’. I was embarrassed and confused; that was when I finally thought ‘This isn’t me, but I see now that it looked that way to the people.’”
Anyone who has been on the internet knows the modern world distorts everything. Many people will also agree that it is wrong to judge a decade of precious passion and effort of an artist based on a single screencap.
”Whether I’m being criticised or complimented, in the end I think they’re still giving me their interest and attention. I have to humbly accept it when people point out my faults because it’ll help me improve myself. I guess the only way I can be make up for it is by doing well in my next album. I’ve decided to brace myself and put my all into the Big Bang album which will be released this year.”
Original article
Translation by sjay.x @ bigbangvip.netLabels: News, Star Diary Series - G-Dragon