[ARTICLE] B.A.P: From Ah Boys to Men

They may not have been tekan-ed into submission during a life-changing mandatory army service (yet) a laAh Boys To Men but the six boys of B.A.P have made an equally significant transformation since bursting onto the scene in January 2012 with their thumping track ‘Warrior’.
Slated to hold their first solo concert on our shores on August 8, the boys spoke to xinmsn through an email interview while in the midst of preparing for their comeback. The sextet has come a long way since they captivated audiences with their identically bleached locks and powerful hip-hop moves – they cemented their image with similarly-themed songs ‘No Mercy’ and ‘Power’ before transforming into bubblegum cuties in ‘Stop It’ and reminded fans of their roots with ‘One Shot’ which was released earlier this year.
Faced with the challenge of reinventing their image, they released ‘Coffee Shop’, which leader Bang Yongguk explained was to allow “people to be able to see us turning into soft and mature men”. He explained: “’Coffee Shop’ is the first jazz song B.A.P has tried. This song has a beautiful feel and the lyrics describe being in love with a girl.”
For those who are worried that B.A.P has lost their tough-as-nails edge, the 23-year-old affirmed, “In the future, I’d like to show more of the traditional hip-hop style with B.A.P. Even right now, our music is based on hip-hop but I feel that a stronger hip-hop style is what we match best with.”




Having debuted less than two years ago, the group surprised many when they announced plans for their solo concert tour – one that would go global. Surpassing many groups that have been industry for a longer time, they set the bar high and rocked four American cities. Vocalist Youngjae mused, “We don’t feel that we’ve succeeded yet but instead think of the continuous support (…) that has helped us reach our (current) position. We will try even harder for those we are grateful for.”
“Our strongest competitor in the music industry is definitely ourselves. As time goes by, we feel that we should improve even more and shouldn’t feel satisfied with what we have and be lazy. All B.A.P members are always looking back at themselves and strive to make better music,” Yongguk expressed
Looking back at their declaration to “conquer the earth”, made shortly after their debut, the members laughed before replying, “It’s true that our goal is to conquer the earth. Our goal is to conquer the earth with music and we’re still trying to achieve that goal. I think we’re still at the beginning stage and we’ll try harder and we hope that we can one day say that we made it.”
B.A.P Live On Earth Singapore will be held on August 8, 6pm at The Star Theatre. Tickets priced at S$188, S$168, S$148, S$128, S$108 (excluding $3 booking fee) are now available on SISTIC.

Source: entertainmentxinmsn