Next Big Artist B.A.POriginal and Ferocious Super Group
8 months after their debut, in February of 2013, with record breaking speed for a Korean Idol group, B.A.P held their first solo concert in Seoul. In various Asian countries, and of course in America, Germany and other countries, they are a talented group drawing enthusastic attention, and this fall they will debut in Japan.
B.A.P Firing Up!
They are a 6 member boy group who debuted in 2012 with Secret's agency, TS Entertainment. B.A.P means "Best, Absolute, Perfect."
Normally, before debuting, group members will often do solo or small unit projects, but in B.A.P's case even this was a rare phenomenon. Leader Yongguk featured on Secret member Song Ji Eun's song "Going Crazy," as well released a solo single "I Remember" with BEAST's Yang Yoseob. Furthermore, he was also part of the sub-unit BANG & ZELO, who released a single and did promotions with much success. Even before their debut, B.A.P had caught a lot of attention, and so when they had their debut showcase in front of 3000 people, it was an brilliant debut indeed.
Talented B.A.P doesn't even seem like a rookie group. In the current K-pop world, most idols are mass produced and debut according to how they were trained, which is probably why B.A.P is very appealing. The concept for the group was 6 "soldiers," and with their debut song "Warrior" they showed their unique qualities [lit: their "B.A.P-ness"], showing off their hip-hop image and deep lyrics through beats that still appeal to a mass audience. Their dance performance is also very unique, rather than following one theme, they put forward a strong face and give off an allure of "power."
With this unique charm, foreign fans also responded enthusiastically; "Warrior" was #2 on Germany's Asian Music Chart, their second single "Power" was #1 on iTunes' Top 10 Hip-hop album chart in Canada and New Zealand, while it was at #2 in America and Australia. Their recent track "One Shot" lead on the Sweeden, Japan, Norway, Finland, England, Greece iTunes charts, and the single was #1 on Germany's Asian Music Chart for 3 months (as of May). Furthermore, from the end of 2012 to 2013, in korea the group won an award from Online Music Download site "Melon," and the group has won awards in China, Germany, France and other countries for a total of 14 rookie awards.
"No Mercy" is a unique sounding mix of traditional music and hip hop, while "Crash" give the group an "Idol feel" with a pop sound, showing the many faces of B.A.P. In May of 2013, B.A.P held concerts in LA, San Francisco, Washington, and New York, a total of 4 American cities, and for their Pacific Tour also have stops in Japan, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong. This tour will provide them with valuable experience and growth, which we can look forward to in their music, from now on we won't know what to expect from B.A.P.
Bang Yong Guk
Born March 31, 1990, 180cm, 61kg, Blood type O
Leader, rapper. Since junior high he began his rapping career. At that time he went by the name of Jepp Blackman. He has a hand in lyric writing and in making B.A.P's songs, and also has skills to watch as a producer.
Him Chan
Born April 4, 1990, 180cm, 69kg, Blood type O
Sub-vocals. National school of music Junior and high school student who specialized in traditional Korean music, he is a "Musical Visual,"and the group's moodmaker.
Dae Hyun
Born June 28, 1993, 177cm, 63kg, Blood type A
Lead vocalist. He is from Busan, where he had vocal training, and he was the last member to join B.A.P. He has a "Honey Voice," and has very powerful high notes and wide vocal range.
Young Jae
Born January 1, 1994, 178cm, 65kg, Blood type AB
Main vocalist. With a soft, middle-range voice, his singing has a lot of charm. In his trainee years he was with JYP, chosen 1st in the 6th round of auditions. He was very influenced by Moon Soulchild, who serves as his role model.
Jong Up
Born February 6, 1995, 176cm, 61kg, Blood type B
Sub-vocalist and dancer. He began dancing in Junior High, performing B-Boy dance before many people. With fluid, clean moves, on stage he has a lot of charisma, but is a bit of an "airhead" type offstage, this gap is part of his charm.
Zelo
Born October 15, 1996, 184cm, 63kg, Blood type A
Rapper and dancer. From 5th year in Elementary school, he began training. With Yongguk's low voice, Zelo's high rap in "Warrior" was when Zelo was only 15 years old, in 1 second going through 16 syllables in his unbelievable super fast "LTE rap."
Discography
1st Single "Warrior" (2012.2.2)
With strong beats, B.A.P's tough "Warrior" image is strong here.
2nd Single "Power" (2012.5.3)
The title song was worked on by Kang Ji Won and Kim Kibum, and is very powerful. A hot topic was their spray can dance (in the MV)
1st Mini-Album/EP "No Mercy" (2012.7.24)
MARCO joined in making this album, a combination of traditional and hip-hop music sound was successfully made. There were many different flavors on this album, from "regional dialect rapping" to traditional drums.
1st Mini-Album Repackage "Crash" (2012.8.30)
A special part of this was Yongguk's low voice paired with Daehyun's vocals for "I Remember," creating a new sound.
3rd Single "Stop It" (2012.10.25)
This single followed "Crash" for being cute and sweet, and the dance was very fun for being comedic.
2nd Mini-Album "One Shot" (2013.2.19)
Every song on this album has a "B.A.P feel" to it, lots of diversity in 1 album.
BANG & ZELO Digital Single "Never Give Up" (2011.12.2)
With a school yard feel with a school bell, it's a good song for cheering and feeling young.
BANG YONG GUK Digital Single "I Remember" (2011.8.12)
With BEAST's Yoseob contributing painful vocals to Yongguk's deep rapping, a dramatic harmony was reached.
B.A.P World Tour: From Powerful to Cute, Heating up with Various Stages
Set to "Warrior" as the intro track, the members descended to the stage. They appeared only as silhouettes but that was more than enough to recognize them, and at the first sight of the members the crowd began to scream their cheers. The concept was that B.A.P was sent to Earth to relieve pain and crying, and the whole concert you could feel the energy all around the venue.
"Warrior," "No Mercy" and other songs opened the concert, with a feeling of "This is the B.A.P we know!" Then suddenly Daehyun and Yongguk had their "I Remember" acoustic stage, and the air in the venue completely changed. From this point, all members had black suits with black ties, and then they performed "Secret Love" and "Rain Sound," songs with powerful adult sounds.
For their self-introductions, they took turns going up to the screen that had an outline for the member, and did something special. Yongguk sang some of Adele's "Rolling in the Deep," Himchan impersonated Yongguk's deep rap, Daehyun tried Zelo's high, fast rap (but he couldn't do it), and so on, the next parts were a bit of a change. Youngjae danced a "Sexy dance" to Micheal Jackson, and Jongup did his amazing dancing, then lastly Zelo did a sleepy cute pose, which made even the overwhelmingly charismatic Yongguk [Translator note: I think the writer is Yongguk biased ^^] smile and laugh, saying "Your skin is so smooth" [T note: Yongguk pronounced it either completely wrong or intentionally baby-like, so it sounded very cute but doesn't translate to English well, sorry ^^"]. Having a boy over 180cm do cute poses was unexpected, and knocked out the entire audience.
After this, Yongjae and Daehyun, Jongup and Zelo, then Himchan and Yongguk did their individual stages with respective R&B, dance and DJ and bass specialties. This was followed by "One Shot," "Punch" and "Power," all powerful songs. The last song was "Goodbye" to finish.
When the members left the stage, whistles began blowing loudly as the audience waited for the encore. On the screen, a UFO to take everyone to Mato appeared, and when it 'arrived' the encore began. Himchan said "We want to take photos to remember this," so the members took a photo with the audience. They then performed "Stop It," "Crash" and their other poppier songs.
When the concert ended, all the members of B.A.P said goodbye to the crowd with smiles on their faces.
Set list
1.) Warrior
2.) What the Hell
3.) No Mercy
4.) I Remember (ft. Daehyun)
5.) Secret Love
6.) Rain Sound
7.) I Believe I can Fly (Youngjae & Daehyun)
8 & 9.) Teach me how to Dougie / Never Give Up (Jongup & Zelo)
10.) Sexy Clap (Himchan & Yongguk)
11.) One Shot
12.) Punch
13.) Fight For Freedom
14.) Power (rock remix)
15.) My First Kiss
16.) Goodbye
Encore:
17.) Coma
18.) Dancing in the Rain
19.) Stop It
20.) Crash
Source: K-Pop Collection 2013 - 2014 via bapyessir.com
Trans: bapyessir.com
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