Big Bang‘s G-Dragon congratulated fellow member and best friend, Taeyang, on his birthday (May 18) and touched fans with the precious friendship they’ve had since childhood.

G-Dragon congratulated Taeyang on his Instagram, “HAPPYBIRTHDAYMYBESTFRIEND”, and shared the above childhood photo of him and Taeyang showing off their swag while wearing matching yellow old school Majah Flava! shirts.

VIPs commented, “They were cute ever since they were little”, “It’s so touching to see how their friendship has lasted this long”, and “Happy birthday, Taeyang!”

Taking a trip down memory lane, G-Dragon and Taeyang grew up together as trainees in YG Entertainment ever since they were both 12 years old. They were previously known as the duo GDYB before making their debut as members of Big Bang.

Happy birthday, Taeyang!

G-Dragon successfully wrapped up his two-day concert in Taiwan in front of 26,000 fans at the Taipei Arena on the 10th.

He had fans jumping up and down for two hours as he sang a total of 20 songs, including “Heartbreaker“, “MichiGO“, “One of A Kind“, and more. Fellow Big Bang member Taeyang also showed his support as a guest performer and sang “Bad Boy” with G-Dragon as well as his own solo hits.

The Big Bang leader recently kicked off his solo world tour, ‘G-DRAGON 2013 WORLD TOUR : ONE OF A KIND‘, at Seoul in March, and he’s visiting 13 cities across 8 countries for a total of 26 concerts in front of 550,000 fans. He’ll move onto Hong Kong to perform at the AsiaWorld-Expo on the 17th and 18th.

G-Dragon has also received a platinum commemorative plaque in honor of his album ‘One of A Kind‘ hitting platinum in Taiwan with over 10,000 albums sold.

Congrats to G-Dragon!

G-Dragon censored himself because he ‘wasn’t wearing any pants’!

The Big Bang leader posted a photo of himself sitting on a chair, possibly wearing shorts (or perhaps nothing at all). In any case, he left that part up to the fans’ imagination as he tweeted the above photo and wrote, “This is sexual it’s like I’m not wearing any pants. I’m going to censor myself“.

He placed a big red line in the center of the photo to ‘censor’ himself while looking a bit uncomfortable.

Fans commented, “So Shy“, “Post the photo again without the red line“, and “You’re the Best“.

G-Dragon has become the next celebrity ‘runner’ after Psy to get his own ‘one of a kind’ character for the popular mobile game ‘Wind Runner for Kakao‘.

YG Entertainment and Wemade Entertainment previously teamed up to bring gamers the beloved Psy character, and they’ve now put their thinking caps on again to create an adorable in-game version of G-Dragon. The character modeled after the Big Bang member also has a trusty sidekick, which fans will recognize as Gaho.

A lucky winner from among the participants who download G-Dragon’s character between now and the 22nd will also receive a free ‘G-Dragon bandana’.

Meanwhile, fans can still catch the real G-Dragon during his solo world tour, ‘One of A Kind‘, which will continue on to its next stop in Taiwan.

Aren’t they adorable?

Will Smith and Jaden Smith to be featured on an YG Entertainment album? It appears that it could be in the works.

On May 7, during the ‘After Earth‘ press conference held at the Seoul Yeouido Conrad Hotel, Will Smith was asked, “In Korea, celebrities usually make a promise in hopes that their movies will be successful. Will you promise to do something if ‘After Earth’ is successful?“. Will Smith answered, “If this movie is successful in Korea, I may do a song with Psy. If it’s HUGE, I’ll do a record with Psy… So if we have success then we’re gonna come back to Korea and go to YG Entertainment and make 2 records… or one big record with our family and the YG Family.” He even sung a part of “Gentleman” during his answer.

The media members cheered at his promise, and he joked that it had to do very well, shouting, “It better be a big hit in Korea!” When the focus was shifted to Jaden Smith, he gave a lot of thought to his promise, and his father joked, “Get out of my house and become independent“. Finally, Jaden decided, “I’ll do a song with G-Dragon.”

As the pair had visited YG Entertainment in their studio, the collaboration doesn’t seem too far fetched. What do you think the collaboration would sound like?

G-Dragon partied with 20,000 fans in Beijing, China!

He finished the opening Japanese leg of his ‘1st World Tour: One of a Kind‘ last month, and now he’s heading out on his journey across Asia. His first stop after Japan was in Beijing where he held two concerts at the MasterCard Center on May 4 and May 5. Over 20,000 fans attended both dates and he received a hot response from his fans in Beijing.

Even though he hurt his ankle during his Osaka concert, he performed admirably for two nights in front of the Beijing fans. For each concert, he performed a set list of 20 songs over a span of 2 hours, including “Michi GO“, “That XX“, and “Heartbreaker“.

Instead of Taeyang and Daesung who assisted him in Japan, it was Seungri who came to help G-Dragon. Much to the delight of everyone who attended, the pair sung “Bad Boy” together.

G-Dragon will be heading to Taipei, Taiwan on May 9 and 10. When do you think T.O.P will make his guest appearance?

Why do K-pop groups keep going to Japan for promotions? Well, the answer is quite simple: because promoting in Japan is very lucrative.

Take TVXQ for example. TVXQ will be continuing onward with their 5-dome tour in Japan until mid-August. In all, they will perform 18 times in front of an audience of 850,000 people. At an average cost of 120,000 KRW (approximately $109 USD) per ticket, the revenue from all the tickets sold will add up to 102,000,000,000 KRW (approximately $92.6 million USD).

But it’s not just limited to Japan where idols can make money. TVXQ brought in 570,000 fans for their world tour. Super Junior and SHINee each brought in 280,000 and 250,000 respectively during their Asia tour, and the SM Town concerts also brought in an additional 300,000 fans last year. Super Junior is expected to be bringing even more since they’ve started their world tour and recently wrapped up a successful run in South America. SM Entertainment stated, “This year, the number of audience members (for our concerts) up to this point already matches the number of audience members we had for the whole of 2012. If we combine all the concerts scheduled until the end of the year, the attendance numbers will increase by at least 50%.”

Of course, it’s not just SM Entertainment going overseas - YG Entertainment has their own firm grasp on overseas concerts. G-Dragon is going on a solo world tour with 25 dates in front of 550,000 fans. Daesung is also bringing in an audience of 100,000 fans with his own 25 concerts. Not only that, Psy is preparing a world tour with agencies in America, and they said, “Since it’s his first world tour, everyone is looking forward to it.”

JYP Entertainment‘s 2PM, DSP Media‘s KARA, and FNC Entertainment‘s CNBLUE are also bringing in similar results. K-Pop experts have predicted that revenue from overseas concert will be increasing 20% this year as compared to last year. Overseas concerts bring in much more profit compared to album and digital sales. Last year, profits from K-pop exports was an estimated amount of $235,000,000 USD, 60% of which came from concerts. Also, there’s additional revenue as big concerts usually bring in over 2,000,000,000 KRW (approximately $1.8 million USD) in sales of merchandise and other concert goods.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism will be building a concert venue in Ilsan’s Hallyu World that can seat up to 15,000 people in 2016. Through Hallyu World, they hope to boost tourism and attract overseas visitors to visit Korea.

Source: Korea Economy

Daesung and Taeyang came to assist G-Dragon after the Big Bang leader suffered an injury during his Japanese tour.

G-Dragon sprained his ankle on April 27 during his first Osaka concert. He was told that his ankle needed 2 weeks for recovery, but he stood on stage anyways and finished the concert utilizing a cane and segway.

When Daesung heard that G-Dragon had injured his ankle, even though he was busy holding his own concert rehearsal in Tokyo, he immediately came to Osaka. Taeyang was also the special guest at the encore concert, and the three of them sung “Bad Boy” and “Fantastic Baby” together.

After his concert, G-Dragon wrote through his ‘LINE‘ account, “Thankfully, the 2nd Osaka show finished without any incidents. I’m thankful to everyone who came out. You were a big strength. Even though I wasn’t able to move or do a lot of performances, I sang harder. How was it? For the final Osaka concert tomorrow, I’ll work even harder.”

G-Dragon wrapped up his concerts in Osaka on April 29 and his next scheduled concerts are in Nagoya on June 1 and 2, so thankfully he has some time to recover. Daesung will be continuing his 17-city Japanese tour on May 1.

Tip: korrea

Big Bang‘s G-Dragon suffered a small but unfortunate accident during the latest leg of his latest tour, ‘ONE OF A KIND‘.

“I finished the Osaka concert today,” he posted earlier. “Immaturely, I hurt myself a little. Sorry. I wanted to give you guys a good show.”

During a performance at the Osaka Kyosera Dome, he had injured his right leg which led to a prognosis of 2 weeks until complete recovery. However, he managed to finish his performance safely.

The remainder of his concerts for the tour will be held on schedule. “I’ll rest well tonight and greet you tomorrow!” G-Dragon posted. “Thank you to everyone who came today and stuck it out until the end.”

Thanks everyone for the tp!

G-Dragon showed fans a new look while enjoying sushi in Japan.

In his latest photo shared on his Instagram, the Big Bang leader grew out a small mustache and beard. He also wrote, “I like sea urchins”, and made fans swoon with his manly charms as he got ready to devour the innocent sushi.

Fans commented, “He is eating the food like a tough guy?”, “So much swag when even eating”, “So sexy with little mustache”, and “He would look good with a full beard.”

G-Dragon will be meeting his Japanese fans up close at he continues on his solo tour in Osaka Kyocera Dome on the 27th-29th.

Do you prefer G-Dragon with some facial hair?

Fans all over the world celebrated the birthday of Big Bang‘s Daesung.

Daesung turned 24 on April 26 in Korea, and to celebrate, fans all over the world started to trend #HappyDSday for him. To their delight, G-Dragon and 2NE1‘s Dara joined in on the trend.

Dara wrote, “Daesung, happy birthday~~~ ^.^ #HappyDSday“, and G-Dragon tweeted, “Our Daesung, happy birthday #HappyDSday“.

The joint efforts of both celebrity and fans booted the trend up to #1.

[UPDATE - YG Entertainment has officially celebrated Daesung's birthday with a new post on the blog featuring the photo below]

Happy birthday to Daesung!

After successfully wrapping up a show at the Seibu Dome in Japan as part of his ‘2013 World Tour: One of a Kind‘, G-Dragon seemed to be in exuberant spirits with how his concert turned out, posting on his Twitter:

GR8 SHOW EVER!!!!!Thank You Japan! I never forget 2nite!!!Hope to see you so on! Love y’all!!G-night!! twitter.com/IBGDRGN/status…

— G-DRAGON (@IBGDRGN) April 21, 2013

#gd #gdragon #giyongchy #oneofakindworldtour in Japan Dome special #SeibuDome was Crrrrrrrrrrrrazzzzzzzy!!

— G-DRAGON (@IBGDRGN) April 21, 2013

Embarking on his first solo world tour, G-Dragon is planning to visit 13 cities across 8 countries and hold 26 concerts through the end of June.

Earlier today, G-Dragon finally released his music video for “Michi Go“. In the video, he featured his usual eccentric fashion sense with a variety of different hairstyles.

Let’s take a look at the hairstyles below.

1. Frizzy curls + “Girl Skateboards” hat

G-Dragon plays the part of an innocent, meek schoolboy (or maybe a school girl?) with this hairdo. He sits down at the subway and starts reading, and even when everyone else starts partying in the library, he hides under the desk and keeps trying to read. Of course, in the end, it’s this particular version of him that can’t stop dancing to “Michi Go”

2. The ‘Mathilda’ bob with bangs

G-Dragon dons a jet-black wig for a shoulder length bob with bangs, commonly known as the ‘Mathilda’ bob (from the movie ‘Leon: The Professional‘).

3. Huge afro

In the bathroom scene, G-Dragon sports a huge afro complete with an afro comb. Later on, he uses the hairstyle in the library scene, except he adds on a fake beard.

4. Fauxhawk

G-Dragon spikes all his hair up in a fauxhawk during his spanking scene, dressed up in accessories and piercings to boot.

5. Square hat

He puts on a huge square hat for his scenes in the blue brick wall over his regular plain hair.

6. Mohawk

This hairstyle features comedian An Young Mi, who looks fantastic in her punk rock get up. G-Dragon takes his previous fauxhawk to another step by adding colorful extensions for the full-on rocker look.

7. Walrus hat

Not quite a hairstyle, but G-Dragon’s walrus-tusk hat is the final ‘hairstyle’ that he dons for the music video.

Vote for your favorite in our poll below!

G-Dragon fanboyed Cho Yong Pil on his ‘LINE‘ account!

The ‘legendary’ singer recently released “Bounce“, and G-Dragon listed a part of the “Bounce” lyrics onto his ‘LINE’ chat.

He wrote, “If you turn around, will our eyes meet? My heart is beating like bounce, bounce. I’m scared I’ll be discovered. I hesitate for a while and gather my courage. Is it okay if I tell you the confession I prepared the entire night?“.

He continued, “I’m going to Japan for a concert. My heart is beating like bounce, bounce“.

He’s not the only one that’s been listening to the legendary singer. Taeyang, Jonghyun, and Jiyoung had also talked about Cho Yong Pil and “Bounce” through their respective SNS accounts.

G-Dragon has released his music video for “Michi Go“!

Originally, the MV was only set to be released for fans who attended his concert and the mobile messenger ‘LINE‘ users, but due to much demand, YG Entertainment has decided to release the MV to the general public.

Sadly, the song will not be officially released to non-LINE users, and he will not be having any official promotions for the song, but check out the MV below!

YG Entertainment has started the count down to G-Dragon‘s “Michi GO” MV release!

Their YG-Life site opened a counter going down to midnight in Korea. Since “Michi GO” has no formal plans for broadcast promotions, many fans are looking forward to the MV release.

YG Entertainment said, “It’s disappointing, but we won’t be releasing ‘Michi GO’ on Korean or overseas music sites. We were originally only going to reveal the music video during the world tour and LINE, but we decided to do a general release because of the fans who were disappointed.“

The Gaon Chart is the national chart of South Korea and is intended to be the equivalent of Oricon in Japan and Billboard in the United States.

Check out the chart rankings for the week of April 7 to April 13 below!

< Gaon Chart National Digital Singles Ranking >

1. Psy – “Gentleman”

2. K.Will – “Love Blossom”

3. 15& – “Somebody”

4. Akdong Musician – “Foreigner’s Confession”

5. Davichi ft. Verbal Jint – “Be Warmed”

6. Geeks ft. Harim – “How Are You”

7. Lyn ft. Baechigi – “Tonight”

8. Lee Hi – “Rose”

9. Zion.T ft. Gaeko – “Babay”

10. Hong Dae Kwang – “Goodbye”

< Gaon Chart National Physical Albums Ranking >

1. Girls’ Generation – ’2011 Girls’ Generation Tour’

2. K.Will – ’3rd Album Part 2 Love Blossom’

3. Ga In & Jo Hyung Woo – ‘Romantic Spring’

4. Zion.T – ‘Red Light’

5. Lee Hi – ‘First Love’

6. Seo In Guk – ‘Laugh Then Cry’

7. G-Dragon – ‘One Of A Kind’

8. INFINITE – ‘New Challenge’

9. B.A.P – ‘One Shot’

10. B.A.P – ‘Crash’

< Online Downloads For The Week >

1. Psy – “Gentleman” – 429,255 Downloads

2. 15& – “Somebody” - 314,277 Downloads

3. K.Will – “Love Blossom” – 266,382 Downloads

4. Lyn ft. Baechigi – “Tonight” – 256,650 Downloads

5. Akdong Musician – “Foreigner’s Confession” - 225,740 Downloads

6. Seo In Guk – “Laugh Then Cry” – 205,815 Downloads

7. Zion.T ft. Gaeko – “Babay” – 205,598 Downloads

8. Davichi ft. Verbal Jint – “Be Warmed” - 187,516 Downloads

9. Geeks ft. Harim – “How Are You” – 181,884 Downloads

10. Akdong Musician – “Officially Missing You” – 168,111 Downloads

< Top 10 songs sung at Karaoke >

1. Busker Busker – “Cherry Blossom Ending”

2. Huh Gak – “Monodrama”

3. Shin Yong Jae – “The Reason I Became A Singer”

4. Roy Kim and Jung Joon Young – “Becoming Dust”

5. izi – “Emergency Room”

6. Geeks ft. Soyou – “Officially Missing You”

7. Davichi – “Turtle”

8. Kim Bum Soo – “I Miss You”

9. Lim Jae Bum – “For You”

10. Naul – “Memory Of The Wind”

Source: Gaon

Big Bang‘s G-Dragon went on an outing with Seungri and Taeyang to enjoy the beautiful cherry blossoms.

On April 17, G-Dragon tweeted the photos above and wrote, “The flowers have blossomed.”

The photos showed the three handsome members posing playfully under some cherry blossom trees. The three looked like they were enjoying the nice weather as they smiled widely and struck different poses.

After seeing their photos, the fans commented, “You guys really enjoyed the Spring weather“, “Outing together? So cute“, and “It’s nice to see the members together.”

Whether it was meant to be tongue in cheek or not, G-Dragon has confirmed the music video release date for his song “Michi GO” as April 20th.

The above teaser image of G-Dragon’s next concept was posted on the YG Life blog. He previously released the song exclusively through the ‘LINE‘ app on April 1st.

Are you excited for G-Dragon’s MV?! And what do you think about his choice of release date?

The members of Big Bang recently got together for a group photo!

Seungri tweeted the above photo onto his Twitter with the words,

we are !!!!! twitter.com/ForvictoRi/sta…

— Seung Ri (@ForvictoRi) April 17, 2013

The photo perfectly depicts the various personalities of each member. Daesung is his usual mischievous self, Taeyang is showering fans with his trademark bright smile, G-Dragon is eccentric with a fierce-yet-funny face, T.O.P is his usual handsome looking self, while Seungri provided fans with a wry smile and is working hard to be included in the photo.

It’s been a while since the whole group was all together, so fans were especially elated to see the photo. What do you think they all got together for?