Big Bang - Stand Up

After Taeyang's solo project and the group's activites in Japan, the five successful and talented guys from Big Bang are back in South Korea's music scene with their new mini album Stand Up. After the release date was pushed back the CD finally came out on August 8, 2008.
But are they able to replicate the earlier success they had with hits such as Lies and Last Farewell?

At the end of July a teaser video was released on YouTube, showing a short cut of the intro Stand Up. It's a typical Big Bang intro song with hip hop and electro influences. It begins pretty rough with a strong beat and the gnarling of a dog before the song is initiated followed by Taeyang, Daesung and Seungri taking over the chorus. This is followed by the obligatory rap of G-Dragon and T.O.P. Once again it's the kind of intro song that captures the listener and has them wanting more.

The lead track of the album comes next, Haru Haru. One feels reminded of Lies as soon as the melancholic piano starts along with G-Dragon's monologue, but besides that the two songs aren't much alike. At the beginning of the song G-Dragon and T.O.P have a small 'rap battle' and take turns in their verses. Unlike the previously mentioned hit, Haru Haru carries that same certain sadness but it's reduced by the fast, light beat, the strings in the background and the smooth chorus.

Cheonguk begins with calm strings and for a few moments the listener expects a ballad until together with G-Dragon's words the snyth sounds and hard beat fade in. Even though both songs are alike with the rap passages and singing insertions from Taeyang, Daesung and Seungri, Cheonguk is much more positive than the forerunner and transmits a completely different feeling.

Variety is provided in this song lineup by Chakhan Saram. An acoustic guitar leads into the song and together with some deep bass the song gets a bossa nova flair. It's a nice change from the until now eurobeat influenced songs from the group. All in all the track is balanced when it comes to singing and rapping, making for a pretty smooth song. It is likely that T.O.P is responsible for this change, as Chakhan Saram was composed by him and Kush while the rest of the songs on this mini album are written by G-Dragon.

This excursion in a different musical direction is followed by Lady. This track reminds one more of their starting days with hip hop and R'nB influences. The singing plays a bigger role in this track, making Lady a bright song that is fun to listen to and gets the listener in high spirits.

It seems, however, that the five boys kept the biggest surprise until the end. As the tracklist for Stand Up was announced some were wondering who No Brain were, while those who knew asked themselves how this collaboration would sound. For those who still don't know, No Brain is one of the first punk bands from South Korea, who started a new trend in the music scene over there. Oh My Friend is a punk-hip hop crossover song that works surprisingly well. Lee Seongwoo, singer of No Brain, takes turns with Big Bang on the vocals and the two rappers get their few moments to show what they're best at. For die hard fans of Big Bang and hip hop this song will need getting used to, but for thse who are open to new things and enjoy Big Bang's musical experiments this track might be the best on the mini album.

There is no doubt that Stand Up will be in the charts again, with Korean and overseas fans alike highly anticipating this release. Almost 100,000 copies were preordered. Unlike other contemporary artists Big Bang manage to do something new in every album and still be authentic, making their success well deserved.