[Music Talk Talk Talk] WINNER ♥ iKON… Monstrous YG rookies just as BIGBANG was

YG Entertainment during this year has been like the kingdom of rookies. Every YG rookie artist launched with a big ambition has achieved record success. As WINNER did last year, iKON dominated the music scene this year.
The precedent was BIGBANG. However, precisely speaking, BIGBANG did not achieve great success upon their debut. Beginning from their first single “La La La” released in September 2006, BIGBANG released two singles and 1st album in one year from their debut, and it was actually the next year when BIGBANG “hit the jackpot”, with “LIES” that was included in their mini-album released in August, 2007, one year after their debut.

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Ever since then, BIGBANG has ceaselessly recorded success with every song they released, including, “LAST FAREWELL”, “HARU HARU”, “Sunset Glow”, “FANTASTIC BABY”, “MONSTER”, and “BLUE”. BIGBANG has even gone beyond Korea, to captivate music fans around the world.

Then, YG started to work on a next-generation boy group to follow the footsteps of BIGBANG. As part of that effort, YG formed two groups of trainees in 2013, to make them compete against each other in a survival audition show. In Mnet’s “WIN” show, team A and team B competed to gain an opportunity for debut, and team A who was like an elder brother for team B won the competition.
One year later, team A debuted under the name of WINNER. On August 12, 2014, they wrote an unprecedented history in Korea’s music scene with “Empty”, the title track of their debut album “2015 S/S”. They dominated No.1 on major music charts and received No.1 trophies in TV music shows upon their debut.

Starting from Mnet’s “M Countdown” on August 21, 2014, WINNER took No.1 for six times for a month. They even recorded triple crowns in “M Countdown” show. No doubt, they swept all rookie awards in music awards held by the end of that year, and even received a grand prize. As such, WINNER lived up to their nickname of “monstrous rookie”.

The potential of iKON, who made their debut one year after WINNER as they lost the competition in “WIN” show, was also formidable. “MY TYPE” that was released before the team’s official debut on September 15 this year, as well as all other songs released since then including “RHYTHM TA”, “APOLOGY”, “AIRPLANE”, and “ANTHEM” have swept music charts, which is a very rare case for a rookie singer.

iKON made their official debut on October 1. The team’s debut album will be released on the 24 this month, and they are still like “babies” who were born only three months ago. However, the achievements they have made so far are never like those of a rookie. Following WINNER, the second “monstrous rookie” of YG has been born.

YG has succeeded in making WINNER and then iKON receive the rookie of the year awards. These two teams are still rookies, but in some sense, they look very much like BIGBANG. Just like BIGBANG who celebrates the 10th anniversary of their debut this year, WINNER and iKON have made a pleasant beginning, and they seem to grow constantly, to dominate the music scene with their unique music someday.

BIGBANG is still evolving and YG always puts its focus on artists’ future value, rather than on their present. That is why the future for WINNER and iKON is all the brighter. iKON’s debut album will be released on the 24 this month and then WINNER’s new song will be unveiled on January 11, next year. There might be no greater present than that for music fans.

Source: YG-Life