Hello
Annyeong
Konnichiwa
Ni Hao
It's time for a new group to share with you and it's a group that I've only recently started paying more attention to, making me regret not giving into going to see them live in London last year.
B.A.P are a 6-member group that was formed in 2011 under TS Entertainment, the groups name B.A.P is an acronym of the groups full name standing for Best Absolute Perfect.
Members of B.A.P are:
Bang Yongguk
Himchan
Daehyun
Youngjae
Jongup
Zelo
B.A.P made their debut in January 2012 with their debut single Warrior, then in November 2014 it was reported that B.A.P had filed a lawsuit against their company TS Entertainment to nullify their contract, claiming unfair working conditions and unfair profit distribution. TS Entertainment released a statement denying the claims, to which B.A.P challenged their statement claiming lack of accountability and saying they were considering filing for defamation of character. In August 2015 B.A.P and TS Entertainment reached a settlement and B.A.P returned to the company.
Noir is BA.P's 2nd full length album and on the 21st of October 2016 through B.A.P's official social media accounts posted a schedule poster, revealing when Noir would be released. On the 25th of October, the day their individual teaser images were being released, TS Entertainment issued a statement announcing that the groups leader Bang Yongguk would not be participating in the albums promotions after being diagnosed with a panic and anxiety disorder. Yongguk and the rest of the members agreed with TS Entertainment that his recovery was top priority.
On the 28th of October the Noir Highlight Medley was released, revealing the title track to be Skydive.
Owned by TS Entertainment
On the 1st of November, Bang Yongguk, Himchan and Daehyun's individual trailers were released.
Bang Yongguk
Owned by TS Entertainment
Himchan
Owned by TS Entertainment
Daehyun
Owned by TS Entertainment
On the 2nd of November, Youngjae, Jongup and Zelo's individual trailers were released.
Youngjae
Owned by TS Entertainment
Jongup
Owned by TS Entertainment
Zelo
Owned by TS Entertainment
On the 3rd of November the Skydive M/V trailer was released showing a deadly end for the members.
Owned by TS Entertainment
On the 7th of November the Skydive M/V was released with the M/V lasting 10 minutes and continuing on from the teasers with the viewers having to guess who is X.
Owned by TS Entertainment
By
On the same day as the M/V, their 2nd full length album Noir was released both digitally and physically.
On the 7th/8th of November a directors cut of the Skydive M/V was released.
Leader Bang Yongguk like on past B.A.P releases was heavily involved in Noir's creation, Yongguk co-wrote and co-composed Fermata and Ribbon in the Sky, he also co-wrote Skydive, Killer, Chiquita and 걸어가 (Walking), he wrote and co-composed Le Noir, he also co-wrote I Guess I Need You with fellow member Zelo and finally he co-wrote 주소서 (Pray) with fellow member Zelo, to which Yongguk also co-composed.
Jongup co-wrote and co-composed 지금 (Now), which was a song sung as a solo by Jongup.
Out of the 11 tracks on the Noir album Yongguk participated in the creation of 9 of them, Fermata is a track that focuses on the vocal line with it being sung by Daehyun, Youngjae, Himchan and Jongup and 주소서 (Pray) focuses on the rap line with only Yongguk and Zelo featuring on it.
Promotions began on the 11th of November on M Countdown, with Skydive only winning 1 music show awards during promotions on SBS's The Show, during Skydive's acceptance speech on behalf of B.A.P, Daehyun dedicated to trophy to Yongguk saying "Even though he is not here, our leader Yongguk hyumg, this award is for you hyung"
2016 also saw B.A.P win 2 awards at award shows, winning the Best Entertainer Award in the male group category at the Asia Artist Awards and Best Korean Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards, in which they had won twice before in 2014.
Noir peaked at No.2 on the Gaon Albums Chart, No.39 on the Oricon Albums Chart and No.1 on the Billboard World Albums Chart, for which B.A.P reclaimed their title as the K-pop act with the most No.1's on the Billboard World Albums Chart.
The Skydive M/V has 1,240,751 million views through TS Entertainments official YouTube channel and 1,937,162 million views through YouTube channel 1theK, making Skydive have a total of 3,177,913 million views, which continue to increase each day.
Noir was released in 7 versions, a normal version and then 6 individual member limited edition versions, the only differences for all 7 of the versions is the front covers and the random photo card and a postcard which depending on the version you get either a member or a group postcard. The booklet inside the album with the pictures and lyrics is exactly the same with all 7 versions and also the normal version has a different CD design to the member versions. The album is set out in a book style case with the CD at the back in envelope with the overall concept following the Skydive M/V.
Track List:
Le Noir
Skydive
Ribbon In The Sky
Killer
Fermata
주소서 (Pray)
I Guess I Need You
Chiquita
걸어가 (Walk)
지금 (Now(Jongup Solo))
Kingdom (Kor Ver.)
Skydive (Inst.)
Fermata (Inst.)
I have 2 of the limited edition versions, I have Bang Yongguk's version and Youngjae's version, I originally only ordered Youngjae's version first when I decided on a whim to buy this album after just hearing a snippet of the Skydive chorus, but after watching them on programmes etc I found my bias of B.A.P to be Yongguk so bought his version. I knew of B.A.P and really liked their song Feel So Good and in turn listened to Young, Wild and Free and Hurricane. When I found out that they were going to be doing a concert in London last year I was really tempted to go, but stopped myself thinking the tickets were too steep for me with not owning or really knowing any of their songs, this is a decision I now regret as they are now on another world tour but they're not coming to the UK this time round. If I had paid attention to them when I originally started liking them, then Skydive would have been my favourite M/V of 2016 as well as Noir being one of my favourite albums of 2016 along BTS' Wings and GOT7's Flight Log: Turbulence. It annoys me that these guys put out music that has meaning and it just gets slept on, their latest comeback got no music show trophies, which for me was heartbreaking for them as they were hitting a subject that is still pretty much taboo to talk about, the track wasn't originally going to be their title song but I can tell that it meant a lot for not only B.A.P as a group to get this message about but for Yongguk too as it's something that's affected him first hand as well as people around the world. Back on track now, Noir is such an amazing album that even though each track is different from the last, the album just blends together, even the instrumentals for Skydive and Fermata are amazing without their vocals. I really think Noir is a good place to start when it comes to checking out B.A.P and I look forward to what they will do next. I found it really difficult to only pick a few songs to share with you as each track needs to be heard, but I hope you like and enjoy the tracks I did choose.
Fermata
By
주소서 (Pray)
By
걸어가 (Walk)
By
Kingdom (Kor Ver.)
By
Killer
By
Skydive
By
I'm gutted I can't go see B.A.P live on their latest world tour as I really wanted to see them perform Skydive as a complete group in person, but I'm thankful for the above fancam. I'm slowly starting to get B.A.P's past discography but some especially their first set of releases is finding difficult, but I have downloaded them on my iPod so I can listen to them.
When did you become a B.A.P fan?
Are you a BABY?
What's your favourite track from Noir?
Let me know in the comments below.
See you soon!
Annyeong
Sayonara
Zai Jian
Bye
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