BIGBANG’s Taeyang Talks Working With BTS’s Jimin And How Their Collaboration Began
BIGBANG Taeyang‘s anticipated comeback song “VIBE” featuring BTS‘s Jimin was just released, and to commemorate the iconic collaboration, Rolling Stone dropped an exclusive interview with the BIGBANG member.
In October, Taeyang wiped his Instagram clean, deleting all of his photos and replacing his profile photo with a plain black image.
Fans speculated the meaning of the social media cleanse, wondering if it was hinting at a long-awaited comeback.
VIPs seemed to get their answer in December when it was announced that Taeyang would be switching from YG Entertainment to its subsidiary label, THE BLACK LABEL.
Hello, this is YG Entertainment.
We would like to inform you that BIGBANG member Taeyang will be joining YG Entertainment subsidiary company THE BLACK LABEL as an artist. We are truly happy to be able to deliver this news.
He will still be a member of the YG family and BIGBANG. We understand that many people are waiting for BIGBANG to promote, and we will work hard to make that into reality.
Thank you.
— YG Entertainment
Soon after, Taeyang’s comeback single “VIBE” was announced, featuring BTS’s Jimin.
Jimin is known to be a long-time fan of Taeyang, but the BIGBANG member wasn’t fully aware of that due to their lack of overlapping promotions. In his interview with Rolling Stone, Taeyang spilled on how the two were able to bring their collaboration to life.
It turns out THE BLACK LABEL’s co-founder Teddy Park was instrumental in forging the connection after bringing up the idea two years ago.
Teddy mentioned in passing that he thought people would really enjoy it if I got together with Jimin to collaborate on a great song. That really stuck with me and I thought it was a great idea, so I always had it in mind.
— Taeyang
Taeyang shared that he became closer to the group last summer when he attended various events with the BTS members. Taeyang was spotted at J-Hope‘s legendary album release party and also met up with BTS’s RM at a book launch and an art fair.
Taeyang revealed that he shared meals with the members, and the idea of a collaboration came up naturally in conversation with Jimin. Taeyang had already worked on the song with Teddy, KUSH, Vince, and 24 over two years prior, but the song was only complete once Taeyang was able to connect organically with Jimin.
As expected, Jimin’s hard work and talent impressed Taeyang, who praised his industry junior’s work ethic.
Jimin put in more effort than anyone and I’m very thankful for that.
— Taeyang
Check out Taeyang and Jimin’s song “VIBE” below!
