2009: Branching out
The group went on a break in early 2009, with all of them pursuing solo activities. During this time, they collaborated with 2NE1, a new girl group from their entertainment company and also being called The Female Big Bang, for the song "Lollipop"; they filmed a music video for it as well. Although it was a song used to promote a cell phone, it has since hit #1 on various online charts.[18]
After their recent success with "Lollipop", the group released their first Japanese single named "My Heaven" in May 2009, their major debut in Japan. The song is a Japanese translation of their song "Heaven" from the EP Stand Up.[citation needed], and was composed by acclaimed Japanese composer Daishi Dance. Due to an interesting promotional campaign in which the group performed on several Morning News programs, BIGBANG's single debuted at a surprisingly high no. 3 on the Oricon Charts.[19]
Later in 2--0, Big Bang released their second Japanese single titled "Gara Gara Go!" on July 8, 2009 which reached number 5 on the Oricon charts. [19] "Gara Gara GO!!" marked the group's first perfomances on some of Japan's major music shows, like Hey!Hey!Hey! Music Champ and Music Station. With the release of two successful Japanese singles, Big Bang released their first full-lenth Japanese album under Universal Music, aptly titled BIGBANG, which charted in at No. 3.[19]
Almost immediately after the release of their first album, BIGBANG returned to Korea. On August 18th, G-Dragon released his first solo album titled "Heartbreaker" which was, despite fair amounts of criticism, a great success. Fellow member Taeyang is set to release his second solo during November and it has been confirmed that filming for his single "Where U at" has been completed.
They are also endorsing famous Korean Online FPS "Sudden Attack". All 5 members will have their own characters with special dialogue and sound effects. They also are endorsing for FILA as Stylish (The FILA) was released on their single Gara Gara GO!!
They performed at the annual Korean music festival Dream Concert, on October 2009. At the 2009 I Love Korea Dream Concert, they will performed side by side with 2PM, Super Junior, 2NE1, Girls' Generation, SHINee, Wonder Girls, and others.
On Oct. 15th, 2009 Big Bang announced their first tie-up with a Japanese drama; they will be providing the theme song for TBS's friday night drama Ohitorisama starring popular actress Alisa Mizuki and Teppei Koike. [20] This was widely considered proof of their quick success in Japan, as the series features some of the most prominent names in the Japanese media industry, with supporting roles from w-inds' Keita Tachibana, Ami Suzuki and Matsushita Nao.
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