TAEYANG

As K-pop legend and veteran idol TAEYANG steps back into the limelight, he opens up about adapting to a new era of music and what he hopes to do in time to come.

- AZRIN TAN

There are only a few things in life that are as assured as the sun. Day after day, it peeks out over the horizon, begins to stream through cracks and windows and signals a new day. The sun, taeyang in Korean, yields itself to an easy metaphor for new beginnings. This is a metaphor which Dong Young-bae—better known as K-pop superstar TAEYANG or SOL in Japan—is no stranger to.

Over the past few years, TAEYANG has lived a relatively hushed life. After his solo world tour in 2017, he tied the knot with his partner Min Hyo-rin, whom he now shares a son with. Shortly after the wedding, the K-pop star enlisted into compulsory military service, delayed as a result of his stellar career as a member of one of the biggest groups in K-pop—BIGBANG.

As a part of the prominent quintet, TAEYANG became a part of K-pop’s seismic rise to the global stage, with BIGBANG producing some of the greatest hits ever known to the industry. Title tracks such as ‘Fantastic Baby’ and ‘Bang Bang Bang’ broke numerous records in their heyday. Together, they set the standard for what the industry could look like; the paragons of K-pop that new-era groups would seek to emulate years later.