"I've put everything into it" Top 20 Anniversary Main Job Comeback, Between Concern and Expectation [the context of Yun Sang-geun]

*This content was translated by AI.

Top (T.O.P, real name Choi Seung-hyun), a former member of Big Bang who played as the second-generation top tier of K-pop idols, will start his day job with a solo studio album in 20 years since his debut. In many ways, it is a comeback where expectations and worries coexist.

At 6 p.m. on the 3rd, Top will release his first solo studio album "ANOTHER DIMENSION" through major online music sites.

According to the tracklist, the album featured "Totally Crazy!" (Studio54) and "DESPERADO" as the double title tracks. The two songs showed sophisticated visuals and intense sound with just the teaser video released earlier.

With titles that reveal the unique personality of the top, from the first track "SELF CRUCIFIXION," which contains a total of 11 songs, to "THE GIANT," and "SEOUL CHAOS," it heralded new musical attempts and did not hide its affection for fans with its ninth track "FOR FANS."

Top said he participated in the overall production of the album and completed 11 organic narratives, expressing his extraordinary ambition for the first full-length album in about 20 years since his debut in 2006.

In an interview with GQ Hong Kong, Topp revealed his thoughts on his roughly 10-year hiatus, saying, "I've been focusing only on music work for almost a decade. I put everything into my creation, and it was a very constructive and productive time," he said. Regarding the first full-length album, he said, "This time, we used an epic approach and a complex sound structure that we had never tried before. Everyone who listens will be able to feel various emotions," he explained, raising expectations for a comeback.

In particular, the album has mobilized world-class connections that Top has built through continuing his artist career, further raising expectations for the completeness of the album.

First, Ilko (IRKO), an engineer who has worked with Kanye West and The Weeknd, was in charge of sound design and mixing all of the songs, and Ilko is known as a sound master who has won many Grammy Awards. In addition, the plan is to realize a dense sense of space through the mixing of "Dolby Atmos" introduced in the entire album track.

In addition, legendary American layout artist and living master painter Ed Ruscha and art director Chae Kyung-sun of Netflix's "Squid Game," where he also appeared as an actor, participated as the overall design and music video art director of the album. On top of that, Kim Ji-yong, who showed his unique visual beauty in "Squid Game 2," "Decision to Break Up," "Namhansanseong," and "Sweet Life," also grabbed a megaphone for the music video.

I wonder how Top, who has shown high interest in the art world as well as top rap skills, will express his aesthetic sense completed in collaboration with world-class masters through this "multiple perspective."

Although preparations for returning to a solo artist have been completed, there are still questions and concerns about how the public will view it.

Top was charged with smoking cannabis in 2016, sentenced to 10 months in prison and two years of probation, and was almost removed from the entertainment industry. Since then, he has expressed his intention to retire from the entertainment industry through his personal SNS, and although he also withdrew from Big Bang, he suddenly reversed it and returned to "Squid Game 2" in December 2024.

I couldn't help but notice, and even at that time, Top didn't mention anything related even after the main episode of "Squid Game 2" was released. The controversy over the comeback itself and the issue of acting skills were added, and the gaze was not good. There was even a casting controversy because the character in Top's "Squid Game 2" play was weak-minded Villain Thanos.

At the time, Top said about playing the weak rapper Thanos in an interview with "Squid Game 2," "It was a character that had to face my very shameful past and could almost be an image stuffed, so I was very worried and hesitant about it personally. But I thought it was a character that came to me destined for something," he said.

Regarding the withdrawal of Big Bang and the reversal of retirement, Top said, "I am a person who caused so much damage to the team called Big Bang and the entire company (YG Entertainment) due to my mistakes. So I said I would leave the team for many years with the feeling that I couldn't hurt the agency and the members anymore, he said. "If I do something by myself, I endure the public's criticism on my own, and I get criticized by myself, but if I go back into the team, I feel like I'm being labeled as my fault is attached to the members, so I'm ashamed and I was in a lot of pain." So it's been a long time since I said I'd leave. When I saw fans who wanted to reunite and such posts, I was also very heartbroken. At the time, I wanted to be sure, but as I say in an interview after 11 years, there was no window to say that at the time. I feel guilty when I see the posts of fans who want to reunite, or when I see pictures of members. I'm a person who left the team, so to me it's like looking at a family photo that's broken up. The pain and suffering are indescribable," he confessed.

This comment alone concluded that Top's chances of joining Big Bang and reuniting with the members were zero. Contrary to the wishes of some fans, it is unlikely that Top will be together on the comeback stage of Big Bang, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. However, it seems that it will take some time before the view toward Top, who carefully expressed his comeback as a solo artist, turns positive. However, if fans who have been waiting for the top as singers want to see it, it will be attractive as an artist who is not behind in the competition with juniors and rusty music.

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*This content was translated by AI.