Big Bang Slays With New Single ‘Flower Road’

March 13 saw a momentous moment for VIPs all around the world as Big Bang released their new single “Flower Road” where all five members, G-Dragon, T.O.P, Taeyang, Daesung, and Seungri were present. Soon after the track’s release, the new single of Big Bang snagged the top spot in many international iTunes Top Song charts. A couple of hours after midnight of the release day, “Flower Road” topped the real-time and daily charts of all major Korean charts. This comprises of Melon, Genie, Bugs, Mnet, Naver, and Soribada. These achievements only point to one thing: a “certified all-kill.”

But, that’s not the only milestone that Big Bang has set. By the end of 24 hours, “Flower Road” came out of Melon with a record-breaking 1 269 006 unique listeners. This pushes down Big Bang’s “FXXX IT” which had 1 210 585 unique listeners. It has also surpassed all other male group songs of 2018 for being the first to go over 1 million unique listeners under 24 hours. According to Billboard, this is the last song fans will be hearing from them as a whole group before Seungri, the youngest, enlists in the military.

‘Flower Road:’ Big Bang Reinvents Farewell

The lyrics of “Flower Road” was written by none other than G-Dragon and TOP. The pair actually wrote it years ago while working on their MADE album. With their enlistment in mind, they poured out their heart in the song to comfort themselves and their fans. In the first verse of the song, G-Dragon sings the lyrics “This isn’t the last time for us. Please, let’s meet again when the flowers bloom” as a message of hope for their fans. But, for his part, Seungri sings that they are willing to let go if their fans choose to do so with the words “If you are going to leave, I shall let you go. I shall scatter flowers on the path you will take.” Taeyang goes on to sing “If you miss me, come back to me. Then you can love me again.”

This emotional song, however, is not free from controversy. Big Bang was accused of plagiarising the song “Aint No Us” by American artist Niykee Heaton. Both songs were recorded back in 2015. Upon investigation by netizens, they found out that the composer for both songs is the one and the same. “Aint No Us” was produced by Chaz Mishan under his stage name Witril. Chaz Mishan is a member of The Fliptones, a production team who helped G-Dragon compose and arrange “Flower Road.” The songs sound so similar because of the signature beat that was used.

“Flower Road” is the last song of the five Big Bang members that the fans will hear for a very long time. TOP entered the military last year in February. He was serving as a conscripted policeman but because of his drug charges, he was dismissed from duty in June. He is now finishing the remainder of his mandatory service as a public service worker. G-Dragon was the second member to enter the military. He started his training last February. Taeyang and Daesung followed each other closely a month after G-Dragon. Taeyang went in on March 12th and Daesung followed the next day. The youngest member of the group, Seungri has announced on his Instagram that he’ll finish schedules for promoting his new album before enlisting. Big Bang will reunite as one group to once again shower their fans with their talents somewhere around the latter end of 2019 to 2020. Until then, Big Bang has left their heartfelt song “Flower Road” to remind their fans of their promise.