BIGBANG leader G-Dragon appeared as a guest on a Korean show called "News Room" on June 18 at JTBC. Here is where topics such as plans for the singer's future and thoughts about going to the army were discussed.
However, the highlight of the show was about G-Dragon's answers to the questions in relation to YG Entertainment's rival company SM Entertainment boy groups EXO and its senior SHINee who were both in concurrent promotion as BIGBANG.
The well-respected anchorman Sohn Suk Hee asked, "These days, your competitors EXO and SHINee released albums and are promoting. What do you consider sets (Big Bang) apart from them?"
The BIGBANG leader knew how sensitive the subject was, yet, he bravely answered, "What sets us apart is that we make our own songs, which appeals to the public, and the public likes the songs."
The host then clarified about the possible response of the fans saying, "This very moment of us talking about this might make EXO and SHINee fans angry," but G-Dragon was unfazed as he casually replied, "They might get mad, but it's true, so there's nothing that can be done about it."
Son Suk Hee then led G-Dragon into an open-ended statement, "Creating (the songs) must be important," to which the singer confirmed, "It can't not be important. If I were to receive a song from a composer and sing it, I'd personally have no confidence. I don't know how it might be for other people, but since I was young, I relayed the songs I had made, so I would hesitate more than other artists if I were to relay (songs made by other people)."
G-Dragon's answers set fire to a fanwar overnight as fans of the three groups fought online.
BIGBANG fanbase VIPs supported the singer and cited how SM Entertainment buys songs from composers for their artists to use as what G-Dragon has reasoned out.
However, these statements completely discredited the songs written and composed by the members of EXO and SHINee thus angering EXO-Ls (EXO fanbase) and SHINee World (SHINee fanbase).
EXO Lay, for example, wrote a song "The Promise" which was among the tracks released under "Love Me Right" repackaged album which is being promoted by EXO at the present.
Realistically speaking, there are many groups other than BIGBANG who write their own music nowadays. CN Blue and SHINee are among them.
One of the groups in question, SHINee, has members participating in the lyrics and composition of their songs since long time ago.
Member Minho writes the lyrics of the rap parts of their songs. Onew wrote a song called "Your Name" for their album "Lucifer."
Lastly, SHINee World felt that Lead vocalist Jonghyun's efforts as a writer and composer has just been discredited altogether with G-Dragon setting BIGBANG apart with the mentioned reasoning.
Kim Jonghyun has a long list of songs written under his name that are included in SHINee's albums and other singers' albums in the Korean industry such as IU's "Depression Clock," Son Dambi's title single "Red Candle," EXO's "Playboy," and fellow member Taemin's "Pretty Boy." He even gifted Lim Kim with a song called "No More" because he felt like it belonged to her.
The songs in the third chapter of SHINee's "Misconceptions Trilogy" in 2013, "Better off" and "Selene 6.23," were all written and composed by the said vocalist. The lyric genius also wrote more songs from SHINee's past albums such as "Symptoms," "Obsession," "Alarm Clock," and "Honesty."
Jonghyun draws inspiration from the messages of people as a radio DJ in "Blue Night" and has written songs such as "Sorry," "By Tomorrow," "Skeleton Flower," "At the End of the Day," and the three theme songs for the said midnight radio show.
Kim Jonghyun also wrote, composed, and arranged most of the songs in his first mini-album "Base" which was released this January.
Most recently, Jonghyun was involved in SHINee's latest album "Odd" and has written "Odd eye," has single-handedly written, composed, arranged, and played the piano and all instrumental background for "An Encore," and penned the lyrics for title track "View."
This was not the first time that SM Entertainment entrusted Jonghyun with writing the title tracks for their albums as on 2009, just a year after debut, he penned the Korean lyrics for their title song "Juliette" for their album "Romeo."
Jonghyun did not only write or compose for his group and others but also vocally directed most of the songs that came from him.
His wide vocal range and lyric and composing skills have been widely acknowledged both by fans and music critics. SM Entertainment founder and Chairman Lee Soo Man even personally recognized the singer and music writer for his talents.
This proves G-Dragon's claims of making their own music as an edge over SHINee and EXO invalid although no one is questioning the capabilities of the once so-called YG Entertainment's prodigy for his talents in music writing. G-Dragon has been making songs for BIGBANG and for his solo albums since he started his career as a singer.
However, BIGBANG's newest single "Bang Bang Bang" from their second single of the "MADE" series did not receive critical acclaims in parallel to the feedback to the prodigy's alleged decline in music writing quality since three years ago.
Nevertheless, many BIGBANG fans are happy that their favorite group is finally having a long line of comebacks and exposure after so many years of hiatus.
The comparison of BIGBANG, EXO, and SHINee, as some fans assert, could have been easily dodged by the singer himself by answering less controversial statements such as using their group's experience in the industry as an advantage over EXO and SHINee, and avoided the controversy and fan wars at once.
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