Solar (Taeyang album)
Encyclopedia
Solar is the first full-length solo album by Korean singer Taeyang
, member of Big Bang. The album was released in two forms: the "Regular Edition" and the "Deluxe Edition" which is limited to 30,000 copies worldwide. The lead-single was "I Need a Girl" featuring his bandmate G-Dragon
. On July 9, 2010, Taeyang's solo album Solar hit second place on iTunes
' Top R&B-Soul albums chart in the United States and first place in Canada, the first time for an Asian musician. In Solar, Taeyang has put much efforts into enhancing his vocal skills as well as composing, co-writing as many as four songs ("Solar", "Where U At", "Wedding Dress", and "Take It Slow") and writing lyrics for "Take It Slow".
Taeyang's first international album, Solar International, is the first ever K-Pop music release to be sold worldwide on iTunes as both an audio and video album. The audio version (complete with a digital booklet
) hit iTunes stores on August 19, 2010, while the video version (bundled with bonus, behind the scenes documentaries) arrived by September 10, 2010. The audio album combines both English and Korean hits from his past and present albums including "I'll Be There", "Connection" (feat. BIG TONE), "Wedding Dress" and "I Need a Girl (feat. G-Dragon)". On August 26, 2010, Solars International album made it to fifth place on iTunes' Top R&B-Soul albums chart in the United States and Japan, and third place in Canada.
The music video shows Taeyang dancing with 2 back up dancers (choreographers), Lyle Beniga and Shaun Evaristo, in an alleyway. Teddy Park's rap shows him wearing a leather coat, while tossing an apple in one hand, on a motorbike. Taeyang wears black with the dancers and then changes to white at the dance break. In the end of the video, the dancers walk away and Taeyang walks down an alleyway looking back at a girl (Wedding Dress prequel).
The video of I Need a Girl was released also on July 1, 2010.
Taeyang
Dong Youngbae , better known by his stage name Taeyang or Sol, is a South Korean recording artist, entertainer. After appearing in Jinusean's music video "A-yo", Taeyang began training under YG Entertainment at the age of 12 alongside fellow member and leader G-Dragon...
, member of Big Bang. The album was released in two forms: the "Regular Edition" and the "Deluxe Edition" which is limited to 30,000 copies worldwide. The lead-single was "I Need a Girl" featuring his bandmate G-Dragon
G-Dragon
Aside from Big Bang, G-Dragon also made several solo appearances. After helping produce Taeyang's debut album, he recorded his own version of the album's lead single "Only Look At Me" , titled as the part two version to the song. The single was released digitally...
. On July 9, 2010, Taeyang's solo album Solar hit second place on iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
' Top R&B-Soul albums chart in the United States and first place in Canada, the first time for an Asian musician. In Solar, Taeyang has put much efforts into enhancing his vocal skills as well as composing, co-writing as many as four songs ("Solar", "Where U At", "Wedding Dress", and "Take It Slow") and writing lyrics for "Take It Slow".
Taeyang's first international album, Solar International, is the first ever K-Pop music release to be sold worldwide on iTunes as both an audio and video album. The audio version (complete with a digital booklet
Digital booklet
Digital booklets are the digital equivalent of liner notes that often accompany digital music purchases. They are most commonly distributed in Portable Document Format. One well-known distributor of digital booklets with digital purchases is the iTunes Store; the first instance of this on the...
) hit iTunes stores on August 19, 2010, while the video version (bundled with bonus, behind the scenes documentaries) arrived by September 10, 2010. The audio album combines both English and Korean hits from his past and present albums including "I'll Be There", "Connection" (feat. BIG TONE), "Wedding Dress" and "I Need a Girl (feat. G-Dragon)". On August 26, 2010, Solars International album made it to fifth place on iTunes' Top R&B-Soul albums chart in the United States and Japan, and third place in Canada.
Singles
- Where U At (Featuring Teddy Park) was the first promotional single of the album. It was released on October 14, 2009. The song didn't enter the Gaon Charts, after him cancelling promotions.
The music video shows Taeyang dancing with 2 back up dancers (choreographers), Lyle Beniga and Shaun Evaristo, in an alleyway. Teddy Park's rap shows him wearing a leather coat, while tossing an apple in one hand, on a motorbike. Taeyang wears black with the dancers and then changes to white at the dance break. In the end of the video, the dancers walk away and Taeyang walks down an alleyway looking back at a girl (Wedding Dress prequel).
- Wedding Dress, with the genre of RnB, was released in November 2009, just a month after the release of Where U At, making it the second promotional single of the album. The song didn't enter the Gaon Chart but the video, however, has had around twenty-two million views on Youtube.
- I Need a Girl (Featuring G-DragonG-DragonAside from Big Bang, G-Dragon also made several solo appearances. After helping produce Taeyang's debut album, he recorded his own version of the album's lead single "Only Look At Me" , titled as the part two version to the song. The single was released digitally...
), released on July 1, 2010, was the lead single of the album. It peaked at number 5 on the Gaon Charts.
The video of I Need a Girl was released also on July 1, 2010.
- I'll Be There was released on August 2, 2010 and also the second single of the album. It did peak on the Gaon Charts at number sixteen. The music video had it own gothic theme, even of the music video there is an english version.
Tracklist
Solar
| Chart (2010) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Gaon Gaon Chart The Gaon Chart is a national record chart of South Korea. It is complied by the Korea Music Content Industry Association and sponsored by South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism; with an aim to create a national chart for Korea similar to the Billboard charts and Oricon charts... Weekly album chart |
1 |
| Gaon Yearly album chart | 36 |
Solar International
| Chart (2010) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Gaon Weekly album chart | 1 |
| Gaon Yearly album chart | 71 |
Sales and certifications
| Chart (2010) | Amount |
|---|---|
| Gaon physical sales (Solar) | 53,789 |
| Gaon physical sales (Solar - Deluxe) | 26,979 |
| Gaon physical sales (Solar - International) | 21,182 |
Release history
| Country | Date | Format | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Korea South Korea The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south... |
July 1, 2010 | Digital download Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment... , CD Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,... |
YG Entertainment YG Entertainment YG Entertainment is a record label and talent agency founded by Korean band Seo Taiji & Boys member Yang Hyun Suk and based in Seoul, South Korea. It specializes in producing R&B and hip hop music. YG stands for Yang Goon and are also the initials of the chief executive officer, Yang Hyun Suk... |
| Worldwide | Digital download | ||
| August 19, 2010 | Digital download, CD (International edition) |