In the episode broadcast on May 14 of the program "Epikase", Taeyang shared about his upcoming solo album "Quintessence", Big Bang's comeback plan, as well as his long-standing relationship with Epik High members.
First, when talking about Taeyang's new album, Tablo mentioned that he had participated in writing lyrics for 3 songs in the album. But what surprised Tablo was that he discovered The Kid Laroi's name in a song in the album.
Afterwards, Taeyang confirmed that it was true that The Kid Laroi would collaborate with him on a song on the album "Quintessence".
The Kid Laroi was born in 2003, is an Australian rapper, singer and songwriter. The male artist is loved globally for many hits, the most prominent of which is "Stay" in collaboration with Justin Bieber in 2021.
The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 7 weeks; the MV reached 1 billion views on YouTube; and "Stay" once became the fastest song to reach 1 billion listens on Spotify in history in just 118 days.
The song "Without you" by Kid Laroi, remixed with Miley Cyrus, also caused a fever, reaching the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.
In 2023, The Kid Laroi collaborated with Jungkook (BTS) and Central Cee on the song "Too Much", which entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart and Top 1 iTunes in many countries.
The handshake with Taeyang is the second time The Kid Laroi has collaborated with a Kpop artist in a music product.
Speaking about The Kid Laroi's participation in the album "Quintessence", Taeyang shared: "After I recorded the song, my crew and I both agreed that it would be great if The Kid Laroi participated. Coincidentally, right at that time he came to Korea to attend a Spotify event, so we went to dinner together.
He continued: "Actually, I thought that just meeting and already proposing to cooperate was a bit unsuitable, so I didn't mention that. But after dinner, he said he wanted to see my studio.
So we went there, I let him listen to the album because I said I was making a new album before, and as soon as I turned on the song "Open up", he immediately said he wanted to participate".
Taeyang's album "Quintessence" will be released on May 18, which is also his birthday.
Meanwhile, when asked about Big Bang's comeback album, Taeyang said: "This is an emergency. We really need to complete it.
However, he declined to reveal more even though Epik High members kept asking for specific details such as how many songs the album has completed, or when the album will be released.
After that, Epik High members asked Taeyang to call G-Dragon and switch to "interrogating" him instead. G-Dragon "fell into the trap" and honestly replied: "August 19th this year is the 20th anniversary of our group, so I think the album will be released around that time".
When asked about the title track, G-Dragon evasively replied: "Probably not finished yet. The title track is always the song that takes the longest to do.
