Meet Big Bang China?
First it was So Nyeo Shi Dae, then 2NE1. China’s music industry strikes again, their newest target at cloning: Big Bang. Meet OK Bang. With China’s burgeoning Cpop music industry looking toward South Korea’s successful formula and market for examples of developing idol superstardom, this was not unexpected. Their male idol band of choice was Big Bang, the recently debuted OK Bang has 5 members and their fashion, hairstyles, singing style, and even their music video is very similiar to those of Big Bang. The Chinese Entertainment company backing OK Bang is said to have spent a lot of money training the members of the group in physical fitness, personal appearance, vocals, dancing, and even how to act while on variety shows or during interviews. They even hired a Korean trainer to help mold the band.
The interest regarding OK Bang has been great in China with mixed results from fans. Some are digging OK Bang’s style while many others, especially those familiar with Kpop, have been derogatory criticising them of copying Big Bang.
I’ve read that there’s even a music video of theirs that is a blatant rip off of Big Bang’s Last Farewell, but after much searching I wasn’t able to find it. Sorry, but it’s hard enough navigating Korean news sites without adding Chinese to the mix. I did however find a blog with news, pictures, and practice videos of OK Bang – if you’re interested check it out here (it takes a while to load). The blog even has links to each of the members personal sites if you want to check it out.
The leader, Mei Xiao Xin aka Freddy (The G-Dragon)
The Killer Stare – Guan Feng Ren (The TOP)
The dance captain and clown of the group – Yi Jun Long (The Daesung/Taeyang)
The versatile creative genius – Jian Bo Zhao (The Taeyang/Daesung)
The other guy – Zero (The Seungri)
cr: jknews, kmib.co.kr, Newsen
“The other guy – Zero (The Seungri)”—- LOL…hahaha poor Zero and Seungri.
I can totally see how this will get mixed results in China. In china, if you want your idol boy bands- you look to korea or even taiwan. but for the chinese- i think the most popular chinese artists are the solo ones or the bands with a more indie/pop-rock feel.
even the name Ok Bang is such a blatant Big Bang knockoff- i wonder if this is even a real band or some other parody thing- like the thing with the Chinese folk singers and SNSD- like Weird Al Yankovic or the short-lived 2gether.
LMAO! “the other guy”…!!! ran out of names (or this is like “and who is that guy over there?!))… poor guy….
anyway, am not really a fan of “cloning”, unless it resulted to a better counterpart…which, in this case, i have to say, they kinda failed…
mm yeah
china/taiwan does have amazing solo artists though
not digging the whole group thing though..
i LOVE it…
why??
another Big Bang for me to be a fan of, AND they’re CUUUUTEE!! **fangirllsss**
no no no
is this even LEGAL??
i watched their version of last farewell ages ago and got to say it’s exactly like bigbang’s last farewell from their fashion style to te song
but noone can beat BIGBANG THE LEGEND
They are appealing to the eyes… but there’s only one Bang (Ko-re-an) for me <3.
and lmao at "the other guy" xD
No one can copy our fashionista G TO THA D.
G-dragon, get all up on that and pwn some bishes.
Their Bang is not Big ; ie their Bang is just OK, … so that’s OK.
Also, Big Bang TKOs OK Bang.
hahaha! lmao, their bang is just ok.
hahaha the other guuuy
poor Seungri… if he read this he’d weep
if you’re interested in the MV here it is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbpywDXDe5M&feature=player_embedded
Hey thanks for supplying the link to the vid, I swear I looked all over for it!
WOW. LMAO.
you know they haven’t even debuted yet, AND the mv isn’t even the group. It’s a solo artist.
“OK Bang” means band-aid in Mandarin….
In that case, they really need a Big ok-Bang… joke.
hah the other guy…. even his name, zero. i kinda feel bad for him and seungri….
eh, theyre kinda cute but i dont see anything extremely shocking similair to big bang….they look kinda japanese ish tbh…O.o
LMAO at “the other guy”..
and to top it off his name is Zero…HAHHAHAHA!!! sad
Hahaha exactly what I was thinking!!
Damn why would you want to copy another band…. you know you’ll look dumb when people will notice!! ok I know Big Bang is amazing but come on, try to be a little creative. I remember when I first saw Seungri’s ”Strong Baby” I was like: ”Is it a compilation of all Justin Timberlake songs??” I just don’t get it. If you can’t get new ideas to make your music, JUST DON’T, let the original bands do their things!! Arrggghh
that’s kind of stupid because they look more japanese than korean to me.
For those that dont know chinese ..
” this group is just a contestant of a talent show in china. and the name is not even a “copy” of big bang. bang in chinese means great. so OK-棒 sounds more like a cute snack name similar to lollipop 棒棒糖 from taiwan.“-yokisu@soompi
[...] who is who in OK Bang? Check out the original post on Seoulbeats. Credits to them, jknews, kmib.co.kr, [...]
I prefer their soloists. But if they actually have talent, then why shouldn’t they be appreciated? However based on the first sentence of this article, I question the validity of the facts. Didn’t people already point out that the snsd wasn’t a copy. sign. and 2ne1 thing is from thailand? I understand that idol culture is just starting in China and the whole group thing is just testing it’s wings, but I think it’s talented the ones that differ from kpop/jpop styles that’s actually more for me. BOBO FTW.
Anyway, Koreans and Chinese are both racially the same, ie Hans = cousins……. descended from Han Solo of the Star Wars era.
……. Also, our dogs are descended from Chewbacca.
And our computers are descended from R2D2.
^WIN.
no stop trying to look smart
^^LMFAO!!!
Someone throw poop at them
And your comment is oh-so-smart.
yeah it actually is
first i so think you labeled them wrong. second, i saw the video and there was nothing similar. the music does sound like last farewell but that is all. i find it funny that when korean artists come out and are called “korean mariah” or korean justin timberlake its all good but if someone was to take inspiration from korea its wrong?? weird…
I kinda have to agree with you on that one, the double standards are rather sad. Idol music on korea doesn’t sound distinctive enough. Change the lyrics to english and it’ll sound like any american boyband from the 90’s + a bit of autotune. This is why it’ll be a tackle for them to make it into the US market like they all try to. I don’t like the bands sprouting up in China, but I do like the soloist and the unique distinct sounds they have. I hope they develope in their own direction instead of looking to korea for “idol” ideas, cause it’s too superfical.
just found out that so called rip off vid isn’t even of them. It’s some random dude’s cover of the song. And the music video looks nothing like.
Sara you’re Chinese. It’s ok if you defend Chinese but stop lying. Korean music don’t rip off like Chinese do. Stop listening to Kpop please.
i prefer Taiwan artists more especially the soloists…
um.. the first thing that came to mind when i look at their pics was Beast… no idea why i thought of that group..
this OK Bang don’t look anything like Big Bang actually in terms of clothes and style.
well can’t blame them. you just can’t copy Big Bang.
plus.. i dont see the similarity besides the bang part. god forbid bang bang tang also had a bang in their name. i dont see people gearing their rifles towards them yet. koreans are so damn cocky.
lol good job seoulbeats. now you go and delete people’s comments too. :)