"Bae Bae" is a song recorded by South Korean boy band Big Bang. It was released digitally on May 1, 2015 by YG Entertainment, as the first single from Made, being included in the single album M, the first music release alongside "Loser" for the band since Still Alive. Written and produced by G-Dragon, Teddy and T.O.P, "Bae Bae" was noted for its sexual lyrics and music video. The song finished 2015 as the fourth best performing song of the year on the Gaon Digital's year-end chart, making Big Bang the first act to have three songs in the Top 5 year-end chart.
Background and composition
YG Entertainment announced the title tracks of Big Bang's "MADE Series: M" in the third teaser, including two singles, "Loser" and "Bae Bae". Two of the four teasers for D-1 to D-4 consist of the song info, including who was responsible for the tracks' composition. "Bae Bae" is a trap-infected hip-hop/R&B song, in style of country music that was noted for its "boundary-pushing elements" and sexual references. The song uses instrumentation from guitar. G-Dragon revealed that the song was inspired by the work of British artist Francis Bacon. He explained that "one day I was looking at some of Francis Bacon's work in a museum and it strangely felt erotic to me. I'm not sure why." And added "we were working on the album at the time, while I was writing the music, I kept looking at his paintings. So they inspired me a lot one way or another."
Critical reception
Billboard ranked "Bae Bae" at number fifteen in their "20 Best K-Pop Songs of 2015" list while Dazed placed the track at number eight in their list of the same name, stating that the song "offered a playful wander through young love in contrast to their signature airtight construction, with rappers G-Dragon and T.O.P delivering a bouncing, energetic flow while Taeyang, Daesung and Seungri's vocals smoothed out its brashest moments." Korean online magazine IZM also named it one of best singles of the year, complimenting the song's confidence over its "shameless beat", and how the track was able to get the unusual achievement of being both popular in the mainstream and an experimental piece. Chicago Sun-Times included the track in their unranked list of ten best Big Bang songs. In a survey involving 30 music industry experts by South Korean magazine The Dong-a Ilbo, "Bae Bae" was chosen as the fifth best male idol song in the past 20 years. While commenting on the single, Alicia Tan from Mashable stated that "one can't deny how Big Bang always hits the nail on the head when it comes to balancing out soothing vocals with hard-hitting rap to make on point songs." "Bae Bae" was nominated for Best Rap/Hip-Hop Song and won Song of the Year at the 2016 edition of the critics given Korean Music Awards.
Chart performance
With only two days in the tracking week, "Bae Bae" debuted at number two on the Gaon Download Chart with 217,594 sales, number three on the Digital Chart, and number 15 on the Streaming Chart. On the second week, the single rose to number two on the Digital and Streaming Chart, while it remained second on the Download Chart, with 178,764 copies sold. "Bae Bae" sold 828,966 copies in two months. On August 13 the song surpassed 1 million copies sold in South Korea. The song debuted on Billboard's 'World Digital Songs' chart at number two, behind the group's own "Loser" on May 7. The music video was the fourth most viewed K-pop video in the U.S. and around the world for the month of April, according to Billboard, with only two days worth of views. The song ranked eight as the most popular Korean singles in 2015 in Taiwan by music streaming serviceKKBOX. In Hong Kong, "Bae Bae" was one of the ten best-selling songs of 2015, and received a digital award by the RTHK.
Music video
The music video was directed by Seo Hyun-Seung, who previously directed "Fantastic Baby." The video includes various erotic, yet not explicit references, which was deemed "rather risque for K-pop standards." It starts with G-Dragon rubbing female mannequins and it continues with Taeyang dressed as a cowboy. T.O.P's part was noted for its heavy innuendos, with the rapper symbolically ejaculating with a syringe while cosplaying as the Joker. Then Daesung gets "hot and heavy" with his love interests. Seungri's visuals were described as "masquerading as a Christian Grey-esque sugar daddy in what looks like an Evanescence video circa 2000." At the end, the five members unite on the moon with a pack of models dressed as Disney princesses. Billboard hailed "Bae Bae" one of the most sexual K-pop videos from a male group ever. Fuse noticed how the group "defies norms" with the video's "craziest visual." Vulture.com choose the single in the "10 Best New Songs of the Week," stating that "Big Bang is the best at blending aesthetics, and the music video is a prime example of how they jump from romance-novel realness to the Mad Hatter like a psychedelic bumblebee in." "Bae Bae" won Best Music Video at the 2015 Mnet Asian Music Awards.
