BIGBANG's Taeyang Releases 'White Night' Album

It’s been three years since Taeyang released his last solo work, but BIGBANG's resident R&B smooth crooner returned with his passionateWhite Night album today in South Korea.

Led by dual singles “Darling” and “Wake Me Up,” the eight-track album is Taeyang’s third studio album, just in time to coincide with the artist's White Night World Tour.

Filled with evocative melodies and heartfelt lyrics, White Night explores a range of emotions through a variety of musical influences, with a certain preference for the melancholic blend of EDM recently favored by lablemates Winner and AKMU (Akdong Musician).

Beginning with the soulful trance intro of “White Night,” the album leads directly into “Wake Me Up,” an ambient track about the dreamlike state of love. “Darling,” the impassioned lead single, follows as a piano-based pop ballad and serves as a sonic sequel to his 2014 hit “Eyes, Nose, Lips."

The following track, "Ride," adds a bit of a funkier rhythm to the album, before moving into the nu-disco of "Amazin'.”

“Empty Road” draws on the style of lilting acoustic pop that made Justin Bieber’s “Love Yourself” a hit, while the sensual, body-roll-ready R&B track “Naked” and “Tonight,” a collab with Block B’s Zico, close things out.

Taeyang revealed at a press conference in Seoul that the album was inspired by his relationship with Korean actress Min Hyorin, who he described as his "muse," as reported by Yonhap. 

Along with the release of the album, Taeyang dropped music videos for both “Darling” and “Wake Me Up.” The duo present Taeyang at his most sentimental as he sings amidst the glitter-infused dreamscape of "Wake Me Up" and in a variety of settings in the video for "Darling,” which shows  the BIGBANG member as a mournful lover reflecting on romance from amidst fog and high above Los Angeles before transitioning to solitary reflection in a church and the isolation of Alaska.

White Night was released amidst Taeyang's current world tour, which will bring him to North America in September for nine concerts in eight cities throughout the U.S. and Canada beginning in Toronto on Aug. 30 and ending in Vancouver on Sept. 15.