B.A.P Takes on the World: 2013 Year in Review

BAP started off the year quickly and released their first new song of 2013, "Rain Sound", on January 15. This single was quickly followed up with the release of "One Shot", the title song of their second extended play, on February 12. The MV for One Shot has been highly considered one of the most unique MVs of the year due to not only having a very clear plot, but also due to having two completely separate endings to the story. Unfortunately, their promotions were marred by injury. Himchan injured his hand the day after the MV was released. Due to surgery needed to repair it, he was unable to promote with his fellow members.

The boys of BAP ended February with the opening of their Live On Earth Pacific Tour. The first two shows of LOE took place on February 23rd and 24th in Seoul. The 8,000 tickets for each day in Seoul Olympic Park Hall sold out within 10 minutes. This proved to be the norm for the rest of the LOE Pacific Tour, with all four tour dates in the US being sold out in 1 hour and the Yokohama concert being sold out in within minutes just to name a few. Himchan was able to join the other members at the concert, but could not perform any choreography due to his arm being in a sling post surgery.

May saw BAP traveling to the US for concerts, going from one end of the country to the other in 10 days. Luckily, by this time Himchan's injury had healed, and fans around the world were excited to see him join the others in performing the "One Shot" choreography. They performed to sold out shows in Los Angeles (May 7), San Francisco (May 10), Washington DC (May 14), and New York (May 17), but still found time to film in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Las Vegas, Washington DC, and New York for two new MVs that were to be released later. Also, they were given the honor of recording at the MTV studio in Times Square with MTV K, which drew numerous fans to the square to watch. By the end of May, they were in Japan for the first of many times, performing at another sold out concert, this time in Yokohama (May 24-25). In June they traveled to Taipei Taiwan (June 9) and Hong Kong (June 22) for LOE before taking a short break. They then finished off the LOE tour on August 8th in Singapore.

At the end of June, TS released one of three MVs and digital singles for their BAP's BADMAN extended play. The first song released was "Coffee Shop" on June 28th. "Coffee Shop" was a softer, more relaxing jazz piece that was very different from their previous released songs and included more singing by Himchan and Jongup as well as seeing Zelo stretch his singing muscles.

TS released "Hurricane", written by the same team who produced "Punch" and "No Mercy", on July 17th. "Hurricane" was a much more dance-centric song compared to "Coffee Shop" and the MV, filmed primarily in Las Vegas, prominently featured the dancing skills of both Zelo and Jongup against the backdrop of the Las Vegas skyline as well as casinos.

On August 6th, TS released the last of the MVs and songs "BADMAN", which was also the album's title song. The MV was shot in Detroit Michigan during the group's break from LOE in July and it portrays the song's masculine and vigilante-like side fairly well. "BADMAN", a song written in part by Yongguk, was a message to the criminals of the world that people weren't going to let them be any longer. And though widely hailed by fans, the BADMAN EP did not do quite as well as the ONESHOT EP released earlier in the year.

Still, "BADMAN" proved to be a very good addition for the finale performances of the LOE tour, when BAP returned to Seoul for the Live On Earth: Wanted performances on the 17th and 18th of August. Babys came from all over the world to attend, including some from as far away as Germany. LOE:W was the first time Korean fans were able to see Himchan perform "One Shot". BAP was joined by their rock band "POT" during the concerts, which resulted in several rock versions of their songs, all of which were received with high praise by the fans. They went on to release the highly anticipated DVD for the Live One Earth: Wanted concert on December 26th.

At the end of August, BAP joined A-Pink as the endorsement models for SKOOLOOKS. After numerous pictorial releases, the two groups joined forces and released a MV sponsored by SKOOLOOKS in early December. The song, titled "Mini", not available for download. BAP also became idol "ambassadors" to finalists for the Kpop World Festival in October. Finalists visited TS and met with BAP before both BAP and finalists joined numerous other groups to perform at the Festival on October 20th.

BAP took a large step in September and officially stepped into the Japanese market. Their first Japanese Single 「Warrior」's MV debuted on September 13 with four versions of the single being released on October 9th. It was followed the very next day with the release of the Japanese 「One Shot」 MV. The three versions of the 「One Shot」 album were released in on November 13th. To cement their place in the Japanese market, on November 19th and 20th they kicked off their First Japanese Tour in Kobe. They followed this the next Thursday and Friday, the 27th and 28th, with concerts in Nagoya before finishing off the extremely successful tour in Tokyo on December 4th and 5th.

After completing both the LOE Pacific Tour and First Japanese Tour, BAP has shown that their ever expanding fan base, both at home and overseas, is ready for whatever the group throws at them. From jazz songs to rock songs, cutesy endorsements to vigilante justice music videos, BAP's diversity shined in 2013. It is with bated breath that fans around the world wait to see exactly what the six members will show after the turn of the new year.

Tags
BAP
Year In Review
2013
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