Taeyang on 'Quintessence': 2,000 Songs, a Teddy Order and Big Bang's Coachella Turn

Taeyang's Quintessence, his first studio album in nine years, started with about 2,000 songs and one week to come up with a title. The Big Bang member explained how the record came together in a May 18 interview, Rolling Stone reports.

The album came out a month after Big Bang's Coachella set, which opened the group's 20th anniversary year. His last EP, 2023's Down to Earth, was about going back to his roots. That EP ended a six-year absence that included his mandatory military service.

He said the clock started exactly a year before the interview:

"Exactly one year ago, I had a meeting with our A&R team and they gave me a homework assignment: 'You need to start your album, and please decide the title of the album by next week.'"

He considered "essence," "true nature" and "fundamentals" before picking the word "quintessence."

Teddy then told him to stay away from house producers and anyone he had worked with before. Paul Blanco was his first collaborator. A song camp followed with the Stereotypes, whose credits include Justin Bieber, Cardi B and Bruno Mars, and j.Que, who has worked with Usher and Beyoncé, plus Tone Stith and Chaz Jackson. BRLLNT also worked on the record in Korea.

Because the team was new to him, Taeyang said, he had to be involved in every detail from beginning to end.

The Kid LAROI feature on "Open Up" happened because everyone in the room had the same idea. The Kid LAROI was coming to Seoul the next week for a Spotify event. After a dinner and a studio visit, he heard the track and asked them to send it to him.

Taeyang said the album keeps coming back to time, life and death, and the wish for something to last forever. "G.O.A.T" already had its "greatest of all time" title when it reached him. He wrote the song around what he would say to the people he loves on his last day.

That song and "4U" were his two favorites out of the 2,000 he listened to. He played "4U" at a Grammy Museum event because it is a song for the fans. He named "G.O.A.T" his favorite that day but said the answer changes every day.

He said the Coachella set list was the hardest part to prepare. Big Bang built it around its 20-year history and kept changing it until the last rehearsal. For his solo stage, Taeyang had planned to sing "Eyes, Nose, Lips." The desert setting, and his sense that Coachella meant keeping the energy up, pushed him to "Ringa Linga" instead.