"Fantastic Baby" is a song recorded by South Korean boy band BigBang. It was released as a single for digital download and streaming by YG Entertainment on February 29, 2012, in conjunction with the release of the band's fourth extended play (EP), Alive (2012). The song was written by members T.O.P, G-Dragon and long-time group collaborator Teddy Park, whilst production and composition was handled by the latter two contributors. A boisterous, sonic and dynamic EDM track, "Fantastic Baby" incorporates a multitude of hooks and catchphrases—most notably "Wow, fantastic baby" and "boom shakalaka".
"Fantastic Baby" was well received by music critics, with Rolling Stone and Billboard magazines naming it one of the greatest boy band songs of all-time. The song has also been recognized by Billboard as "one of the biggest K-pop hits ever", and was hailed as a highlight in the spread of the Korean wave around the world by The Smithsonian in 2013. The song was a commercial success, peaking at number three on both the Gaon Digital Chart and the Billboard World Digital Songs chart while placing within the top 10 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100.
Selling more than 4 million digital units in the band's native country by 2016, "Fantastic Baby" became one of the best-selling singles in South Korea. Additionally, the song sold 3 million units across China and Japan, and was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) in August 2015. The accompanying music video, directed by Seo Hyun-seung, was released on March 7, 2012 and became the first music video by a K-pop group to surpass 200 and 300 million views on YouTube.
Background and release On January 25, 2012, YG Entertainment unveiled a teaser photo on their blog YG Life with the word "Alive", sparking curiosity among fans. Two days later, the first two tracks of their then-upcoming release were exhibited, and were followed by additional teasers revealing the rest of the tracklist in increments, revealing an extended play. On February 7, the agency officially confirmed that BigBang would release their fifth Korean-language extended play, titled Alive, on February 29. In addition, it was announced that the group would embark on their first worldwide concert tour, given the title "Alive Tour 2012" in Seoul from March 2 to 4, 2012, and would see shows in several different continents around the world. On February 16, it was revealed that "Fantastic Baby" would serve as one of the title tracks for the EP. On February 29, 2012, the song was officially released for digital download and streaming in conjunction with the release of Alive. It was written and produced by both member G-Dragon and YG Entertainment collaborator Teddy Park, with additional rap lyrics written by member T.O.P. A Japanese-language version was released as part of the band's fourth Japanese studio album of the same name on March 28, 2012 through YGEX, with the lyrics translated by M-Flo member Verbal. It was later added to the band's Japanese greatest hits album The Best of Big Bang 2006–2014 in November 2014.
Music and lyrics
Musically, "Fantastic Baby" has been described as an EDM track that features a "boisterous" and "genre-blending sound". The International Business Times referred to the song's composition as a "beautiful blend of electropop and EDM-laced with an anarchistic theme." Composed in the key of D minor, the song carries a tempo of 130 beats per minute, and has a runtime of 3:52. "Fantastic Baby" incorporates "bright digital thumps and soaring synth wails" with infectious hooks such as "Wow, fantastic baby", "I wanna da-da-da-da-dance" and "boom shakalaka" to create a vibrant, sonic and dynamic electronic and hip hop track. Tamar Herman of Billboard magazine contrasted the song's musicality from much of the band's previous works, which consisted of mainly old-school R&B and hip-hop hits which have gradually evolved into more sentimental numbers and upbeat dance tunes, and referred to "Fantastic Baby" as a "new era that poised the group as one of Korea’s most ambitious acts". NME compared the song's signature catchphrase "boom shakalaka" to music that of 1960s band Sly and the Family Stone.
Critical reception The song was met with general acclaim from music critics. Kaitlin Miller from the Chicago Sun-Times called the track one of BigBang's best songs, hailing it a "quintessential K-pop song" for being able to reach a widespread international audience. Writing about the influence of "Fantastic Baby", Tamar Herman from Billboard magazine recognized the track as the first to cross international boundaries with its "then-groundbreaking EDM style", and noted its exhilarating and creative flair; Herman also praised the song for being "nothing short of fantastic." The publication also ranked "Fantastic Baby" number 27 on their 100 Greatest Boy Band Songs of All Time list, stating that the "anarchic hip-house track raised the bar for the genre, overflowing with vibrancy as it bounces between sonic styles."
Rolling Stone ranked "Fantastic Baby" number 31 in their list of 75 Greatest Boy Band Songs of All Time, writing: "This instantly accessible single from K-pop phenomenon BigBang blew off many doors of American crossover with little effort on the band's part." The publication further labeled the song as a "modern-day essential" for showcasing "K-pop's genre-bending, visually-oriented charms." In October 2013, Smithsonian Music recognized "Fantastic Baby" as one of the highlights in the spread of the Korean Wave around the world, along with "Sorry, Sorry" by Super Junior, "Gangnam Style" by Psy, and "I Am the Best" by 2NE1, among others. In Melon and newspaper Seoul Shinmuns list of top 100 K-pop songs of all time, 35 Korean music critics and industry experts ranked "Fantastic Baby" at number 24, with KBS Radio director Soyeon Kang stating that the "unconventional fashion, intense music video, and a hot theme of breaking the mold" conveyed freedom of expression and divergence from the basic beliefs of society, while at the same time keeping its "musical attractiveness". Kang added that the song served as "a kind of turning point in the history of BigBang and K-pop": "Both the music and philosophy of the song were ahead of their time".
+"Fantastic Baby" on select critic lists PublicationYear List Rank Billboard2018 The 100 Greatest Boy Band Songs of All Time 27 2019 The 100 Greatest K-pop Songs of the 2010s 65 The 100 Greatest Music Videos of the 2010s 46 The Dong-a Ilbo2016Top Male Idol Songs of the Past 20 Years6 The Guardian 2012 The 2012 pop video awards No order Globe Telecom2020Iconic K-pop Music Videos The Korea HeraldBigBang's top 50 tracks, ranked1 Melon2021 Top 100 K-pop Songs of All Time 24 Rolling Stone2020 75 Greatest Boy Band Songs of All Time 31 Spin2012Top 20 K-pop Singles of 201213
Awards "Fantastic Baby" was nominated for multiple awards, including Song of the Year at the 2012 Melon Music Awards, but lost to "Gangnam Style" by labelmate Psy. It was later named Song of the Month (March) at both the 2nd Gaon Chart K-Pop Awards and 2012 Cyworld Digital Music Awards; additionally, it was one of the 12 songs to receive the Digital Bonsang award at the 22nd Seoul Music Awards. "Fantastic Baby" also collected two music program wins on Mnet's M Countdown during the course of its promotion, one on March 15 and another on March 22, 2012.
+Awards and nominations for "Fantastic Baby" Year Organization Award Result 2012 Cyworld Digital Music Awards Song of the Month – March Gaon Chart K-Pop Awards Song of the Year – March Melon Music Awards Song of the Year Popular Netizen Song 2013 Golden Disc Awards Digital Bonsang Digital Daesang MTV Video Music Awards Japan Best Dance Video RTHK International Pop Poll Awards Top Ten International Gold Songs 2014 World Music Awards Best Video of the Year
Commercial performance Four days after the EP's release, the song debuted at number four in the Gaon Digital Chart, charting behind BigBang's other songs "Blue," "Bad Boy", and "Love Dust", and sold 450,021 digital units. The following week, the song rose to number three, selling an additional 362,298 copies. The song was subsequently ranked as the second best-selling song of March 2012 in South Korea, reaching 1,229,518 downloads, and ranked number one on the monthly digital chart. On the Billboard K-pop Hot 100, the song entered at number five in the chart issue dated March 17, 2012. The following week, the song rose to its peak of number two, and charted for 17 additional weeks. By the end of the year, "Fantastic Baby" was ranked as the fifth best-selling and sixth most streamed single of 2012 in South Korea, with 3,339,871 digital units sold and over 30 million streams. As of September 2016, "Fantastic Baby" had accumulated over 4 million digital downloads in the country, becoming the best-selling boy group song on Gaon Music Chart.
In Japan, the single was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for PC downloads in September 2012. In December 2013, the song was certified platinum—having sold more than 250,000 units—and was further certified double platinum by the RIAJ in Japan for total digital sales of over 500,000 units in August 2015. The single went on to peak at number 8 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 in the week of February 19, 2016, after spending over 75 weeks on the chart. Elsewhere, in China, the single sold over 2.5 million digital units on Chinese music streaming and download service KuGou. In the United States, the song peaked at number three on the Billboard World Digital Song Sales chart in the week of March 23, 2012. On its year-end issue for 2012, "Fantastic Baby" was ranked the sixth best-selling international/foreign language song in the US, and was further ranked number 11 and number 24 on the 2013 and 2014 year-end issues, respectively. As of February 2021, "Fantastic Baby" is the third-longest charting K-pop song on the World Digital Song Sales–following Psy's "Gangnam Style" (2012) and "Dope" (2015) by BTS–spending over 130 weeks on the chart.
Music video Production and synopsis
The music video for "Fantastic Baby" was uploaded to BigBang's official YouTube channel on March 7, 2012, and was directed by Seo Hyun-seung. The video was described as a "visual stunner", and captures the fight for freedom from oppression. The members are seen wearing futuristic helmets, metal shoulder embellishments and jewelled crowns, among other accessories, while sporting dark make-up. The background dancers act as "rebels colliding with oppressors", wearing masks, spraying wires and waves of smoke around sets containing wreckage, while dancing saja-nori (the Korean lion dance). BigBang released a Japanese version of the music video focused on the band's scenes while they are in a warehouse setting. Some individual scenes were removed and there are no extras in this version.
The music video begins with scenes depicting a revolution, with the black-masked people representing those who capitalized on past controversies and tried to discourage, discredit and ultimately disband BigBang, whereas the white-masked people symbolize the V.I.P.s, the band's fans, who continue to defend and protect them despite everything. In the video, three frames of T.O.P. wearing a variety of outfits reminiscent of historical revolutionary figures such as George Washington and Napoleon Bonaparte are featured, which serves to represent BigBang's status as K-pop's musical revolutionaries. Daesung is also shown to be bound in chains, representing the emotional turmoil he went through following a car accident that he was involved in a year prior. The images of a frozen Taeyang, a scarred Seungri, and a seemingly silenced G-Dragon, portray the number of publicity blows the members have faced in the past year. The video concludes with a giant dance party and the five members being crowned kings upon thrones.