Born Dong Young-Bae and taking the stage name Taeyang, this K-Pop superstar began training in dance, vocal coaching, and other elements of performance at age 12 before making his debut as part of boy band Big Bang in 2006. Big Bang would grow to enormous acclaim and Taeyang would eventually branch out into acting, modeling, and a fruitful solo career. A solo EP titled Hot appeared in 2008, paving the way for full-length Solar in 2010. Initially, Taeyang's smart, hip-hop-flavored pop material didn't turn as many heads as the similarly minded boy band sounds of his better-known parent band, but his 2014 solo outing, Rise, bested their chart stats, debuting at number one on Billboard's World Album charts. The album also broke through on the American charts, making Taeyang the highest-charting Korean male artist of his time. After two years of touring and collaborating with bandmate G-Dragon , Taeyang returned with his third full-length, White Night. The album topped the Billboard World Album chart once again and featured the singles "Darling" and "Wake Me Up." ~ Fred Thomas

Just like the rest of Big Bang, Taeyang stands out for "how serious he is about his craft and artistry," in opposition to the rest of the "manufactured confines of K-pop."[74] Through his older brother, Taeyang met pop music at the age of six, with the music of American singer Michael Jackson, since then he has developed his musical interest mainly influenced by genres soul and R&B.[12] However, he became mainly an R&B singer and dancer,[74] but is also known for fusing hip-hop, soul, and EDM with R&B in his solo albums.[75] Dazed claimed that his sound absorbs "style influences from punk to rap and twinning current underground R&B to his native, hyper-sonic pop music",[16] while Allmusic described his material as "smart, hip-hop-flavored pop."[76] Additionally, Billboard called him one of South Korea's "rare R&B stars."[77] For his second album Rise (2014), Taeyang stated that while "R&B and hip-hop are a given," "there is also electronic, ballad, and rock,"[78] hoping to blend genres like Kanye West.[79] Taeyang lists Miguel, Frank Ocean, The Weeknd and Michael Jackson as his biggest influences,[16] in particular the latter's album Xscape.[80] Lyrically, he is known as a "specialist in love songs". His debut single, "Only Look at Me", narrates a selfish relationship, while in "I Need A Girl" he describes his ideal type.[81]