Once upon a time, when JYP’s Stray Kids were new, YG was still run by YG, and countless idols and trainees were wasting away in the basement of that building, I got a text from Alix and KpopontheDL telling me all about a trainee that I was absolutely going to fall in love with one day. The ladies had been watching old, pre-debut content of the development of the Stray Kids and had thoroughly enjoyed the episodes with these promising JYP trainees going head to head with a pile of YG hopefuls in a bit of a dance, rap, vocal battle. They had zeroed in on a particular YG trainee as exactly my type.
Fast forward a couple of years and YG put out the survival show that ultimately resulted in the formation of Treasure, their latest boy group. This group has had a rough start in that they formed and debuted during the tumultuous times surrounding YG’s lawsuits and ousting and the transition of the company to new leadership. That being said, the idols are extremely charming, and their music has been extremely solid – one of their songs even making it to Stephanie’s top 50. To nobody’s surprise, the survival show and ultimately the early format of the group prior to debut was really built around Bang Yedam, the promising golden child trainee spotted by Alix and KpopontheDL all those years ago.
This guy can really do it all. I mean all of it. He is a natural idol. And as if to prove it one more time, before he got lost in a huge group of gorgeous creatures and diverse talent, he put out a solo song that just reached out and grabs you by the heart. Company lore says that Yedam actually recorded the song as a demo back in the day with many, many other YG artists recording it after him. None of them was a good fit for the number and it was never released – that is until it found its way back to him.
This song and his voice were made for each other.
So while, yes, this was on my top fifty list last week, I really wanted to highlight it as a song that folks should sit up and listen to. And while Yedam is a smidge older than most of Treasure and while he isn’t the playful, attention-grabbing puppy that most of the members seem to be, he’s an idol that deserves so much love and support and he’s a talent that more than deserves all the recognition.
Wayo, Bang Yedam
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