The K-Pop idol group BIGBANG. Photo: Sina Weibo

 
Following years of absence due to scandals, Big Bang, once South Korea's most globally influential K-pop band and often called the "forefathers of BTS," announced on Monday they plan to return to the pop scene in April. 

YG Entertainment, the group's agency, unveiled its major card-on-hand's comeback in a cryptic manner by posting a black Polaroid picture with the footnote "BIGBANG 0AM ARP 05 2022," which fans speculated may be the date of their upcoming single release.  

The post comes on the heels of YG Entertainment's announcement earlier in February that the band will return in spring and that they have already recorded a new song, for which they are currently shooting a music video. 

The band split up four years ago, according to YG Entertainment so members could fulfill their military service, but some believe this was an excuse to shift people's attention away from the drug and sex abuse scandals surrounding the band's members. 

The main reason why such a stigmatized band can make a comeback comes down to its huge commercial value, but also is in part due to the rivalry between anti-feminists and feminist voices in South Korea, which will lead to the figures in power, mostly men, to support the return of such a "valuable band."  

Soon after agency's post, the band's superstar leads G-Dragon and Tae-Yang posted the same 'Polaroid photo' content on Instagram. The other two members, T.O.P, who was involved in a drug use scandal, and Daesung also shared the news on their official platforms, convincing fans that the comeback is real. 

However, the original five-member band will now be forever be four due to Seungri's withdrawal in March 2019 after he was found guilty for facilitating prostitution and embezzlement, which landed the ex-star with a three-year jail sentence in August 2021. 

"Though they helped to promote K-Pop culture, after such scandals South Korean society is just agitated by them, especially female fans who were extremely offended by Seungri's disrespectful misdeeds," Jihoon, a South Korea fan, told the Global Times. 

Due to its global influence, the band's comeback news quickly led the hashtag BIGBANGisBack to trend on Twitter, while the news was also hotly discussed by fans in China, where fans remained conservative. 

"As a fan of eight years, I don't think they can rise to the top again in China, no matter how they have reformed. They are done," Poppy Yan, a member of Big Bang's China fan club, told the Global Times. 

Many fans on Sina Weibo expressed concern that the band members misdeeds would have a negative social impact and become an example that celebrity misconduct is acceptable, while others said that the band should not be praised again as it encourages "misdeed entertainers."

 "If such misdeed entertainers can be popular again in China, then some might ask why Kris Wu can't make a comeback too. This idea is terrible, if one survives, there will be many comebacks again," posted one netizen on Sina Weibo. 

"I think fans in China are more aware of the ethical importance and positive social influences a star should demonstrate as part of their responsibilities. The is not only because the public has been informed about celebrity ethics by movements such as the Clear and Bright campaign, but also due to their sense of justice and the public supervision power of Chinese society," Su Ling, a cultural expert in Tianjin, told the Global Times.  

"Crime is no mistake. I'm an old fan of them, but I know what is right and wrong," Yan noted.  

Debuting in 2006, the band was once South Korea's most successful pop idol group, accumulating countless fans in the US, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and East Asia before the group members' scandals hit the news.