"Doom Dada" () is a song recorded by the
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...
n rapper
T.O.P, released as a single via
YG Entertainment
YG Entertainment () is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment agency established in 1996 by Yang Hyun-suk. The company operates as a record label, talent agency, music production company, event management and conce ...
on November 15, 2013. It was written by T.O.P, who also composed the track with
Choice37
Robin Cho, better known as Choice37, is an American record producer, songwriter, and DJ based in South Korea. He joined YG Entertainment as a producer in 2009, and has since produced songs for K-pop artists including Big Bang, Blackpink, G-Dragon ...
.
Release
"Doom Dada" was released digitally on November 15, 2013. The announcement was made through YG Entertainment's official website, with a teaser picture showing the rapper riding a motorcycle with a slightly creepy giant baby in the motorcycle side car. On December 13, a physical single album was released, including a CD with "Doom Dada" and its instrumental, unreleased music video making videos and a photobook made up of making of scenes.
Music video
Mirroring the video of his previous single, "Turn It Up", "Doom Dada" is also shot in black and white. The music video for "Doom Dada" was directed by
Seo Hyun-seung. The music video references the
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American filmmaker and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Stanley Kubrick filmography, his films were nearly all adaptations of novels or sho ...
's movie ''
2001: A Space Odyssey''. In a scene, there are apes who find a bone and start experimenting with it. In the movie, it shows the evolution of the human race, but in T.O.P's case as it's a microphone, it's showing the evolution of him as a rapper.
Another inspiration for the video was the
surrealist
Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...
artist
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (11 May 190423 January 1989), known as Salvador Dalí ( ; ; ), was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, ...
. T.O.P wears an upside down mustache, designed in the same way as Dalí's.
Additionally, two of the artist's painting are parodied in the video: ''Baby Map of the World'' and ''The Three Sphinxes of Bikini''.
T.O.P stated that he "wanted to make a unique video that looks like a cult film with some fun elements, a video with a message. I wanted a lot of people to easily visualize the story behind the video."
Critical reception
"Doom Dada" earned the #1 position on ''
Dazed
''Dazed'' (''Dazed & Confused'' until February 2014) is a quarterly British lifestyle magazine founded in 1991. It covers music, fashion, film, art, and literature. ''Dazed'' is published by Dazed Media, an independent media group known for produ ...
'' magazine's Top 10 K-Pop tracks of 2013, with the magazine describing the track as "unexpected and, from a pop standpoint, virtually impenetrable on the first go", adding that the "lyrical rhythms are both inviting and alienating, while the beats align to trap and
M.I.A's jagged tribalism. But go deeper and recognisable cadences reveal themselves.... it's K-Pop but sly, frenetic and slippery." ''Dazed'' concluded that, with this song, T.O.P was leading the evolution of K-Pop.
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
praised the song, noting how the "melody is magnetizing with its whirring synths, tribal beats, and chanting, all of which pale in comparison to the rapper's aggressive, multi-tonal delivery of his verses," and felt that T.O.P "revealed his true artistry" with this song.
Track listing
Charts and sales
Sales
Release history
References
External links
Music VideoOfficial Website
{{authority control
2013 singles
2013 songs
T.O.P songs
YG Entertainment singles
Songs in Korean
Songs written by T.O.P