''Solar'' is the first studio album by South Korean singer

Taeyang Dong Young-bae (; born May 18, 1988), better known by his stage names Taeyang (meaning "sun" in Korean) and SOL (when performing in Japan), is a South Korean singer, songwriter and dancer. After appearing in Jinusean's music video "A-yo", Tae ...

, a member of boy group

Big Bang The Big Bang event is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models of the Big Bang explain the evolution of the observable universe from t ...

. It was released via

YG Entertainment YG Entertainment Inc. () is a South Korean 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 concert production comp ...

on July 1, 2010, and was distributed in three formats—a regular edition, a deluxe edition (which was limited to 30,000 copies worldwide) and was made available for digital consumption. Four singles were spawned from the album: "Where U At", "Wedding Dress" and "I Need a Girl" (featuring bandmate

G-Dragon Kwon Ji-yong (; born August 18, 1988), also known by his stage name G-Dragon (지드래곤), is a South Korean rapper, singer-songwriter, record producer, entrepreneur and fashion designer, known as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, K ...

) and "I'll Be There". The international edition of the album, titled ''Solar International'', was the first K-pop release to be sold worldwide on iTunes with both an audio and video album. The audio version (complete with a

digital booklet Digital booklet is the digital equivalent of booklet attached to physical release that often accompany digital music purchases. They are most commonly distributed in PDF. One well-known distributor of digital booklets with digital purchases is the ...

) was made available on iTunes on August 19, 2010, while the video version (bundled with bonus behind the scenes documentaries) was released on September 10.

Singles

"Where U At" (featuring Teddy Park) was the first promotional single of the album. It was released on October 14, 2009. The music video shows Taeyang dancing with two back up dancers (choreographers), Lyle Beniga and Shaun Evaristo, in an alleyway. Teddy Park's rap shows him wearing a leather coat, while tossing an apple in one hand, on a motorbike. Taeyang wears black with the dancers and then changes to white at the dance break. In the end of the video, the dancers walk away and Taeyang walks down an alleyway looking back at a girl ("Wedding Dress" prequel). "

Wedding Dress A wedding dress or bridal gown is the dress worn by the bride during a wedding ceremony. The color, style and ceremonial importance of the gown can depend on the religion and culture of the wedding participants. In Western cultures and Anglo ...

", an R&B song, was released in November 2009, just a month after the release of "Where U At", making it the second promotional single of the album. "I Need a Girl" (featuring

) was released in conjunction with ''Solar'' on July 1, 2010. An R&B track, its lyrical content consists of Taeyang expressing the type of woman he wants. Both the music video and dance version video features labelmate

Sandara Park Sandara Park ( English pronunciation: ; born November 12, 1984), also known by her stage name Dara (Korean: 다라 English pronunciation: ), is a South Korean singer, actress and television presenter. She rose to fame in the Philippines as ...

as Taeyang's love interest and includes appearances by G-Dragon. "I'll Be There" was released on August 23, 2010, and served as the second single from the album. The music video released for the track pays homage to "

Thriller Thriller may refer to: * Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television ** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre Comics * ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...

" by Michael Jackson, set against the backdrop of a graveyard and haunted mansion with a "lifeless, jerky choreography."

Accolades

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Sales

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2010 albums Taeyang albums YG Entertainment albums Korean-language albums Albums produced by G-Dragon Albums produced by Teddy Park