{"id":3949,"date":"2026-01-02T12:34:03","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T03:34:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/?p=3949"},"modified":"2026-01-02T17:20:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T08:20:14","slug":"tops-solo-comeback-promotion-draws-scrutiny-amid-bigbangs-20th-anniversary-following-past-retirement-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/?p=3949","title":{"rendered":"TOP&#8217;s Solo Comeback Promotion Draws Scrutiny Amid BIGBANG&#8217;s 20th Anniversary, Following Past &#8216;Retirement&#8217; Claims"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"TOP from BIGBANG \" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/image.xportsnews.com\/contents\/images\/upload\/article\/2026\/0102\/1767319217515138.jpg\" width=\"500\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Actor TOP (real name Choi Seung-hyun), formerly of the group BIGBANG, has announced his solo comeback in time for the 20th anniversary of his debut. With BIGBANG also announcing a comeback this year, TOP&#8217;s preemptive promotions are drawing attention.<\/p>\n<p>On the 1st, TOP uploaded a teaser video on his personal channel with the message, &#8220;A NEW ALBUM IS ON THE WAY. TOP SPOT &#8211; Multi Perspective [ANOTHER DIMENSION],&#8221; hinting at a new song release.<\/p>\n<p>He personally penned the album name &#8216;Multi Perspective,&#8217; signaling his solo comeback. Simultaneously, he introduced a new Instagram account named &#8216;topspot_pictures,&#8217; raising expectations for full-scale activities.<\/p>\n<p>In 2016, TOP was found guilty of smoking marijuana and was sentenced to 10 months in prison, suspended for two years. While serving as a public service worker in the military, he was embroiled in controversy over excessive sick leaves and not submitting medical certificates.<\/p>\n<p>Amidst continuous controversies during his activities with BIGBANG, TOP eventually left the group. He removed the name &#8216;TOP&#8217; and BIGBANG-related career from his profile, even striking an &#8216;X&#8217; through &#8216;BIGBANG&#8217; in articles related to the group. Faced with netizen comments like &#8220;don&#8217;t come back,&#8221; he firmly stated, &#8220;I have no such intentions,&#8221; effectively announcing his retirement from the entertainment industry.<\/p>\n<p>However, despite the retirement announcement, TOP returned as an actor through Netflix&#8217;s &#8216;Squid Game 2&#8217; in 2024.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" height=\"494\" src=\"https:\/\/image.xportsnews.com\/contents\/images\/upload\/article\/2026\/0102\/1767319341934941.jpg\" width=\"550\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In a release interview for &#8216;Squid Game 2&#8217; at the time, TOP said, &#8220;I am not currently in contact with the members. I don&#8217;t know exactly how long it&#8217;s been, but I still feel too guilty to reach out,&#8221; and added, &#8220;I&#8217;ve long decided to leave the team, and that&#8217;s never changed,&#8221; dismissing the possibility of rejoining BIGBANG.<\/p>\n<p>BIGBANG had already officially announced their comeback last year, aiming for 2026. Currently active as a trio with G-Dragon, Taeyang, and Daesung, BIGBANG is set to perform at the &#8216;Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival&#8217; in California this coming April as part of their 20th-anniversary activities.<\/p>\n<p>G-Dragon also heightened fans&#8217; expectations by mentioning at his recent solo encore concert, &#8220;Next year, I&#8217;ll be celebrating the 20th anniversary with my BIGBANG brothers. We&#8217;ll start warming up from April.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Amid this, TOP has also begun promoting his solo comeback ahead of BIGBANG. Reactions among fans are mixed, with some expressing excitement, such as &#8220;It&#8217;s exciting to see a solo after 13 years,&#8221; &#8220;Can we see rapper TOP again?&#8221; and &#8220;It&#8217;s nice to hear such news for the New Year.&#8221; Others voiced criticism, commenting, &#8220;A solo on BIGBANG&#8217;s 20th anniversary? Be considerate,&#8221; &#8220;You said you disliked BIGBANG and left, but now want to celebrate the 20th anniversary?&#8221; and &#8220;Promoting before BIGBANG, did you forget the retirement declaration?&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Actor TOP (real name Choi Seung-hyun), formerly of the group BIGBANG, has announced his solo comeback in time for the 20th anniversary of his debut. With BIGBANG also announcing a comeback this year, TOP&#8217;s preemptive promotions are drawing attention. On the 1st, TOP uploaded a teaser video on his personal channel with the message, &#8220;A [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":3950,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[494,495,496],"class_list":{"0":"post-3949","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kpop-news","8":"tag-bigbang-anniversary","9":"tag-kpop-music","10":"tag-solo-comeback"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-11.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3949"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3949\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3951,"href":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3949\/revisions\/3951"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}