YG Entertainment (YGE) released the first teaser image for Big Bang’s much anticipated new album today. The image has “2011.02.24” as the release date of the album and says “4th Mini Album Release” on the bottom, indicating Big Bang’s new album won't be a full album.

It comes as a surprise that Big Bang is releasing a mini album this time as it was widely expected the group would release their first full album in two years. But some local media said this is just part of YG’s strategy to keep the fans more engaged with the group by releasing more albums frequently. In fact, G-Dragon has mentioned in an interview that the group has plans to release another album this year after their return from Japan. There were rumors of this album including some rock-style tracks, but with just one teaser image release, it’s hard to predict what it will look like.

The highly popular boy group is currently in the States filming their new music video. They are scheduled to release their new tracks through the “2011 BIG SHOW” from Feb. 25th to 27th. YGE explained the reason for choosing a live event over a more customary TV show route is because a live concert allows the artist to showcase every track with no time restraints as opposed to TV shows where you’re limited to only a handful of performances. It’s also a better platform to interact with fans and get them engaged in the performance as well, YGE said. With a mini album release, it’s doubtful that Big Bang will have that many new tracks to perform. But YGE may use the “2011 BIG SHOW” as a stage to showcase some of their other recent hit songs, such as from GD & TOP’s unit album and Seungri’s latest solo album. Tickets to the show have all been sold out but we’ll keep you posted as soon as the new album gets released. Stay tuned!

Credit: eugenekim222@Soompi & bigbang.net