Archive for the ‘Article’ Category

Article/Interview: K-Pop Sensation 2NE1 Dresses Up in Jeremy Scott, Givenchy, and Balmain for Complex

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If you haven’t noticed, we love K-pop girl groups. They’re perfectly groomed by their labels’ respective training regimen, and know exactly how to tingle our hearts with sugary croons. Their cutesy antics and dazzling appearances also help a great deal. But often times, their actual talents as singers and performers come into question. High heels and coordinated mini skirts can dazzle a fan base only so far.

YG Entertainment’s girl quartet 2NE1 (a play on “to anyone”) breaks that mold. First appearing on the scene in 2009 with the label’s male counterpart Big Bang on a skull-drilling song “Lollipop,” the girls quickly rebounded on the disputed hype with a thumping club single “Fire.” Equipped with air horns, loud streetwear aesthetics, flamboyant rapping, and free-for-all choreography, the group stood out immediately in a market clustered with fembots. Thanks to the self-titled EP’s release, 2NE1 instantly became a hot commodity in the emerging K-pop market. With a successful follow-up, the official debut LP To Anyone, raking in 120,000 copies in sales, and each of the five singles selling an average of two million downloads, the clique of CL, Minzy, Dara, and Bom became international superstars. Psy who?

Aside from their great range of musical outputs, the group’s known for its excellent styling. While a typical K-pop girl group settles for schoolgirl uniforms or scantily clad dresses, 2NE1’s stylists deck out the members in a wide range of clothing from Brooklyn streetwear brand Mishka to French design house Balmain. This soon caught the attention of designer extraordinaire Jeremy Scott, as he personally set off to provide collaborative adidas Originals gear for the group, propelling 2NE1 as K-pop’s most recognized style icons.

Back in August, during their New Evolution U.S. tour, Complex captured 2NE1 in their finest wardrobes. Jeremy Scott sent us his Fall 2012 collection, and the girls brought in their own Givenchy and Balmain fashions.

Check our fashion photoshoot out in the thumbnails above, and read the next page for our in-depth interview where the girls talk about their upcoming ventures into the U.S. market, solo career ambitions, and how they stand different compared to other K-pop acts.

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Article: G-Dragon Mentions Dara In His Star Column – “Thanks For The Memories!”

Please do make your comments relevant to the article. ^_^ And I only translated the parts where GD mentioned Dara.. Keke.. 

[Star Column] Part 4. World Tour Behind The Scenes (GD)

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The first thing that comes to my memory was hanging out with Dara-noona in the Philippines.
2NE1’s Dara-noona went to the Philippines by herself to watch the Philippine concert. ^^ (Noona~Thank you!!^^)

Because noona was active in the Philippines in the past, we knew that she’d be the person to know the Philippines best, so the members and I all started to ask her, in an insistent and constant manner, to take us out to a nice place. Finally, Dara-noona said that she knows a great restaruant, and suggested that we go out to eat there. So for the first time in a foreign country, all 5 members decided to eat together! Out! So that’s what we did. Not just the members, but other members of the staff as well, managers and security!! As it was the first time for all of us to eat out in a foreign country, all of us were really excited as we all got ready, and finally left with Dara-noona. ^^

At first, we were talking each other and getting more and more excited, and at the same time, we were enjoying the scenery from our window, with the thought of having a picnic in mind. Dara-noona has said that the place we were going to was a bit far, quite outside of town, but still we wanted to go~ go~ go, and so we went.
Then people were starting to get tired and fall asleep, as the sun was setting and  it started to get dark. (I only knew of this later, but they said that at this time, Dara-noona was getting worried. I didn’t know because I was in a different car.. ㅠㅠ)

After two hours, we finally arrived at this great outdoor restaurant, it was a really cool restaurant because you can eat while having a terrific view, specially if you come in the afternoon and can enjoy the sunset. B.U.T. Since we left late, we arrived late in the evening when it was already dark… It became a situation when we had to eat in the dark. Pparabam~! (Dara-noona version ^^) However, it was still a famous restaurant, so we ate the food that Dara-noona had suggested, we had a meaningful time together as we all talked with each other. (This is where I took this photo ~ With this long beer bottle~ You know this, right??)

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One more fact that is absolutely shocking, which we found out almost while we were done eating! This same restaurant was, in fact, also found just 5 minutes away from the hotel where we were staying… Pparabam…..ㅋㅋ
But I didn’t regret anything; we all had a great time, eating delicious food and talking with great people.
If only… We could take out the part where we had to go through the entire 2-hour ride.. ^^;
Dara-noona!! I’m very grateful for the good memories! Thank you~!!! ^^

Credits:

Source: Naver Star Column

Translated by: BlackjackBelle@OhDara/ SlaveTranslator@WeLoveDara

Article: 2NE1 Included in PopCrush’s ‘Artists To Watch In 2013’

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Now that Psy‘s ‘Gangnam Style’ has blown open the door for K-Pop to go mainstream in the U.S., who might be dancing through that door next? Our money’s on South Korean foursome 2NE1, one of the hottest K-Pop acts in the world.

In fact, they were named Best New Band in the World last year in an online vote by viewers of MTV Iggy. The girls have performed live with the Black Eyed Peas, scored multiple Top 10 hits on Billboard’s K-Pop Hot 100, and played their first American concerts last year.

What does their music sound like? It’s poppy, colorful and upbeat, like their K-Pop No. 1 single ‘I Love You’ and the catchy ‘I Am the Best.’ They’ve even released English versions of some of their songs for those of us who are hopelessly monolingual.

Source: PopCrush

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Info/Rumor: Will KESH be working with 2NE1?

A few days ago, KESH tweeted that she has big news and that she will be working with “Korean Superstars” soon. Blackjacks didn’t put too much into it but just an hour ago, she tweeted a photo tagging CL saying, “these will be with you soon!” Is this for 2NE1? Is this for a solo project for CL? As of now, we can only speculate! Here’s hoping that this is for 2NE1’s much awaited comeback!

What do you guys think?

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Kesshia “Kesh” Kumari is an English fashion designer, magazine editor, stylist and DJ based in the East End of London and New York.

Source: @___KESH

Article: 2NE1’s ‘I Love You’ ranks #1 on PopJustice’s ‘The Top 15 K-Pop Singles of 2012’

Yey! 2NE1’s I Love You made it into another list of best songs in 2012! ❤ Even though they released only one song this year, the song still got a lot of achievements and made it into different lists of best songs! I’m so proud of the girls! ^_^

The Top 15 K-Pop Singles of 2012

 1. 2NE1 – ‘I Love You’

With a few “oo-wa-oooh, oo-wa-ooohs,” ‘I Love You’ combines the the best bits of pop into a rarefied cavalcade of amazingness. It’s essentially a Xenomania-style medley-in-a-song. The song starts off with an ‘I Feel Love’-esque disco gloss, but transforms into a monster about 40 seconds from the end with a spill-your-drink synth explosion. CL, Minzy, Bom and Dara also rhyme “I love you every day in every way” with “neol saranghae,” the Korean for ‘I love you.’ This is the song that made me most excited about pop this year. You hear something new every time you listen to it.

Best Bit: The shots of Dara among red lanterns in the snow from 1:04 – 1:16, among Mad Men sillhouettes, who – pouf! – disappear into thin air.

Check out Big Bang’s Blue at 2nd place and all the other songs on their list below!

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Article: Enewsworld’s Top 5 Chatterboxes

Woooo! Guess our Goddess isn’t only the queen of me2day, but of Twitter too! Keke~ ^^

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Sandara Park

The girls of 2NE1 were also busy taking on the world this year, but member Sandara Park wasn’t too busy to keep fans posted on their whereabouts through her me2day.

So, when the loyal me2day user attempted to quietly join Twitter this year, it, of course, didn’t remain a secret for long.

The queen of emoticons and photo decals, Sandara Park’s SNS updates not only brightened up cyberspace, they made for an extra sweet 2012.

Check out G-Dragon, and the other 3 artists who made it to top 5! ^^

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Article: FuseTV – “Best of 2012: The Year K-Pop Crossed Over”

JULY: ‘BEST NEW BAND’ 2NE1 ROCKS THE WORLD

Producer-DJ Diplo had predicted 2NE1‘s victory in MTV Iggy’s “Best New Band in the World” battle long before results came out last November. This fierce hip hop/electro-dance quartet had blown their competition out of the water, claiming a large majority of votes before holding their victory concert at Times Square’s Best Buy Theater a month later.

2NE1 has taken the world by storm since the release of “Fire” in 2009, embarking on their first world tour a mere three years after debuting — unheard of in K-pop. The ladies hit the road in July for their New Evolution tour, stopping in New Jersey to chat with Fuse about music styles and performing stateside.

 

2NE1 has also been working on some top secret material with will.i.am, who made a surprise appearance at the group’s Los Angeles show. He’s rumored to be helping 2NE1 drop a US album, so definitely be on the lookout!

Source: FuseTV

Article: Billboard’s 20 Best K-Pop Songs of 2012 – 2NE1’s “I Love You” at #4

Billboard 20

Source: Billboard

Article: NY Times – Pop’s Big Nights; The Best Concerts of 2012 (2NE1 and BigBang at #2)

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A concert is always more than just a rendering of songs. It’s a musical revamp, a real-time test, a spectacle, a pop-up community, perhaps a dance party or an incipient riot — and, even in the YouTube era, an ephemeral, site-specific experience. Here the pop and jazz critics of The New York Times recall some of their favorite live events of 2012, in order of importance.

#2 – 2NE1 and Big Bang

2NE1 Aug. 17, and BIGBANG Nov. 8, both at Prudential Center, Newark. This was the year K-pop arrived — not in the form of “Gangnam Style,” which was everywhere and yet completely evanescent — but in these arena shows, which were full of thousands of young, paying fans eager to see the girls of 2NE1 and the boys of BigBang, groups with zero American hits between them, but rabid American followings all the same.

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Source: NY Times

Article: 2NE1, Big Bang, GD, and Psy on Billboard Korea’s KPOP Hot 100 – Best of 2012

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Billboard Korea, is based on digital sales via leading websites as well as downloads from mobile service sites using an industry-standard formula and the most credible music data sources within Korea. The Korea K-Pop Hot 100 ranks the best selling singles and tracks.

#1: PSY – Gangnam Style (Also ranked #47 on US HOT 100,#27 on Digital Songs & #37 on Canadian HOT 100)
#9: BIGBANG – Fantastic Baby
#10: 2NE1 – I Love You 
#11: BIGBANG – Blue
#18: PSY ft. Lena Park – What Should Have Been
#20: PSY ft. Sung Si Kyung – Passionate Goobye
#26: Lee Ha Yi – 1234
#30: GD ft. Kim YoonA – Missing You
#45: GD – Crayon
#46: GD – That XX
#54: Se7en – When I Can’t Sing
#56: Epik High ft. Lee Ha Yi – It’s Cold
#58: BIGBANG – Monster (Also ranked #64 on Rock Albums & #18 on Hard Rock Albums)
#65: BIGBANG – Bad Boy
#97: BIGBANG – Love Dust

Source: Billboard

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