Bigger Than Psy: 2NE1 and the Future of K-Pop

The event roster for the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, is fairly diverse. On any given night, the arena might play host to an American Idol concert, a hockey game or a death-metal mini-festival. But on August 17^th, the main attraction was something unusual even for a bastion of bizarreness.

Just before bass started thumping, a projector illuminated the curtain with images of a diamond, a spade, a heart and a club, representing the four diminutive members of the musical act known as 2NE1. Pronounced “twenty-one,” as in blackjack’s magic number, the group—CL, Bom, Minzy and Dara—proceeded to stomp across the stage as a crowd of 10,000-plus rapped and sang along with them in Korean.

“I think Korea right now is really passionate about music. I mean, everybody is, but we’re passionate about performing and we love music,” CL explained when the group stopped by FORBES’ New York headquarters a few days later. “So I think the world is feeling that right now, feeling the energy.”

The world certainly is feeling the energy of Korean pop music—better known as K-Pop—in general, and one need only look at Seoul rapper Psy’s viral “Gangnam Style” video for evidence. The clip has racked up over 475 million YouTube views in since its launch three months ago; Psy himself was recently signed to Schoolboy Records, the Universal Music Group imprint run by Scooter Braun, who also manages Justin Bieber, Carly Rae Jepsen and Asher Roth.

Though Psy has been getting all the publicity of late, his female counterparts in 2NE1 may actually be the bigger stars. Known by many as the Korean version of the Spice Girls, the group has sold 27 million digital downloads to date, including the single “I Am The Best,” which moved 4.5 million units and won Song of the Year honors at Asia’s Mnet Awards.

“Before this song, people in other markets knew 2NE1 more than Psy,” says Danny Im, former member of the K-Pop group 1TYM. “2NE1 was way bigger. They were hitting No. 1 when Psy was on hiatus.”

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