Article: 2NE1 Invades America – Behind the Scenes With the K-Pop Phenomenon

2NE1 Invades America: Behind the Scenes With the K-Pop Phenomenon 

“I have to kill it. They’ve been waiting so long, I just have to kill it,” says CL, leader of K-pop sensation 2NE1. It’s almost 9:30 p.m. and she and her bandmember’s Prudential Arena show in Newark, NJ was supposed to begin an hour and a half ago.

CL’s bandmembers are in various states of readiness: Minzy continues to receive quick lipstick and hair fixes as she chats quietly with CL in Korean, the adorable and nymph-like Dara shuffles in and out of the dressing room nervously (despite a fierce half-shaved haircut), and Bom is still in the make-up chair having her hair and face re-touched. The dressing room has handlers everywhere (at least two per girl, though none are pressuring them to get a move on), a steaming vaporizer machine, a deli platter no one’s eating, two boxes of American cigarettes, and a lone piece of red velvet cake.

It’s a big night for 2NE1, not to mention K-pop in general. 2NE1’s “New Evolution” tour makes them the genre’s first girl group to have a global tour, as well as the first to hold a solo arena show in the U.S. Perhaps this is the reason for delay; the girls need to be perfect for such a big debut.

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