Causing an uproar on the music charts with 3 title songs in the first album.
The recent music industry has been stimulated with the first official album release from 2NE1. With rumors that the songs on the album were good, there were some companies that changed the album release date to avoid clashes with 2NE1.
Like the assumptions, the first album that was released in September has gained a lot of attention. Their strategies included having three different title songs, ‘Can’t Nobody’, ‘Clap your Hands’, and ‘Go Away’. However, all three songs have place 1-3 place on the music charts. Other songs ‘It Hurts’, ‘I’m Busy’ and ‘Love is Ouch’ have all placed in the top ten.
The members who had the interview with Yeonhap news stated that had about 120,000 copies of the album come in for preorder and that they were just itching to get on stage. They showed their confidence by stating, “We wanted to show that our music and style had improved.”
◇ “Hiphop. The middle scale is our charms” - One of the reasons that 2NE1 gained so much attention was through the album release in a year since the hit songs, ‘I Don’t Care’ and ‘Fire’. Also, they tried their best to stay away from variety programs to keep the freshness in their images.
The most important fact to note is that the members had chosen hiphop and took a different path unlike the usual girl groups with Girls Generation, Kara, and more. They had also attracted female fans by displaying the strong female image in their songs.
Leader CL commented, “Hiphop plays a big role in the music color of YG. Yang Hyunsuk president wanted us to show off the charms of a female group embracing hiphop. I think that is why he experiments on us more than Big Bang.”
‘Can't Nobody’ is classified as a “strong song” by the members. However, songs like ‘Go Away’ with a fun beat and ‘Clap your Hands’ with a hiphop beat have the melody that sounds familiar to the public.
From Hiphop to reggae, rock, and R&B, each member has their strengths in their field of music. The members had stated that they were able to show off their best thanks to the YG producers, Teddy and Kush.
Sandara stated, “Honestly, hiphop doesn’t match my voice. So Teddy oppa was able to find a part right for me in ‘Can’t Nobody’ just like he did for me in the song ‘Fire’. That was why I could have covered my weaknesses.”
Gong Minji aka. the ‘’bass tone enhancer,” had showed off her skills as a singer and rapper along with CL who had been chosen as the artist who has the most “testable voice.” However even their voices were not hidden by the power vocals from Park Bom.
◇”They said we are looked like the Asian dolls from the shows ” - 2NE1 didn’t get to rest much during their break. This was because they were busy working on an American debut album with Black Eyed Pea’s Will.I.Am.
When Jinu from Jinusean showed the music video of 2NE1 at a party to Will.I.Am, he immediately showed interest and volunteered to be a producer for them.
The members had used April of last year to record with will.i.am at Los Angeles while staying at his home/studio for a week. They also went through a second round of recording in May in the studio located in London and Los Angeles.
“Will.i.am told us that we looked the Asian dolls from the show. I guess he was interested in our Asian image. We even ate Samgae Tang (Korean chicken soup) and kimchi together. He was even interested in the sound of Gayageum (Korean traditional instrument) he saw on in a video. When we were working together, he tried to make a type of music that will be able to bring the two cultures together.” (Sandara)
The members said that there was a difference in the method of recording.
“We recorded about 10 songs in English and those songs had all been the work of Will.I.Am himself or him and some other person. In Korea we split up the song in different parts and then record it, but Will.I.Am finished the recording after making us sing a few times all the way through. Since we weren’t used to this, we had a lot of regrets at the end.” (CL)
Even when we were talking about this, the members stated, “We still can’t believe that we worked with Will.I.Am.”
◇”We want to give hope to people looking for their dreams” - The members of 2NE1 in their 10s had given up their ordinary life debuting as a singer. CL, who had dropped out of high school in Junior year, was able to pass the exit exam two years ago and Gong Minji had to drop out of her high school with graduation in sight.
CL stated, “It’s sad that I won’t be able to have an ordinary life, but this is such a happy job that will be the 100% energy in me. I have no regrets.”
Gong Minji added smiling, “The stage is like an addiction. Since singing and dancing had been my dreams all this time, I fall even more into those charms every time I’m on stage. These days I get the urge to make the audience go crazy.”
They both agreed that they want to be a ‘positive role model’ since they got into the music industry earlier.
“We want to be an icon instead of being an idol. Since presenting good music to the public is the job of a singer, we want to give hope to the ones who are working for their dreams. We want to be that confident icon that represents women.” (CL)
Credit: YG United
