I think that was a rather stupid thing for CL to say, especially because she is trying to make it in both of those countries. Also, there's the fact that most Kpop artists have very little control over their music careers, including their images, the lyrics that they sing, etc., unlike many Japanese and American artists.

Anyway, the performance: It was awesome! :heart The girls sounded so good!! I agree with others in feeling sorry for the birds (especially the parrot on CL's shoulder).

The comeback stage was EPIC!! like seriously?! Parrot? omg..

about what CL said, i just came to know. Hmmm...sometimes translations can be translated in more wrong manner so...its hard to say. And sometimes the tone that she also said it in matters...I mean, comparing this to the Block B issue last year, where we could clearly see the WAY they said it WILL make a difference. They have worked with producers from both sides and..I remember CL once saying that while working with will.i.am...the way they record is totally different from the way they do it in Korea. I can't remember exactly she said one country does MANY takes (i think it was in Korea) and while in US, they do ONE session and it's done.

She just made a bad choice of words

You people are upset because CL says she is passionate about the music she is singing? You should probably go listen to more half-hearted music then :roll eyes (like most pop music in the US :P!)

It's not like one of those K-pop singers saying, "yeah, she's pretty for a black girl".

Amen!

^People are upset not just because she says she is passionate, but for saying that US and Japanese singers AREN'T as passionate as Korean singers. Which is quite a judgemental and offensive statement to make publicly, even if you personally believe so and don't mean harm by it. I adore CL, but If I was a singer, I would find that a little disrespectful.

I personally don't think it's just a bad choice of words, but her opinion. I say that just because her choice of words were quite clear and direct (If the translation is 100% correct. They COULD have re-worded her words). While it's perfectly okay to have that opinion, (even I think Japanese and Korean singers invest more passion and creativity in their music) it's content is a bit offensive to Japan and the US that 2NE1 is trying to market towards. Stating that they are 'not as passionate' is quite a derogatory statement to make. So it was not a clever choice of words. It's the sort of statement that Japanese Netizen's (especially the ones that don't like Korean singers coming to Japan) will find offensive and blow up about, especially since Japan is quite proud of it's entertainment industry.

Not only that, it makes CL herself appear quite judgemental and negative, which fans will find disheartening since no one wants to believe that their Idol has that sort of attitude. (Not saying CL does, but her comment could be interpreted that way by her fans). If she had said "I personally think US and Japanese singers are not passionate as Korean singers", than fine, in that statement she is only expressing her opinion. By saying "US and Japanese singers aren't as passionate as Korean singers" (if that is what she said) that is a direct judgement/accusation, not just an opinion.

But asides from all that, I loved the Inkigayo performance, it was very well shot!! Asides from the poor swans that probably didn't appreciate the loud music, lol. At first I was a bit, 'eh' abot 'I Love You', but I am warming to it very quickly. I really like the PV and their new fashion. <3 Dara's hair looks awesome and CL is even more fierce than previous!

You said all what I was about to say! So True! :yes

http://telluofficial.blogspot.co.uk/...20708-sbs.html

^Download the Inkigayo Intro + I Love You Performance in HD 720p at Tellu's blog! :)

btw, was the part of the intro where CL raps:
"Yeah in the club it's gettin UGLY I DON'T CARE
CAN'T NOBODY stop the FIRE"

supposed to be a play on their track titles? :P

Just watched the MV, they all looked stunning in it. I kind of love Dara's new hair on her, which surprised me as it's kinda a tacky cut usually. CL looked so sexy. She is always gorgeous though. I thought the outfits were pretty cool too (because I have no taste lol). They chose them well to accentuate their err... features :p I love the song too, it's different, but very 2NE1.

And that live, oh my gosh. It was amazing. Seriously though, I don't want to know what they did to those swans to just make them chill on stage. The swans here would have broken their legs or something lol They all worked it and delivered. I am so happy right now.

These girls are my QUEENS ♥

I loooveeed their comeback performance! It was nothing short of amazing! I will be updating the first post soon with all the latest releases/images/etc...

Also Minzy looked HOT! And this is coming from a straight woman lol.

not all american music is "half-hearted" obviously you all are listening to the wrong kind.


I don't agree with cl but whatever to each and his own.

CL was probably talking about her own experiences, since they have yet to debut in the west and all the did in Japan was re-record their own songs :laugh

Not really feeling their new song, kind of a downgrade from their mini last year.

I hope they will include Europe in their "world tour"

It's going to be so hard to top the mini from last year, probably my favourite Kpop girl group release. Even if they don't top it, I'll still be happy, because this song is amazing - even if it's no IATB.

I can't wait for the next song!

I'm pretty sure they will! ^^

From the interview which was shared in this thread:
“We’ll be going to Los Angeles in America right after our Seoul concert, and one month later we’ll be doing performances in Japan before going to Europe."(Dara)

Here's the link again:
http://ygladies.com/news/2ne1/120707...orld-tour-2ne1

Minzy's Grandmother, Gong Ok Jin, passed away this morning around 4:49 am KST.

You can read the article here: http://enewsworld.mnet.com/enews/contents.asp?idx=9373

Poor Minzy. I'm keeping her and her family in my prayers :(.

^ So sad to hear :( I hope Minzy is okay

Poor Minzy~ May her grandmother rest in peace.

That could be an explanation. :) I think it's a comment that everyone can take different ways or will miss the real meaning behind it because of the way that it's worded/translated, when in fact it could be just as simple as that. It's so easy. I think as a comment it is worded quite derogatory, but she could have meant it in a less offensive way such as she thinks Korean singers are the more 'Ambitious' kind of passionate, which they are. I think it could be taken so many ways but initially reading it, it sounds quite offensive. Hopefully that isn't what she meant. I'm not sure CL would say something that offensive in a public interview, considering the circumstances. (Especially since she is debuting in both countries) So maybe she does mean it like you said. :) They US debut is going rather slowly...

Poor Minzy! D: I want to give her a huge hug!! <3

To Minzy: Hang in there girl. I lost my grandmother too. Just remember that she'll still always be there for you in spirit, and you will always have her memories & lessons to push you down the difficult & complicated road of life. *HUGS*

oh god poor minzy

yeah, so sad to hear about Minzy's grandma. :(
i tweeted her last night~

@mingkki21 상실감이 돼서 죄송합니다.ㅜㅜ

honestly,it is:rolleyes

also, today Papa Yg just made an official statement apologizing for using the birds for the comeback stage

^That's cool. Were people quite upset about it then? The Swans were cool but they must have been uncomfortable. I think they were swimming on water but they must have been like, tied or something to stop them from flying off?

The girls have cancelled their comeback performance on Mnet's M! Countdown and instead CL, Bom, & Dara will hold a live chat on me2day.

A representative of YG Entertainment stated:

More info can be found here: http://eromaknae.wordpress.com/2012/...for-this-week/

-------------

Also, for anyone who may be confused (because I certainly was when I saw it) 'Great-Aunt' is the same as saying 'Grandmother' in Korea (or so I have been told).

Even then, the birds probably still had clipped wings.

I really love "I Love You". Been jamming to it on repeat all weekend.

Stay strong Minzy! I'm glad they were allowed to cancel their performance, I can't imagine it being an easy thing to do.

Good on YG for apologising about the birds, they must have done something rather horrible to the swans to keep them so passive. If you just look at a swan here they open their wings out, and they're totally capable of breaking bones.

I Love You dance practice! :D
looks like the scarves as a staple for the performance.
and holy Minji knows how to shake her behind. :laugh

Thank you so much for posting the dance practice video! They're always enjoyable as they allow you to focus more on choreography than anything else.

^you're welcome!
also, has anyone heard about this?
one of their new songs is going to be used in a Mayebelline New York commercial! :D

I believe the song is supposed to be the title track for their upcoming Japanese single that's been released on the 29th of August. It's been said that it's going to be an original track but I'm still wondering if it's going to be a remake of one of their new songs on their upcoming album.

OMG they look so great ^^

I think that was mainly because of animal rights activists

So, I'm new to 2NE1, but am loving them thanks to Calico! :D

Their first song I really listened to is actually their newest release. I just LOVE it! The MV is GORGEOUS! Their music is really powerful and fun! :heart And I love BOM! She's beautiful and has an amazing voice.

I was looking at their bios in the first post, and I find it so funny how two of the girls were born in 1984, the year I was born, and then they have two other girls born in 1991 and 1994?! That's a ten year age difference for Minzy and it makes me feel old! :laugh

I was born in 1985, so I know how you feel... especially when people say celebs like BoA are old... who was born in '86... :P
Anyways, back on topic, I've been a Blackjack(2NE1 fan) for a few years now. Did you have any questions and such I could help you out with? :)

I was born in 1984 too, and I felt the same when I read their bio's :P


I wonder if they will be performing on any live shows this weekend? So far, they haven't been on either M Countdown or Music Bank.

^They had to cancel M! Countdown because of Minzy's grandma dying, and did a live chat instead. But hopefully they'll be rescheduled on. :)

It would be cool to see some footage of their live chat! When is another single coming out for their album?

Oooh, the live chat would be cool to see.

I'm glad that Minzy was able to take some time to mourn for her grandma, especially with everything you hear about idols never having any time off.

Next single is scheduled to release July 25th. Each single is supposed to come out 3 weeks between each other.

So considering its every 3 weeks, here's my personal estimations.

July 25th = Single#2
August 15th = Single#3
September 5th = Single#4
September 26th = Single#5
October 17th = Single#6
November 7th = Single#7
etc...

Hey all, I'm not sure if you heard about the 2NE1 fan art contest, but they did a fan art competition, and you can see 2NE1 holding the winner's work here: http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g3...yan6o1_500.png

BUT it's come to light that infact, that is not his work. HE STOLE IT. He stole it from a well known artist, Adriana Melo, and entered it in. He simply cropped out her signature, and submitted it as his own. And he won for it.

This is Adriana's original artwork on her official DA page (you can see her signature at the bottom): http://adrianamelo.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d48tcz3

And this is his submittal (where you can see the bottom is cropped): http://yfrog.com/0t04szj

This is her Tumblr post, where she expresses her disappointment: http://adrianamelo.tumblr.com/post/2...-my#post-notes

He does not deserve that credit for winning, it is Adriana's artwork!!! I have already messaged 2NE1's official Facebook about it, but it would be great if you all could spread the world, so that maybe 2NE1 will get this message! He's not only made a fool out of Adriana but also 2NE1, by making them believe it was his! Please spread the word!!

^I've been posting this all over facebook this morning!! I don't want this jerk to get away with it!!

i reblogged her Tumblr post.
what possesses people to do these things is beyond me. ;/

oh dear that is why I think I hate internet in terms of copyright right

I've reblogged it in my tumblr as well.
Hope it'll be resolved!

I love you MV making of (with english subtitles):
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xs5...eng_shortfilms

Oh, wow, that's awful!!! I hope that 2ne1 is made aware!

wow....that's absolutely disgusting that someone would do something like that. I reblogged it. Wish we could do more!!

--
On a side note, just listened to I Love You for the first time and watched the PV. I LOVE it!!! This is definitely my favorite song by them, by far. It's so melodic, plus it has a nice beat and a great rap/breakdown. Unexpected and lovely change of genre :)
Ofc I knew these ladies could pull it off!!

The girls' most recent performance of 'I Love You':



Haha, Dara reminds me sooo much of G-Dragon 'Fantastic Baby' with the hair in this clip. <3

-------------------------------------------

New Evolution Tour Band Rehearsal Pic:

http://eromaknae.files.wordpress.com.../115.jpg?w=630

Credit: Eromaknae

^Awesome!! Been watching that several times today already. :D

maybe it's the video, but doesn't it look like Bom is lipsyncing? o_O

Nope :)

what a jerk for stealing her beautiful art~ I hope YG/2NE1 will do something about this!

I believe someone would stoop so low... actually, I can, but it doesn't make it any less disgusting. :shakehead

Dara's pink hair is AMAZING! She looks sexy and stunning :luv2

I like this new performance much better than the 1st comeback stage, really

I can't believe he won for it.
That sucks.

2NE1 in '1st Look' Magazine:

http://ygladies.com/access/wp-conten...er-2ne1-10.jpg

Source: YG Ladies

^AWESOME SHOT!!!

I love Dara's hair..
It's really unusual for anyone to pull it off, so I'm sort of obsessed with it. It makes her look more fierce than usual (aka cone hair a-la I Am the Best MV)

great fasion :)

OMG !!! BOM & DARA ♥♥

That reminded me of brown eyed girls for some reason lmao

^I can see what you mean, haha. :D

On my holiday last week I bought the 2011 NOLZA Korean concert. I'm sure I'm late to the party, but seriously, HOW FREAKING AMAZING IS IT?!?! :thud

The only thing I wasn't crazy about was Bom's dress:

^I got it for Christmas 2011 :D :D :D :D

Was incredible! Even the packaging is awesome!!! :D
Also, i like that dress.

I luv that dress :D

ANNOUNCEMENT: 2NE1 NEW GLOBAL SITE COMING SOON!
http://www.2ne1global.com/

^Woohoo!!! So it'll be completely i English then? ^^

Wonder if this has anything to do with them making their US debut later...?

Ah, I loved their new performance. They just keep finding ways of making their performances full with more energy. Especially CL, she shines in her performances recently. I love how she smiles all the time!

It took me awhile to warm to 'I Love You', but I really like it now. I like it more than 'Lonely'. :)

I read that Dara's cried when she first had her head shaved. Poor Dara! XD She always gets subjected to weird hair experiments compared to the others. I hope she knows is looks awesome on her, though. I think it's the best hairstyle she's had. :)

Bam Ratatata Tatatatata
Oh my god

really?? i read somewhere that she actually wanted more shaved than what they did. either way she looks amazing.

More '1st Look' Magazine Shots:



Sorry guys, there was a ridiculous amount of them! :0P

EDT: ...Andddd for some reason a lot of them aren't showing up! Oh well, the link is here if you guys want to view the rest:

http://gallery.ygladies.com/thumbnai...bum=824&page=2

BOM♥♥ She looks so gooooood.
And Minzy should really have black hair, seriously :)

OMG THUNDER GOT A FEATURE!! THATS SO COOL..!
and CL and Dara are models haha!

so cool ;)

THERE'S ENGLISH SUBTITLES ON THE 2011 NOLZA DVD!!! I DIED!!! :thud

LOL! Just noticed, huh? :P
Most of the DVD releases from YG Entertainment have English Subs now. So you'll find em on all the YGFamily, 2NE1 & BIGBANG DVD releases from Korea. Especially the concerts. YG has been REALLY making the extra effort to reach out to the international fans. :D

^I really appreciate that. They really are taking the extra effort to boost the international popularity of their stars rather then simply relying on riding on the Hallyu Wave.

^Yes :D :yes
I also noticed more of the DVDs are releasing as ALL REGION. If you go on YA it says the NOLZA 2011 DVD is only R3, but I tried it in my portable player which is R1 ONLY and it still plays. :D

Also YG now has an Official Shop set up on ebay in English too. :D

^
WAIT... so you're telling me... if I bought NOLZA 2011, it would play in my dvd player AND have english subs?!?!
:thud

^YUP:D

U should see the packaging too!! Its incredible! The box is this black fuzzy velvet stuff. :D

:heart

ok.. maybe I have to have this in my life

To show you, this is my video of me opening it back at Christmas. :D

2NE1 M! Countdown:

Bleh I don't think Minzy was rockin' that hairstyle all that much..and her eyebwows looked so thick! :shakehead

Dara & CL looked gorgeous in those pix though :heart.

Dara's hair is amazing! :D
i think this is their best sounding ILY performance. ^^

Dunno if this was posted yet or not

Yeah, I had no idea, before CLAP YOUR HANDS started playing I thought I'd see if there were korean subs, and then I noticed I could select English subs and actually see what they were saying in their MCs! :thud So Big Bang's DVDs have subs too? :dead2

I didn't really understand the whole "showing my charms" bit, but I wanted to see Bom's and CL's. Though I haven't watched disc 2 yet... :innocent

Yeah I dont get the "show ur charms" thing either. Maybe it means to show yourself being cute. I'm sure it's probably some Korean culture thing that we don't quite understand. I think they were mostly just playing around though. The other thing I never understand and ALL the Asians seem to do it is they introduce themselves during a concert. I could see doing it for people like dancers, the band or stunt people, but honestly, fans paid for the tickets to come see your live concert so it seems obvious enough that they already know who YOU THE STAR(S) of the show are.

Changing subject, but that new rehearsal video of the "New Evolution" Tour looks awesome. I'm really excited. Looks like the show will be even MUCH BETTER than the 'NOLZA 2011' from last year. :D

It's all region?
Great news, cause I didn't buy it therefor... and I wanted it so bad!
Now I'll do it as soon as I can! :woohoo:

It'll definitely play Regions 1 & 3. That much I know for sure. I'm guessing that means it's ALL REGION. However, since you're in Germany I'll change my laptop drive to R2 and check to make sure it'll work in this Region as well for you before you go ahead and decide to spend the money on it. :)

That would be great of you, so kind! :)

I changed it to Russia, Europe etc and it works. However, I'm having trouble trying to figure out how to change it again. Before it just popped up. -_-

Hey sorry. Got it on R2 and it's not playing. Guess it's R1 & R3 for sure.

Ah, that's a pity. :(
But thanks for clearing!

^Most DVD players allow you to change the region on it, infact most recent DVD players do have region all on them, so you should check to see if yours does. :) I have to change mine to region all from Region 2 (Cause I'm in the UK, it's R2, like Germany) to watch the DVD on Ayumi's GUILTY album I have, as I bought the Avex Taiwan edition. :)

Also, their performances are awesome. :3 Although it seems quite long to have 3 weeks between each single, and then the album release much later. What was the time inbetween on the last one? I could have sworn it was a week-2 weeks at the most?

Every single is being released 3 weeks apart. However, to EVERYONE, I really think its best to just wait for the album and listen to the songs by watching the MVs on youtube in the meantime. There's no point in buying EVERY song separate when it'll all be together later anyways.

"2NE1 Photo Essay Book - What's Up? We’re 2NE1"

Release Date: 7/27/12

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/2NE1-Whats-Up...TG1!~~60_3.JPG

Description from YesAsia:
Preorder links:
YesAsia: 2NE1 Photo Essay Book - What's Up? We’re 2NE1

Some sellers have also started listing this book on eBay. I'm definetely purchasing this!

^I wonder how much is in English....

Cool ! :)

:rolleyes

maybe each single mat have bonus features or whatever so maybe people would want that.

But I agree