2NE1

2NE1 (투애니원) is a Korean pop girl group created by YG Entertainment. They were described as the female BIGBANG by YG Entertainment, and are best known for their hit song I Dont' Care. Their name stands for "New Evolution of the 21'st Century".

Members

• CL (Leader, Rapper, Vocals)
• Bom (Main Vocals)
• Dara (Vocals)
• Minzy (Rapper, Vocals)

Information

2NE1 promoting "Lollipop" (2009)

2NE1 promoting "Fire" (2009)

2NE1 promoting "2NE1" (2009)

YG Entertainment revealed a new female group, dubbed the “female BIGBANG” by netizens and consisting of Park Bom, Lee Chae Rin, Gong Minji, and Dara, on October 18, 2008. Yang Hyun Suk, the founder of YG stated: “The final decision is that they will debut next February after sorting out the various preparations for their debut. This new female group will consist of at least 4 members, if not 5, though we have not come to a final decision on that yet. But we are confident that they will be a strong group which will display a different type of charisma for fans." Their debut was announced to occur in April of 2009 yet was postponed to May 2009.

With their group name still undecided, YG Entertainment announced that the “female BIGBANG” would release a digital single with BIGBANG titled “Lollipop”, which was used to promote the LG Cyon cellphone lollipop model. Their official group name, “21” or “ToAnyone”, was revealed on March 27, 2009. The meaning of their name was said to be the name of a group that “will produce music that is fresh like the age of 21. And like the number ‘21’ in a game of Blackjack, it’s meant to never lose.” The CF for “Lollipop” began airing on March 27, 2009, however on March 30, 2009 their group name changed to “2NE1” due to another singer that debuted in 2005 having the same name. YG Entertainment expressed “We recently announced that the female BIGBANG group would be called ‘21’, as in ‘ToAnyone’. However, it was found that there was already a male singer that had debuted in 2005 with the name ‘To Anyone’. Honestly, we had no idea that someone had already debuted under this name.” Yang Hyun Suk clarified “YG's girl group was planning on being introduced as 2NE1 formally before their debut album went on sale, but we ended up announcing it because of this development. Therefore, we hope that there is no misunderstanding about this mishap. ‘2NE1’ was supposed to mean ‘ToAnyone’. However, there are other meanings besides that. Since there is already someone using 21 (To Anyone), we will no longer use that meaning.” The new group name “2NE1” was said to stand for “New Evolution of the 21’st Century”.

“Lollipop” took the #1 spot on music portals such as Dosirak, Bugs, and Cyworld. A YG Entertainment spokesman stated “Lollipop has drawn attention not only because of BIGBANG, but because of the interest in the 2NE1 group members, so therefore ‘Lollipop’ has become even more popular.”

Before their official debut the group released a digital song along with BIGBANG, called Lollipop, created to promote LG Electronics CYON phone. The group's debut stage on Inkigayo with the song Fire was filmed on May 15 2009, and aired on May 17 2009. It lasted 6 minutes, including an introduction video as well as the performance itself. Three new sets made for the introduction video, an equipment called the body mount cameras, never used before in a broadcast programmes. The introduction video featured solo dances of each of the members. On May 19 2009 YG revealed that 2NE1's broadcasted activities would be controlled. The focus would be performances, maybe in small number (ie. appearing in one music program per week), but the group would work a lot on them, hoping to deliver good performances. Promotions for the song ended in June.

The group released a self-titled mini album on July, and promotions for the song "I Don't Care" lasted from June to August. On September, the rest of the album songs were promoted, on a basis of one performance per week. YG has revealed that there are plans of a full 2NE1 album and concert in the making.