[The Night before Comeback] 2NE1 Marks the Beginning of YG Artists’ Comeback in 2014… How Big Sensation Will It Create?
[OSEN=이혜린 기자] 2NE1, a girl group who has created sensation with their novel music and bold stage performance for every comeback, releases their second regular album “CRUSH” at 0 o’clock on the 27 and comes back. The new album is the so-called “final blow” adding to “FALLING IN LOVE”, “DO YOU LOVE ME”, and “MISSING YOU” released in the second half of last year.
Not only 2NE1 but also their label YG Entertainment have a special resolution for the new album. YG’s head Yang Hyun Suk said that “2NE1’s new album has an unprecedented quality”, so fans expectations for the album have been heightening to the peak. Fancy teaser images of each member, which have been creating sensation recently, a music-listening event attended by experts, as well as a comeback performance on the stage of world tour, are all being advanced well for 2NE1’s comeback.
# Targeting Both Artistic Shock and Popularity
2NE1 is a group who creates a subtle harmony between a drastic styling and popular melody. They shock people with a strong hip-hop beat and extraordinary fashion, but their music has a strange power that makes people sing along it, so 2NE1’s music is usually ranked in high places on music charts.
That is why people have the highest expectations for how 2NE1’s new music will be “easy to sing along”, while being “extraordinary” at the same time. As 2NE1 well understands such expectations, they have put up double title for the new album. According to opinions produced from the music-listening event, “COME BACK HOME” is expected to reproduce the shock that “Taiji & Boys” created with their original version of “COME BACK HOME” about a decade ago. It is a cross-over music in which elements of R&B, reggae, and hip-hop are mixed together, and it was evaluated to be the song that represents 2NE1’s identity.
“GOTTA BE YOU” seems to be a choice made to pursue popularity. Yang Hyun Suk talked about the song, “This song was co-produced by YG producer TEDDY and PK. It is a popular song that has a quick tempo and the melody in BOM’s main part where she cries ‘gotta be you’ leaves a very strong impression”, and expectably, it got high scores for popularity at the listening event.
# The First YG Artist to Come Back This Year… Heavy Responsibility
YG is a label whose lineup for comeback is especially undisclosed. As the company pays an extra-careful attention to producing, comeback of its artists is put off frequently. At first, TAEYANG was expected to comeback for the first time in 2014 among YG artists, but his comeback seems to have been postponed. The official debut of WINNER and AKDONG MUSICIAN, which was expected to be done in this February, also seems to be on hold. The schedule of PSY’s comeback, which was also expected to be made during this February, is still unknown.
It is very exceptional that a major label like YG has not released even one new song for almost three months into a new year. It is more so when compared to the comeback of SM’s TVXQ!, S.M. THE BALLAD, and Girls’ Generation, as well as busy schedules of JYP’s GOT7 and Sunmi, all done at the beginning of this year.
2NE1’s new album is YG’s first output of this year and the company has been highlighting that the year 2014 is extra-important, because it will present a large number of new artists during the year. Thus, it is expected that people will pay a keen attention to the success of 2NE1’s new album. Whether 2NE1 gets on the right track for success will significantly influence people’s expectations for other YG artist’s debut or comeback.
YG is confident about it. Yang Hyun Suk said, “Before we present our work or performance before the public, YG should be satisfied with it first. We should never put out an output which cannot satisfy ourselves to the public. In this context, 2NE1’s new album will be a very good present for music experts and fans. We didn’t just pull it out of the hat, but have been working hard for it for the past few years. So the quality of the album is very high”.
2014. 2. 26.
