YG Life

21 November:

After signing Superstar K2‘s Kim Eun Bi into their agency back in January, YG Entertainment has finally released an official profile picture of their upcoming star.

On November 21st, YG updated their ‘YG-life‘ blog with a new photo of Kim Eun Bi (18). The sweetheart from the popular audition program has transformed into a confident young woman with a loud sense of style.

Netizens immediately pointed out that the transformation seems a bit too dramatic, however, prompting rumors of plastic surgery to rise. In response, representatives of YG stated, “During that time, Kim Eun Bi practiced every day and lost 8 kg compared to her ‘Superstar K2′ days.”

YG also released a statement earlier today about how their new 5~7 member girl group (which Kim Eunbi is a part of) will not receive any plastic surgery treatments, as they want to introduce a girl group that emphasizes natural beauty.

Source + Image: Star News via Nate, SPN - allkpop

14 July:

YG Entertainment updated their ‘YG-life‘ blog today with some exciting details about 2NE1’s new mini-album!

According to the update, the girls will drop their second mini-album on July 28th. Check out the translation below for more:

==

We will officially be releasing 2NE1’s second mini-album on July 28th.

The album will include six songs in total: four previously-released singles and two brand new songs.
Of the two new tracks, “Hate You” will be released a week earlier, on July 21st.

–

- Track List -
1. I Am The Best (Lyrics, Arrangement & Composition: Teddy)
2. Ugly (Lyrics, Arrangement & Composition: Teddy) **TITLE TRACK**
3. Lonely (Lyrics: Teddy / Composition: Teddy, e. knock / Arrangement: Teddy)
4. Hate You (Lyrics, Arrangement & Composition: Teddy) **SUB TRACK**
5. Don’t Cry (Lyrics & Composition : Teddy, Lydia Paek / Arrangement : Teddy)
-Bonus Track-
6. Don’t Stop The Music (Lyrics & Composition : e. knock / Arrangement : Choi Pil Gang)

–

> About the new track, “Hate You”…

“Hate You”, the new single that will be released on July 21st, actually has an interesting story behind it.

This song was originally scheduled to be released last September with 2NE1’s first full album, but due to the song’s inappropriate title/lyrics, we decided that it would be best to hold off for the time being.

The original title for “Hate You” was actually “Fu** You”, and we were being cautious because Minzywas still a minor at the time of the song’s inital pending release; also, we did not want to negatively influence in any way the teenage fans who listen to 2NE1. We worked to try and change the song’s title and lyrics, however, there were no substitute words that carried the same emotions as the original, and therefore we decided to postpone the release of the track for an undetermined amount of time.

These situations rise from time to time when working in this field, but in this particular case, this was a song the entire group was really excited about, and so due to their never-ending requests to release the track, we have modified the song’s title to “Hate You” and have added it to their new mini-album.

The MV for “Hate You” was produced by pop graphic artist, Mari Kim, who transformed the 2NE1 girls into hip animation characters. The teaser for the MV is scheduled to be released on Monday July 18th at 12AM (KST), and the full MV will be released with the track itself on the 21st.

–

> “Ugly”, the mini-album’s title song…

The strong guitar riff in this piece sets the mood and pretty much carries throughout the entire song.
This is an upbeat, fast track with a mix of Rock & Elec, and is about being openly honest with our outward appearances, no matter how “Ugly” we may seem.

The track is the perfect addictive summer song; it’s got a refreshing chorus melody that’s by the talented CL. Taking into consideration that K-Pop is gaining international fans all over the world, we’ve decided to sing the chorus in English.

Financially speaking, we have invested more on this MV than any other 2NE1 MV thus far.

The MV for “Ugly” was directed by Director Han Sa Min, and it is scheduled to be released on the 28th along with the album.

–

> 2NE1 & Mari Kim

We wanted to do something unique with the new mini-album jacket, and so we called in Mari Kim,whose work we’ve always admired. After frequently meeting with her and discussing our ideas, Mari Kim offered to not only take on the mini-album jacket project, but also directed the MV for “Hate You”.

Although she may be a new face in Korea, she is no stranger to famous pop-artists overseas. To name just a few projects, Mari Kim has taken part in designing Andrew Warhola’s ‘Velvet Underground‘  album, as well as Julian Opie’s 10-year anniversary album, ‘Blur‘.

Not to mention that she’s collaborated with Louis Vuitton to create their ‘Murakami’ line of accessories, and also worked with Kanye West on his ‘Graduation‘ album.

–

The release of Park Bom’s “Don’t Cry” in April began our introduction to 2NE1’s new material for this year, and we would like to end by letting you know this mini-album will not be the last of it. We ask you to continue your loyal support for their new mini-album and upcoming promotions. Thank you.

- 2011. 07. 15. FROM YG

Source: YG LIFE BLOG via allkpop

1 July:

As mentioned before through YG Entertainment’s Official Blog, ‘YG-LIFE,’ more detailed information about 2NE1’s first concert has been announced.

Titled ‘2011 2NE1 1st Concert - NOLZA‘, will take place in Olympic Hall, at Olympic Park in Seoul. The concert will take place in the same venue as the YG FAMILY concert back in December of 2010. The world NOLZA roughly translates to “let’s play” in English.

The concert will take place on back-to-back dates, the first being on August 27th at 6PM and the second concert on August 28th at 7PM. Tickets will go on sale starting on July 14th, at 8PM KST, which will be sold on Gmarket for 88,000 Korean WON (not including tax), which converts to around $83 USD.

For this concert, the 2NE1 members also gave a special shoutout to their fans:

Additionally, a promotional video was released:

Official concert website: nolza.yg-2ne1.com

Source: allkpop

2NE1 launches a dance cover contest for their latest song, “I Am The Best“, addressing fans all over the world.

The dance cover contest will be held from July 8th to August 5th and through this, 2NE1 is planning on sharing their music and dance with fans from all over. This isn’t the first time 2NE1 has launched a global contest; last month, after releasing “Lonely“, 2NE1 also held a global cover contest. In response, thousands of fans world wide uploaded their version of the song. The final 40 contestants are currently involved in a voting contest through facebook.

While the contest for “Lonely” was focused on only the song, the “I Am The Best” contest is adding the choreography part of the song and as a result brought much excitement and is highly anticipated to gather content-filled videos.

The choreography for “I Am The Best” accompanies its overly-confident lyrics; ‘the conceited-dance’, the showy performance attire with backdancers, and choreography emphasizing each member’s personality created a big buzz as soon as it went on air.

The distinctive groove that only 2NE1 seems to be able to showcase increased interest in dancers from all over and was chosen to be one of the top choreography routines that they want to emulate.

Since it is difficult to see the full choreography of the song through performances or the music video, YG Entertainment posted a video on their official blog (www.yg-life.com) of 2NE1’s uncut version video filmed by president Yang Hyun Suk himself. Officials of YG Entertainment said, “It’s okay to copy the choreography but we’re also expecting to see unique interpretations of it as well. We hope that many people will enter this contest.”

In this contest, after watching 2NE1’s version of the choreography, the contestant must film and update their own video and achieve support. 2NE1 and the actual choreographers will be the judge in choosing 1st to 4th place, a total of 21 teams, and they will be prized with 2NE1’s concert tickets, Adidas Originals merchandises, and 2NE1’s actual stage attires.

Meanwhile, “I Am The Best” is receiving love and support from domestic music charts as well as Youtube and iTunes.

Watch as members of 2NE1 announce their dance cover contest for “I Am The Best”

Source: Nate via allkpop

15 June:

On June 15th, CEO Yang Hyun Suk updated YG Entertainment’s ‘YG-Life‘ blog with some new info about 2NE1’s new mini-album, as well as their first solo concert.

The post reads:

“June 24th will see the release of the digital single, <I’m the Best>.

First of all, I would like to apologize for the delayed releases of 2NE1’s new songs due to internal problems. Following behind ‘Don’t Cry‘ and ‘Lonely‘ will be 2NE1’s newest track, ‘I’m the Best’, which is scheduled for June 24th.

The song was produced by YG’s main producer, Teddy, and is an electronic hip hop track that’s reminiscent of 2NE1’s debut song, ‘Fire‘. The style of the song will definitely be familiar to the youth who are used to clubbing culture.

Unlike the previous two songs, we do have plans of promoting this one on music programs. It will be the first time in nine months that the girls will promote actively on air after they concluded their first album promotions last year.

The music video for the song was directed by Seo Hyun Seung and will be released at 12:00 AM KST on the 24th concurrently with the digital single.

Our current date of release for 2NE1’s mini-album is July 21st. It will include the three releases, as well as two new tracks. Because it is an album that we have been working on for a long time, we have a lot of things planned. Further information will be updated at a later time.

-

On August 27th and 28th, 2NE1 will be holding their first solo concert at the Olympic Hall in Olympic Park. The hall can seat 4,000 people per concert. Although it isn’t a big concert compared to other YG concerts, we wanted to make sure that 2NE1 would be able to work closely with their fans since it’s their first concert.

Tickets will be available for sale on July 7th, and further information will be posted on YG and 2NE1’s homepages next week.

Regarding ‘2NE1 Season 3‘, the broadcast date has yet to be finalized. ’YG ON AIR‘ will continue to be broadcast in a guerrilla fashion, where we film whenever we have good ideas.

2NE1 will be crossing over to Japan in September after their Korean promotions for about two months of debut and promotional activities.

We ask that you give 2NE1 your anticipation and support, and I promise to return with more details regarding their album. Thank you.

FROM YG.”

Source: YG-Life via allkpop