Opinion | What does 2NE1 reuniting at Coachella mean for the once K-pop queens?
- After CL invited Park Bom, Sandara Park and Minzy on stage to perform I Am the Best, fans lit up the internet with hopes they were getting back together
- Whether continuing with their solo careers or collaborating to make music again, they are now in control of their own narratives
On April 16, South Korean rapper CL took to the stage at Coachella in California, one of the most influential music festivals in the world. For one song she was joined by Park Bom, Sandara Park and Minzy, the three other women who made up K-pop group 2NE1, which formally disbanded in 2016. It was the first time they had performed together in over half a decade.
As the quartet sang their 2011 hit I Am the Best, there was a poignant awareness of how much of an impact these four had together. If only they hadn’t faced sudden difficulties mid-career that put a halt to their superstardom and led them to go their separate ways.
2NE1 arrived on the K-pop scene in 2009, managed by YG Entertainment, now best known as the home of Blackpink, but also historically one of South Korea’s biggest music labels and in its heyday at the time.
The group started making waves from the moment of their first release, a pre-debut mobile phone ad called Lollipop in collaboration with BigBang. They soon followed with their formal debut song, Fire, another major hit.
After that, every release the quartet put out was bigger than the previous one, and their fierce dance-pop anthems won them fans across the world, known collectively as “Blackjacks”.