Their music—a motley mix of electronic, hip-hop, pop, and R&B—has since found شائقین in artists like Will.I.Am, who recently took the girls under his wing. The hip-hop mogul went along to produce a few tracks for them, which was documented in an Intel campaign.
The fashion world has taken notice as well, namely, Jeremy Scott who sees the members of 2NE1 as his muses and dedicated a shoe style to the group.
Scott even designed the group’s ensembles for their first worldwide tour last summer, with some of the styles trickling into his Fall 2013 collection’s runway. The group also recently filmed a commercial for Adidas Originals with Nicki Minaj and Sky Ferreira, which whipped the online community into a frenzy.
CL—on a small vacation stateside—was front row at Scott’s show, sitting اگلے to other downtown cool girls like Natalia Kills, Kat Graham, and rapper A$AP Rocky. A couple of days later, she had a تصویر shoot with Terry Richardson. Here, she takes a moment with ELLE.com to share what she’s learned about becoming the world’s اگلے سب, سب سے اوپر pop star.
ELLE: Who is CL?
CL: I have an alter ego between CL and Chaerin. I can be the baddest female onstage. As CL I want it to be that way. When it comes to just me, when I’m سے طرف کی myself with my family with my best friends, I don’t want to be CL. They know me so well that I can’t be CL. But I want to keep it that way, آپ know? Like Beyoncé and her alter ego Sasha Fierce.
ELLE: What’s your relationship like with Jeremy Scott?
CL: He’s my best friend. He’s like my big brother. He looks out for me. We met each other when he saw the “Fire” video [2NE1’s first single] and flew all the way to Korea to see me. It was actually for a تصویر shoot for Adidas. He didn’t have to come but he did. آپ know when آپ meet someone and آپ can connect, that click, we had that.
ELLE: آپ have an empowering song called “Ugly,” about not feeling beautiful. Where did that stem from?
CL: It kinda came from me. I was talking to him in the studio. And no one here understands, but they do back in Korea. آپ know how Koreans are مزید strict and people from around the world think that being different is wrong. I don’t understand, you’re unique. I love being myself and love people that are themselves and just, آپ know, “I’m doing me” type of people. I have respect for those people and love for those people but some people don’t understand that. So for me, I’m seen in public so I’m attacked a lot. I was feeling down one دن and talking to him. I was like, "You know, maybe I am ugly to those people." So we talked on and on and he wrote that song.
ELLE: In Korea, lots of people get plastic surgery. Do آپ ever feel pressured to get work done as well—especially as a star?
CL: آپ know? YG [2NE1’s record label] told me to. They told me to get plastic surgery before my debut. I stood up for myself and کہا "No, I’m not doing it." Like I کہا before, I love CL, but I still want to be Chaerin. And if I felt like I had to change I would. But I love the natural way I look. I کہا no and I’m not planning to.
ELLE: Tell me about the high fashion brands آپ wear. One video has آپ guys wearing all Balmain یا all Givenchy, plus vintage Alexander McQueen یا even young designers like Mary Katranzou and also Gareth Pugh. How did this come about?
CL: We just love shopping. I don’t look at the brand, I don’t look at the most pricey outfit. Even if it’s a dollar, I don’t care. That’s why I didn’t really know what I was wearing today because I don’t care. If it looks good it doesn’t matter.
ELLE: Your latest video, “I Love You” was a little مزید mature and looked very Versace-esque.
CL: Exactly. That’s what I was going for. Last سال I was collecting vintage Versace and Chanel, the big medallions. And آپ know, right now everyone is going for that, it’s funny. I started collecting it two years پہلے but they didn’t have any. Now they’re putting it out so much it’s easy to get. آپ know those vintage scarves, the vintage Versace scarves? I was wearing them all the time. I told my stylist "Let’s go for it." In the video for "I Love You" we tried something different as 2NE1. We’re مزید electro-hip-hop. I was like, "We should do something different." There wasn’t an album coming out but we wanted to drop a single for our شائقین and 2NE1’s career. We went for a very sexy, mature—you got it!—Versace. آپ get my point.
ELLE: Who is your پسندیدہ designer?
CL: Am I allowed to say Jeremy Scott? Because people will always say anyone other than Jeremy Scott because he’s my friend. I love Chanel. Everything about her was personal. All of those lions she made, she handmade them. Red and green, they were her پسندیدہ colors. She kept it personal and real and she was a woman. Everyone loves her. I really like Chrome Hearts, too. I know their family and designers.
ELLE: And Fashion icons?
CL: I love Grace Jones. She’s everything. I don’t know, There are so many that I don’t want to shout out names. Aaliyah. I’m into '90’s fashion right now. Like wearing those big pants and small tops. I’m really into that right now.
ELLE: Any plans for a 2NE1 album stateside?
CL: Not yet. But we want to do a couple of مزید songs in English. It’s amazing how they can connect to it when it’s in Korean. It’s amazing when you’re onstage and these people are singing in Korean. But in order to do this and understand the lyrics and get into the song I want to make a couple مزید English songs.
ELLE: آپ have such a big gay following. Do آپ know about that?
CL: Actually yeah. And lesbians too. And drag queens. I love them! I have so many gay دوستوں and I love them so much because they’re fun. آپ know, I can’t be دوستوں with guys. آپ can girl talk with them. They’re so special and so talented. And they’re so fast with stuff. I can’t ask “do I look good” to my girlfriends but I will ask my gay دوستوں because they will be honest. They’ll be like, “no girl.” I can’t do that to girls یا guys, they won’t be honest. I love them because of that.
