CL (singer)

CL
CL at Etude Pink Concert
Native name	이채린
Born	Lee Chae-rin (1991-02-26) February 26, 1991 Seoul, South Korea
Occupation	Singer songwriter rapper model
Musical career
Genres	K-pop hip hop
Years active	2007–present
Labels	YG School Boy
Associated acts	2NE1 YG Family Skrillex Big Bang will.i.am Method Man

Chaelin Lee, or Lee Chae-rin (born February 26, 1991^[1]), better known by her stage name CL, is a South Korean singer, songwriter, rapper and model.^[2] Born in Seoul, South Korea, she spent much of her early life in Japan and France.^[3] She trained in JYP Entertainment before joining YG Entertainment, and became a member of the girl group 2NE1.^[4]

Early career

CL was born in Seoul, South Korea, but spent most of her childhood living in Paris, Tsukuba Science City and Tokyo. She attended international schools. When she was 13, she moved back to Paris alone where she studied for two years.^[5] She got an audition with YG Entertainment when she was 15.^[3][5]

CL's first feature on a song recording was Big Bang's "Intro (Hot Issue)" in 2007. Later that year, she had her first stage debut at Seoul Broadcasting System's Music Awards alongside her label mates at YG Entertainment. Her first credited appearance in a song was in 2008, with Uhm Jung-hwa's "DJ," in which she rapped.^[6]

2NE1

2NE1 is one of the most successful girl-groups hailing from South Korea and are amongst the few who are internationally acknowledged by critics.

The group's name was initially announced as "21"; however, due to the discovery of a singer with the same name, the group was renamed "2NE1".^[7] Lee Chaerin took on the stage name 'CL' and was placed as the lead rapper, alongside Bom, Sandara Park and Minzy.^[7] The group then collaborated with label-mates Big Bang for the song "Lollipop" before officially debuting on SBS's The Music Trend on May 17, 2009 where they performed "Fire". 2NE1 has since released two eponymous extended plays, 2NE1 (2009) and 2NE1 (2011), and two studio albums, To Anyone (2010) and Crush (2014) in addition to several non-album singles. Their first EP spawned the number-one single "I Don't Care", which won them the "Song of the Year" award at the 2009 Mnet Asian Music Awards, making them the first rookie group to win a daesung the same year of debut (2 wins). 2NE1 returned with their first full-length album To Anyone with the multiple title tracks "Clap Your Hands", "Go Away", and "Can't Nobody" which occupied the top 3 spots on all music charts. The digital sales from the album made them the best-selling girl-group when combined that year.^[8] Again, 2NE1 walked away with many top awards, most notably the "Artist of the Year" and "Album of the Year" awards at the MAMA's, where they won 4 awards out of the 6 they were nominated for.

CL performing with 2NE1 in 2013

Their second EP continued their digital best-selling album status for the year of 2011, where all songs but 2 charted at number-one. The single 'I Am the Best' won them their second "Artist of the Year" award and is widely considered to be their signature and most iconic song.^[9][10] The song was used later as the background music for Microsoft's Surface Pro 3 tablet laptop commercial in 2014.^[10] Due to its continued popularity, the song was re-released as a single in that year and debuted at #1 on Billboard's World Digital Songs chart, making them the first and only girl-group to do so and the second Korean act to chart that high after PSY.^[11] In 2012-2013, 2NE1 released only singles, which produced the number-one hits "I Love You" (2012), "Falling in Love" and "Missing You" (2013). Both "I Love You" and "Missing You" won the "Digital Bonsang" award at the Golden Disk Awards, which is otherwise known to be the equivalent of Song of the Year. In 2014, they released their second full-length album Crush which spawned the number-one single "Come Back Home" and the top 5 hit "Gotta Be You". The singles swept real time charts^[12] and was the most downloaded album for that year,^[13] ultimately winning them the "Singer of the Year" award at the Gaon Chart K-Pop Awards for the month of (March). They were also honored by Youtube for the album's lead single, and were the only Korean acts featured on the list alongside Bigbang.^[14] 2NE1’s second album Crush, CL wrote the lyrics and co-composed the music for the tracks "Crush", "If I Were You", and "Baby I Miss You". She also did the lyrics for her solo track "MTBD", as well as the track "Scream".^[15]

On November 25, 2016, YG Entertainment announced the disbandment of the group. YG also revealed that former members CL & Sandara signed a solo contract, hinting at the departure of Park Bom from the company.^[16]

Solo activities

In August 2009, CL collaborated with label-mates G-Dragon and Teddy Park of 1TYM for "The Leaders", on G-Dragon's first solo album, Heartbreaker. In August, after finishing "I Don't Care" promotions, 2NE1 members released their own solo singles. CL collaborated with fellow member Minzy for "Please Don't Go," which charted at number six by the end of November.^[17] CL's first solo single, "The Baddest Female", was released on 28 May 2013.^[18] On October 15 of 2014, it was announced that CL was planning to debut as a solo artist the following year in the United States, teaming up with Scooter Braun as her manager.^[19]

On 21 November 2015, CL premiered her first single "Hello Bitches" via a music video launch on the Noisey website. It is a teaser for her upcoming first EP "Lifted" and the first solo song that's not part of a 2NE1 album. A few of the songs that have been announced for the upcoming EP are "Birthday", "Fallin", "Lifted" or "One".^[20][21] The title song from her "Lifted" EP was released on August 19.^[22] "Lifted" appeared in the top 30 of iTunes’ Hip-Hop/Rap chart on Billboard^[23] within three hours of being released. The success of her American debut garnered much attention. On November 1, 2016, TIME magazine released an article titled "Here's why CL Is the Future of Kpop in America." The article praised not only CL for her success, but also fellow Korean artists like Dean and Eric Nam for representing Asia in America.^[24]

On October 29, 2016, she kicked off her first North American tour called "Hello Bi+ches Tour 2016" in New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom, which is set to conclude in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.^[25]

Musical style and influences

CL was the leader, rapper, and vocalist of the group 2NE1.^[26] She cites 1TYM leader Teddy Park, who produces much of 2NE1's music, as an influence and inspiration, as well as Madonna, Queen, Lauryn Hill.^[3][27] and Lil' Kim.^[28]

Discography

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

     The song was recorded in Korean.

     The song was recorded in English.

Tours

• Hello Bitches Tour 2016 (2016)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to CL (singer).

• CL on YG Family