by REERA YOO
K-pop’s “baddest female” and 2NE1’s leader CL is prepping for a U.S. solo debut with the help of Scooter Braun, the famous talent manager behind Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, and CL’s label mate PSY.
According to Korean news outlet Star News, the female rapper has already completed recording various tracks for the album. YG Entertainment confirmed the news earlier today and announced that CL will be releasing a U.S. single in the spring of next year.
Braun reportedly met CL in April last year and noted her high market potential due to her rapping skills, fashion sense and English proficiency.
Since their 2009 debut, 2NE1 has been blazing a trail in the international music scene, topping charts and breaking records. According to Billboard, 2NE1’s most recent album Crush is the highest-charting K-pop album ever. The group was also the first female Korean act to hold solo concerts in American arenas.
In May 2013, CL debuted in Korea as a soloist with her song “The Baddest Female,” which achieved an all-kill on South Korea’s major music charts just three hours after its release and its music video reached over a million views in less than 24 hours.
CL has been steadily rising in popularity overseas as a Fashion Week Regular, thanks to her designer friend Jeremy Scott along with her appearance on Skrillex’s new album. Maybelline New York also signed a modeling and endorsement deal with the starlet earlier this year.
In an interview with Billboard last year, CL expressed her solo ambitions and said she would like to express a different side of her as a musician, apart from her image with 2NE1.
“I want to represent Asian women,” she said. “I want to break that typical Asian female stereotype. There’s this standard where they’re all calm. I want to break that. I want to tell the world that there are some badass Asian female girls.”
Photo courtesy of CL’s Instagram
