By Bianca Domingo
South Korea’s biggest and iconic girl band, 2NE1, officially called it quits leaving Blackjacks (2NE1’s fan group) grieving with the news.
After the announcement that the members of the group decided to go separate ways, Sandara Park, together with the group’s leader, CL, signed solo contracts with YG Entertainment, according to the announcement released on the K-pop website, Soompi, on Nov. 25.
“Rather than waiting an unknown amount of time for 2NE1’s next promotions, we have decided to focus on the members’ solo activities,” the statement says.
The entertainment agency also revealed reasons on why 2NE1 was disbanded altogether. They said that the girl group was bound to split up because of its members’ solo endeavors apart from going on a long hiatus.
In the beginning of 2015, Dara, one of ABS-CBN’s Pinoy Boyband Superstars jurors, started focusing on her acting career, starring in the online dramas such as Dr. Ian, We Broke Up and in the romcom TV show Missing You alongside actor Kim Jeong Hoon, seeing it as her huge breakout as an actress.
With 2NE1’s contract coming to an end and Minzy’s departure in April, YG Entertainment, after many discussions, decided to officially disband the K-pop group after its seven successful years in the Korean music industry.
After 2NE1’s contract expired, Dara and CL renewed their contract with the entertainment agency except for Park Bom who didn’t re-sign leaving the management to officially announce her departure on the same day of the disbandment.
When 2NE1 youngest member, Minzy, left 2NE1 in April, YG’s CEO, Yan Hyun Suk thought they could still manage to continue the group’s music career even with only three members. But since Minzy’s split with the group, 2NE1 hasn’t been seen in any group activities. After the release of band’s second full-length album, “Crush” in February 2014, they also haven’t made any comeback ever since.
The girl group was last seen performing at the 2015 Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) in Hong Kong in which they performed their hit songs “I Am the Best” and “Fire”. The surprise appearance in which they got to be reunited was the group’s only activity in 2015. Their performance, however, was marked by MAMA’s 2015 as the most-viewed and best girl-group performance as recorded and listed by Fuse.
