2NE1, Psy...K-Pop taking over the world

Watch out Psy, there's a new K-Pop king...queen...ok princesses rather, in town! Korean pop sensation 2NE1 were already been dubbed "Bigger than Psy," by Forbes magazine in October. They---CL, Minzy, Dara and Bom---are the first all girl Korean group to launch a world tour. They successfully sold out arenas on the east and west coasts of the U.S. during their 2012 New Evolution Global Tour that will close in Singapore.

Pronounced, To Anyone, or Twenty-One, the girls have sold an astonishing 27 million digital downloads since 2009 and pushed over 4 million copies of breakthrough single, "I Am The Best."

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"I Am The Best," was also featured on Fine Brothers YouTube series, Kids React To..., for the episode, 'Kids React To K-Pop." After showing kids a clip of the mega-popular single, they compared 2NE1 to what Lady Gaga would sound like if she were Asian.  

2NE1 is not immune to the Commercials-Are-Radio Age. In fact they embrace it. Their first single, "Lollipop," was written specifically for an LG Electronics cell phone ad.

Outspoken group member CL understands the type of exposure a major advertising campaign can do for a song.

"Since it was a commercial, it was out there all over the place," she says. "That's why so many people got to know us real fast." (Forbes)

Borrowing not only the attitude of Nicky Minaj, 2NE1 also shared face time with the American hip-hop/style icon in a recent Adidas ad.

As their tour spans across 10 cities in 7 different countries, the group thinks recording in English could really raise the stakes for K-Pop as a fully-fledged Western sensation.

I really felt that we needed English songs when we were performing in New Jersey," CL told Forbes. "I mean, everyone sang along in Korean, but I thought it would be much better if we could do it in English, when everyone could actually connect to the lyrics." (Forbes)