Sandara Park, unofficially labeled as the "looker" of girl group 2NE1, has her left arm adorned with tattoos, while Park Bom, whose appeal is her cool, boyish personality, has on her longest faux eyelashes yet. The reason for their fresh ensemble? 2NE1 released their new song, "Don't Cry" this past April, then followed up with "Lonely" and "I Am the Best". As always, each song has been a #1 hit on music charts and music programs alike. Their success with "Don't Cry" and "Lonely" is especially noteworthy, taking into consideration that the girls never once performed these two songs on stage. Of the two tracks, "Lonely" now holds the record for receiving 10,000,000 hits on YouTube faster than any other KPOP song before it. Part of the reason they have been so successful with their recent releases is due to 2NE1 announcing their comeback songs on popular MBC programs such as 'I am a Singer' and 'Infinite Challenge'. At this point, they reserve every right to sit back and brag about their accomplishments, but the girl group still considers themselves rookies, and therefore they believe there is still much work to be done. On July 18th, Star News caught up with Sandara, Park Bom, CL & Minzy on location in Incheon for the MV shoot for "Ugly", one of the tracks on their new mini-album set to be released on the 28th. On this day, it had only been two days since they concluded their Hallyu concert in Singapore, and only a day since they grabbed the #1 spot for best Mutizen song on 'SBS'. Yet, the girls were all smiles on set, despite their exhausted physical state. They did seem like rookies in the sense that they were more than enthusiastic about their new music and choreography. Sandara stated that the lyrics for "Ugly" were about refusing to be average, and that they took on a new challenge with this song, as the track has a Rock melody. Park Bom added that contrary to the Rock melody, the lyrics are extremely sad. "Honestly speaking," she said, "I burst into tears every time I hear the song play." The girls did not speak of their hit-after-hit success with all three of their currently released new songs. They know it doesn't happen often, and the girls seemed rather humble and composed. "Instead of being satisfied with what we've accomplished thus far, we feel like now is the time to push forward," leader CL added, "We still have the official release of our mini-album, and our up-coming concert to prepare for."

Park Bom continued, "We were actually worried because we haven't released any songs in such a long time. We weren't sure how the fans would react to our new material. But we're so thankful and relieved that you guys gave us so much support (laughs)!" And rather than feeling threatened, the girls have a mutual respect for their girl group rivals. Minzy commented, "All girl groups are so unique and we each have our own styles, so we don't feel as though we are competing against one another. Our hopes are that each group can bring their own individual talents to the table so that together we can further enrich KPOP." The 2NE1 girls didn't forget to thank their fans overseas. When they had heard they had over 10million hits on YouTube for their "Lonely" MV, CL responded, "It's especially exciting when we go perform overseas and our fans there sing along with our songs. It makes us want to work even harder." In closing, 2NE1 remarked, "We want to successfully promote our new mini-album this August and give an exceptional performance at our first independent 2NE1 concert. We want to show our fans all the different sides of 2NE1, and we ask that you continue to root for us as we officially begin our promotion in Japan this September." Source & Image : Star News via Nate