Sandara is older than any of the members of Big Bang, which is under the same label as 2NE1 but came out before them. She is closest to G-Dragon and TaeYang. She says, “We used to hang out together when we were trainees,” and “They are younger than I am but they feel like older brothers and I feel like I can depend on them.” But she still feels awkward around the oldest member TOP. “Both of us are quiet and shy and when we’re alone, it gets a bit awkward sometimes,” she says with a smile.

hmm, i think it's awkward between them because of the "kiss" scene in the Gummy mv. but hey, i could be wrong! kekeke~

before i jet off to work, here's one more cute picture of Dara that i found :)

2NE1, with their 4 members and 4 different set of charms, debuting as 'female Big Bang', is currently one of the hottest stars in the K-pop scene with hits after hits like ‘Lollipop’, ‘Fire’ and ‘I Don’t Care’.

We take a look into the interviews of each members from the eldest unnie Park Bom to the youngest member Gong MinJi of the group.

• From young, my dad had liked music. I grow up listen to music freely and gaining interests in it. The singers I really look up to are Lauryn Hill from the Fugees and Madonna. I see them as historical female musicians, really cool.

• Before our team hits the stage, we will cheer out ‘Let’s play’. Also I take the time to think about the day’s performance’s concept. And because even though it is just one concept, each member’s way of expressing the concept is different, each of us show a different type of charms. I think of the concept and related it to the lyrics.

• Sandara – A friend more fun than myself. She is polite in front of unnie and oppas, but she does a lot of aegyo (acting cute). Sometimes I feel like calling her unnie because of the good care she shows. She helps me with my clothes and fashion, and I also received much help from her in many ways. I think her eye-smile is really cool too.
• Bom – She is really clever. She shows a side that is really like a leader. She is the brain of the group.
• MinJi – She is very thorough with her own work. She is really caring as well. She is also very dedicated when it comes to clothes and choreography. She has also a very special sense of fashion.
  

• I think of this as my last resort. Back then I was thinking if this does not work, I’ll just have to try something else. I heard that to be able to meet Yang Hyun Seok you have to wait everyday at the company building and even have to stay overnights there. And to prepare my demo tape, I had put in a lot of practice and it was one of the most hardworking times of my life. I think of it and without fear I went for the challenge. I hope that is not the time when my passion is buring the highest.

• The other members have said that I was fun and like to act cute but I’m someone who cannot express myself well. I am more free around people I’m close to. But to say to my mother and fans it is a little improper. Even though we don’t get to mention much usually, we think of our fans as strong support. Previously on SBS Inkigayo on 12th July, it was raining so heavily but we are thankful that our fans came and show support.

• I liked music since young, and I appear in a lot of kids singing contests. And also because I like to follow and sing along to pop songs, I wanted to be a singer naturally. I remember that I wanted to really be a singer when I was 13. I want to sing seeing Beyonce and Mariah Carey. Especially, I want to learn the strong vocal and performance power of Beyonce.

• I just come up with whatever suits the lyrics. I try to act pretty a little too (laughs). I was told by the production team to act pretty on SBS Inkigayo on 12th July too.

• CL – She is a 8-dimensinal girl. She is a really cute and extraordinary unnie. She is very hardworking and has great passion for singing.
• Sandara – For me I try to go gag and think ‘I should be funny’ but for Bommie she has the natural talent to make people around her laugh. She is very caring in terms of feeding us health food and medicine. And she acts cute a lot too.
• MinJi- She has a charming voice and she teaches her singing techniques very carefully. It is fun to talk to unnie. Even though we have big age gap, we are like friends. She has charms like a black hole.
  

• It will be a lie to say that I do not feel worried from the beginning. But seonbaes at YG Entertainment told me that talents are more important than age itself and told me not to worry about it. Because of them I’m ok now.

• They bring us good and presents when we appear on broadcast programmes. They know a lot about us and wrote us each member letters. I am very thankful for that and I will work harder to improve myself.

• Because I like dancing, I have followed the dance steps when I watch MVs. And I also like singing and that’s why I would want to be a singer. The most impressionable MV for me is YG Family’s ‘Fine Gentlemen’. And I recently watched Michael Jackson’s concert on TV. I was born in 1994 but the performance was in 1992. Even though it was an old performance I thought it was really good. And that is why I want to be a singer.

• I talked to the unnies about it and think of them. And the expressions will come out naturally.

• CL – Very cute. But amongst us she is the seonbae in terms of trainee days. She is very matured in the sense that she has started her trainee life from a very young age.
• Sandara – Even though she is very young, it is scary that she can do self-management so well. She makes sure she gets enough sleep and also do exercise and controls herself. She is very talented in dancing and is able to grasp dance steps very well. And when the unnies are tired she will also take care of us.
• Bom – She thinks very high and there are many times when she will surprise us. She is the maknae (youngest) who also takes care of the eldest unnie me. She also helps me in many ways like when we meet people, she will tell me ‘unnie you cannot say this or that’.
  

• Because I had trained for a long time and have been away from my family for long, the habits as the youngest do not come out much. And because I have learnt how to treat others from my teachers as a trainee, that is why I naturally becomes like this.

• Very thankful for showing us love without change. I believe that the fans ar always with us because I take the stage always thinking that I’m going there to enjoy the moment with our fans.

• Seo Taiji and boys debuted when I was in elementary 2nd year. When I see them I thought “I want to appear on the TV like them too”, and that is how I wanted to be a singer. I respect seonbae Um Jung Hwa. Even though she is pretty, cute and charming, to say in one word she is a ‘cool woman’. I want to be a singer like who can take on all sorts of transformations on stage.

• The time on stage is very short. That is why I think of it as a sitcom and do the acting on stage. Even though the person who taught us the choreography also taught us to be delicate in our expressions, but when we take the stage, our expressions become more exaggerated. I tend to do over-action, because I wanted it to be more fun. And because I was the one with acting skills, it was a little pressurising on me when it comes to filming the MV. (Laughs)

• CL – Even though she seems cute, she is a very warmhearted unnie. She is very energetic and cheery as though going on broadcast programme for 24 hours.
• MinJi – She always gives off a very happy energy. She is very unique and also a fun person to be with.
• Bom – She is the atmosphere-maker in the group. She is always like a fun friend.
  

• For myself, I like doing gags and enjoys great atmosphere. It is even more fun now since the members are able to coordinate and respond well when I pull a gag or trick.

• I am very very thankful for always being there no matter how we are. I am so touched that the fans waited despite the rain on SBS Inkigayo on 12th July.

In an interview with Korean online site, Star News, Sandara Park confessed that she hopes to be as cool as Korea’s Madonna, Uhm Jung-hwa.

Check out excerpts of the interview:

Q: When did you want to be a singer? And what type of singer?

Sandara Park: When I was in 2^nd grade, Seo-Taiji debuted. It was then that I thought that I had be on television too. That was the start of my dream. And Uhm Jung-hwa, I respect. She is pretty, sexy and cute all rolled into one package. I wanted to be like her where she is able to change her look for every performance.

Q to 2NE1: What is special about Sandara Park?

CL: Although she may look cute, she is really a deep person with a warm heart. Like a person who is on 24 hours, she is full of life.

Minji: She exudes happy energy. It’s fun hanging around her.

Bom: She takes the lead to make sure we are having fun. Always a happy friend. She’s the endorphin in our team.

Sandara: I like to have fun and I make sure that everyone else is too. Now, when I joke around, now the other members get it and play along too.

Credits: popseoul.com

2NE1 has revealed that they had felt the pressure for a possible depression (?) after dumping the powerful image for feminine image.

The girls said in an interview recently, “We are worried since ‘I Don’t Care’ has a totally different atmosphere as ‘Lollipop’ and ‘Fire’. Fortunately it seems that fans like the song.”

They continued, “We can really feel how great the capabilities of Teddy and Kush were through the song. The music is good, the lyrics are fun and the fans love it.”

And about the song going up to the #1 spot on music charts again after hits like ‘Fire’ and ‘Lollipop’, they said, “This is beyond our expectations that the song would go up to #1 so fast. We were just curious how our new image would be received.”

Also about them getting their first #1 on music programmes, “We got so emotional. Bom (They actually wrote it as CL in the article) and MinJi kept crying. CL held on to her tears as Teddy has taught her that as a leader she should not cry. And for Sandara Park, she is someone who enjoys everything she do so she was full of smiles.”

2NE1 said, “As compared to getting #1, we hope to show new features of us. There are still many sides of us yet to be revealed. There is the cute image, and also each member’s charms. We just want to show everyone these.”

Source: sookyeong @ wordpress.com

2NE1 speaks up truthfully about this whole issue of ‘war of girlgroups’ and also what they think of the other girl groups like So Nyeo Shi Dae and 4Minute.

They said in a recent interview, “We feel that the other groups have their own charms and specialities and we also get to learn from them in always working so hard. Instead of calling it ‘war of girlgroups’, it is more like all of us as females showing the ‘woman power’.”

They continued, “It would be good that 2NE1, So Nyeo Shi Dae, 4Minute will be able to capture fans’ heart through our cool performances on stage. It is because we are not standing in different places, but we are altogether in one place.”

“Our weakness is our group dancing. We are weak as a group dancing together after we have been into our individual training lifestyle for long. So Nyeo Shi Dae on the other hand are really good at group dancing and we are envious of that. There are many times when we are surprised at how synchronised their angles and lines are.”

They continued, “And for 4Minute, our thoughts are ‘they are really hardworking’ and ‘they put in much effort’. They encourage/stimulate us on.”

Meanwhile, the girls are promoting their title song off their 1st minialbum ‘I Don’t Care’ gaining much popularity together with other girlgroups like So Nyeo Shi Dae and 4Minute who are also promoting their songs.

Source: sookyeong @ wordpress.com

Sandara Park on Joseph, “We were just a love team, that’s all.” Dara's quote made netizens more confused, thus some netizens accused that:

• YG forced Dara to make this statement, as in the Philippines, dating is actually a good thing to gain publicity. In K-pop, fans do NOT want their idol dating anyone; They’ll just lose a lot of fangirls/boys and that means no more publicity for them.
  
• Dara made the statement herself, YG isn't strict on whole ex-dating policy.
• Joseph is riding on Dara's success.
• Sandara NEVER dated Hero. She was with Joseph the whole time but had to hide the relationship from the public for a while to protect the Hero-Sandara loveteam. When Hero and Sandara’s loveteam ended, she admitted her relationship with Joseph and they started working together. Hero and Dara don’t even like or get along with each other in real life.
• She lucky that she's not at the Philippines anymore, because reporters here (the Philippines) will bash her for lying.
• When Sandara was in the Philippines, there was no sort of show similar to "We got Married". There never was. I'm pretty sure YG's just making Dara say all these things. I feel bad for the girl. =/
• Philippine and Korean media is just making it big….GEEZ!

She had an interview with Newsen on 15th July, “It is not true. We are a team after working with Hero (a Filipino entertainer). Since most of the entertainers in the Philippines form love team and go by the couple concept. I met Joseph and Hero through such an arrangement.”

She continued, “I checked again with my manager in the Philippines on 14th July. The report about him (Joseph Bitangcol) contacting me in Korea is not true.”

Recently, Joseph has mentioned about Sandara Park in his interview in the Philippines. Much attention was raised since the Filipino pressed has mentioned Sandara Park as Joseph’s ‘ex-girlfriend’. Joseph said in the interview, “I’m proud of Sandara Park being successful in Korea. We still keep in contact once in a while.”

With that YG Entertainment came out to speak on 14th July, “They are just made believe couples in a broadcast programme. With that, the media has remember Sandara Park as Joseph’s ‘ex-girlfriend’. She had not dated with Joseph at all.”

Also recently,there were rumours of Sandara Park in a love relationship with another Filipino entertainer, with photos of them posing intimately released online. Sandara Park’s representative had said, “In the Philippines, programmes with couple concept is really popular. Hence Sandara Park has worked with other male entertainers as a team on the shows. I think there are misunderstandings and distortions to the truth behind it.”

Sookyeong quoted that:

"I don’t know, I think the Korean media has got Joseph’s interview confused. Here’s the translation of Joseph’s interview thanks to Goddess Bom:

Joseph revealed that he still keeps in touch with Sandara once in a while. “We’re okay. But the last time I talked to her was early this year , before she got really busy. Now that she is busy with her career in Korea, we haven’t had any communication since then .”

The reason why he talked about it was because he recently broke up with a non-showbiz girlfriend whose family had to migrate in the States. That situation reminded him of ex-girlfriend Sandara Park who returned to Korea in 2007.

It seems that Joseph was not referring to Sandara as his ex-girlfriend, he was reminded of her after talking about his real ex-girlfriend.

This is confusing."

Source: sookyeong @ wordpress.com

Debuted with the song ‘Fire’ and leaving everyone with a strong impression, group 2NE1 revealed some of the stereotypes that the masses have on them.

They did an interview on 14th July saying, “When we were promoting ‘Fire’, the clothes and makeup we had on are to go with our strong image, but we have many people telling us we look scary. They are people who thought we looked like 'scary unnie (elder sisters)'.”

They continued, “We showed a different side of us through promoting our new song ‘I Don’t Care’. The look that people have when they see us now is also different.”

2NE1 is currently promoting the title song ‘I Don’t Care’ off their 1st minialbum. They are also appearing on Mnet 2NE1 TV showing the fans their free and real sides.

2NE1 added, “Our image has become much softer after we have a change of song and also with ‘2NE1 TV’. The strong image, our free and relax side of us – these are all our charms. We hope to show everyone even more sides of us in the future.”

Credits: sookyeong @ wordpress.com

Right now is said to be the war of the girlgroups in the Kpop zone, with so many girlgroups choosing to comeback into the Kpop scene this summer. And of them is newcomer girlgroup 4Minute, who has received much attention from the media and music fans.

Only known as the ‘HyunA’s group’ as before, this group is now more known to fans as 4Minute with great performance capabilities.

And they talked about their ‘rival’ group 2NE1 and hoping to be in a win-win situation with them in a recent interview.

It was known that the girls trained up to 2-3 hours 1-2 months before their debut as artistes under Playcube Entertainment. And there were many times when youngest member So Hyun had to attend school without getting any sleep.

So Hyun said, “Even though it is tough juggling school and training, but with the thought of fulfiling my dreams, all the hardship just went away. Right now I can really endure it.”

The truth is that SoHyun used to promote as group Orange, but after Orange disbanded, she thought that it is a shame to stop the career altogether and began training again.

JiYoon and So Yoon had wanted to be a singer since they were young. JiYoon also talked about how her friends and family have encouraged her to try this path to be a singer.

While for HyunA, she left the group WonderGirls 2 years again after which the group made big success with the song ‘Tell Me’. And she revealed that looking at them being successful on TV, she had wanted to perform on stage again too.

She said, “I’m more excited than anyone when WonderGirls won #1 with ‘Tell Me’. I thought it would be great if I’m on stage with them together and I was regretful of it too. But I’m really happy to be able to fulfil my dreams through debuting with 4Minute again.”

There has been much comparison after 4Minute’s debut with YG Entertainment’s 2NE1. The 2 groups debuted within a similar time frame, and they were also both very and known for their special characteristics (’Female Big Bang’ and ‘HyunA’s group’) even before debut.

4Minute said, “It is our honour to be compared with our seniors 2NE1, and it is a happy thing too. It will be good if 4Minute and 2NE1 can have good effect on each other and develope well together.”

credit: sookyeong.wordpress.com

Even the tough poppin dance wouldn’t be a problem for Gong MinJi, we can really see that this girl has a passion for dancing.

In a recent interview she said, “My grandmother likes the fact that I’m dancing and she gives me her support. She did not object when I said I want to be a singer.”

Gong MinJi is the granddaughter of famous dance Gong Ok Jin, who is known for her folk dance ‘hunchback dance’. Though the 2 dance to different dances, they both have the same passion.

MinJi said, “At first because I was introduced with grandmother’s name, it is quite a pressure for me. But with this pressure, I told myself I have to work harder. I will show my own powerful dance.”

“I really love dancing. I feel really delighted when I am dancing. Also I can feel the energy flowing through me. I can feel happiness through dancing.”

source: sookyeong.wordpress.com
shared by: together2ne1

[L]enny ; signing out.

Sandara Park talks about not having being able to continue on her entertainer career in the Philippines as “no regrets”.

She said in a recent interview, “I was promoting as an entertainer in the Philippines, but I took the bold step and went on as YG trainee. But I have no regrets about not being able to continue my entertainer career in the Philippines.”

“Of course, training as a YG trainee, I have no guarantee for debut. I have no guarantee for success, but because I have dreams to be a Korean entertainer, I worked hard on it.”

Dara has been a reporter, actress and singer in the Philippines. She began to gain interests from Koreans after KBS introduced her in one of the programmes. When she went to Korea for a visit, she was given a basic test from YG Entertainment and then joined as a trainee a month later.

She went over to live in Korea and trained for 3 years before debuting as 2NE1.

After first about joining 2NE1, YG was a little doubtful about it. Because it seems that she has yet to get the hip hop ‘feel’. But Dara worked hard to show satisfaction. She kept listening to hip hop music and dance to hip hop dance.

About the photoshoot that became the topic amongst netizens lately taken in the Philippines, Dara explained about it. The idea of the photoshoot was suggested by one of the seonbae. But the photoshoot concept turned out to be different from what she thought.

Plus back then the atmosphere to the photoshoot was serious, she thought she could not run away from it. And with that she did a 'sexy' photoshoot.

Click here for Dara's 'sexy' photoshoot. =S

Source: sookyeong.wordpress.com
Shared by: together2ne1

[L]enny ; signing out.