CL

CL
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**Lee Chae-rin** (born on February 26, 1991), better known by her stage name **CL**, is a South Korean singer-songwriter and rapper. Born in Seoul, South Korea, she spent much of her early life in Japan and France. CL trained at JYP Entertainment before joining YG Entertainment, and was a member of the girl group 2NE1 until it disbanded in 2016. She resides and is based in Seoul.

## **Early life**

Lee Chae-rin was born in Seoul, South Korea, but spent most of her childhood living in Paris, Tsukuba, Japan, and Tokyo. When she was 13, she moved to Paris alone where she studied for two years. Lee got an audition with YG Entertainment when she was 15. Her first feature on a song recording was Big Bang's "Intro (Hot Issue)" in 2007. Later that year, Lee performed for the first time on stage at Seoul Broadcasting System's Gayo Daejeon alongside her label mates.Her first credited appearance in a song was in 2008, with Uhm Jung-hwa's "DJ," in which she rapped.

During the time between 2009 and 2014 she was active as 2NE1's leader and rapper, but ever since her debut she had tracks that gave as glimpse of her charisma as a solo artist.

In August 2009, she collaborated with label-mates G-Dragon and Teddy Park of 1TYM for the single "The Leaders", featured on G-Dragon's first solo album, *Heartbreaker*. The same month, after the group finished with "I Don't Care" promotions, CL collaborated with fellow member Minzy for "Please Don't Go," which charted at number six on the Gaon Chart by the end of November.

## **2013 Solo debut**

Her first solo single, "The Baddest Female", was released on 28 May 2013. The music video for "The Baddest Female" was directed by Seo Hyun Seung. It features CL's YG Entertainment label mates G-Dragon, Taeyang from the Korean boy band Big Bang, Lydia Paek and Teddy Park.Yang Hyun-suk, founder of YG Entertainment praised the video, regarding to it as "one of the best music videos I have ever seen". The original title of the song was announced as "Bad Girl" on May 23, 2013 by YG Entertainment, but it was changed after Lee Hyori released a single entitled "Bad Girls" and YG renamed the English title to "The Baddest Female". ***The song peaked at No. 4 on the K-pop Hot 100***.

## **2014-2016 MTBD Controversy, States**

She released her next solo song "MTBD 멘붕(Mental Breakdown)" in 2014 when 2NE1 came back in February. Listeners accused the track of having an audio sample of a young boy reciting Quran verses. This struck social media by storm amongst 2NE1's Muslim listeners, with even death threats being posted on both the group's and CL's social media pages. Because of this controversy, YG Entertainment released an alternate version of "MTBD" which omits the sample.

In October 2014, it was announced that CL was planning to debut as a solo artist the following year in the United States, teaming up with Scooter Braun as her manager. In May 2015, she featured in Diplo's single "Doctor Pepper", alongside Riff Raff and OG Maco.In November 2015, CL released her first single "Hello

Bitches", as a teaser for her upcoming EP *Lifted*.The lead single, "Lifted" was released on August 19, 2016.The song appeared in the Top 30 of iTunes’ Hip-Hop/Rap chart within three hours of being released, peaking at 21.*Time* noted her as the "future of Kpop in America". On October 29, 2016, CL kicked off her first North American tour, the Hello Bitches Tour, in New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom, and concluded in Toronto on November 14. Later that November, however, YG Entertainment announced the disbandment of 2NE1. CL signed as a solo artist.

## **2017 - present**

Alongside Shaiana, she featured on Lil Yachty's song "Surrender", an exclusive track off of the Target deluxe edition of his album *Teenage Emotions*, released on May 26, 2017. CL also recorded an original single titled "No Better Feelin'" for the *My Little Pony: The Movie* soundtrack, released on September 22, 2017. On January 4, 2018, she was reported to make her Hollywood debut as an actress in Peter Berg's film *Mile 22* that stars Mark Wahlberg, even though that only ment a few seconds on-screen.

On February 25 2018, CL performed at the 2018 Winter Olympics closing ceremony at Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium, performing parts from "The Baddest Female" and the 2NE1 global hit "I Am the Best". At the closing ceremony, she met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, First Lady Kim Jung-sook, EXO, and U.S. First Daughter Ivanka Trump.

On October 25 2018, she was featured on the Black Eyed Peas track "Dopeness".