翻譯：Nomanlandever

The brash all-female Korean pop supergroup 2NE1's new album,?Crush, bottles up contemporary trends as well as their usual EDM/reggae/hip-hop/R&B stylemash. But it represents a sleeker, more refined vision for the group.

韓國(guó)流行音樂(lè)超級(jí)女團(tuán)2NE1的新專(zhuān)輯《Crush》將當(dāng)代流行趨勢(shì)和他們一貫的EDM/雷鬼/嘻哈/R&B風(fēng)格融為一體。但它承載了該組合更平滑、更精煉的愿景。

Instead of following a tried-and-true formula of slowly rolling out individual songs and their?characteristically flashy?videos, the all-female Korean pop supergroup 2NE1 went the opposite direction with their new album,?Crush. Announced in January—no advance snippets were available—and released digitally in February, 2NE1 dropped two singles simultaneously (the uptempo pair “Come Back Home” and “Gotta Be You”). Though both unsurpisingly lit up the Korean charts, the excitement—as well as an appearance in a January episode of ABC’s?The Bachelor—buoyed an entrance into Billboard 200, where 2NE1?sold more copies in the first week?than any Korean outfit in history. The only semi-micro-plotted movement in the whole campaign happened when YG Entertainment bumped the digital release three days—meaning that they broke the record in four days, instead of a full seven—so it would come out on the February 27 birthday of CL, 2NE1’s?ascendant star. Hold that thought.

韓國(guó)流行超級(jí)女團(tuán)2NE1沒(méi)有遵循固有的成熟模式，即擠牙膏似的推出單曲和她們特有的浮華視頻，而是采用了相反的方式，推出了新專(zhuān)輯《Crush》。2NE1在1月份宣布專(zhuān)輯《Crush》即將發(fā)行(沒(méi)有提前預(yù)告歌曲片段)，并在2月份以數(shù)字形式發(fā)行，同時(shí)發(fā)布了兩首單曲(快節(jié)奏的《Come Back Home》和《Gotta Be You》)。盡管兩首單曲不出意料的引爆韓國(guó)榜單，但令人激動(dòng)的是——以及組合在1月份ABC電視臺(tái)的《The Bachelor》（單身漢）電視劇中的客串亮相——推動(dòng)了專(zhuān)輯打入美國(guó)Billboard 200專(zhuān)輯榜，2NE1的首周銷(xiāo)量就超過(guò)了歷史上所有的韓國(guó)藝人。唯一有點(diǎn)變動(dòng)的地方是YG娛樂(lè)將數(shù)字發(fā)行的日期推遲了三天——這意味著他們僅用四天就打破了紀(jì)錄，而不是整整七天——所以它在2月27日2NE1的翹楚CL的生日那天發(fā)行?？赡苡羞@種想法。

As one could imagine,?Crush?is similarly fashioned around the shapeshifter CL, who wrote lyrics and composed three songs on the album in addition to the solo thumper “MBTD”.?Crush, in total, is exactly the stylemash you’ve become accustomed to from the group, a release that bottles up contemporary trends (such as the blurry Trap sound frequented by Future and others) as well as the usual EDM/reggae/hip-hop/R&B hybrid that YG’s in-house producers favor for the quartet. While the instinct to position the versatile CL in the front of 2NE1 is right on, her compositions fall a?hair?short of?Crush’s standouts, which include the earworms “Come Back Home” and “Happy” as well the subtle, pretty G-Dragon-penned ballad “Good to You”. But it’s not a “sore thumb” situation: CL stacks up to the more experienced hands of the YG factory, and thus seems primed for a huge solo career.?Crush?represents a sleeker, more refined vision for the group; if nothing else, the well-balanced record serves as a capsule of the outfit’s pop instincts and versatility. Though the soulful, organ-spiked R&B take “Baby I Miss You” might be the most natural fit for the group, they generally make a breeze of it, bolstering strong performances by the ensemble of Dara, Minzy and Park Bom.

可以想象，《Crush》差不多是圍繞百變女王CL創(chuàng)作的，除了個(gè)人單曲《MBTD》，她還為專(zhuān)輯創(chuàng)作并寫(xiě)好了三首歌的歌詞，總的來(lái)說(shuō)，這正是一貫的組合作風(fēng)，一經(jīng)發(fā)行便引領(lǐng)潮流(比如Future等人經(jīng)常使用的模糊Trap音效)以及YG內(nèi)部制作人喜歡為四人組合打造的EDM/雷鬼/嘻哈/R&B音樂(lè)。雖然把多才多藝的CL作為2NE1牌面的直覺(jué)是正確的，但她的作品比《Crush》的優(yōu)秀作品少得多，其中包括洗腦抓耳曲《Come Back Home》和《Happy》，以及G-Dragon譜寫(xiě)的精巧不錯(cuò)的民謠《Good to You》。但這不是一個(gè)棘手的情況：CL積攢著比YG工廠(chǎng)更多的資源，因此似乎對(duì)自己宏大的個(gè)人事業(yè)準(zhǔn)備就緒?！禖rush》承載了該組合更平滑、更精煉的愿景。如果沒(méi)有別的，這張協(xié)調(diào)性不錯(cuò)的專(zhuān)輯可代表該組合的流行嗅覺(jué)和多邊形的縮影。盡管含情脈脈、管風(fēng)琴味十足的R&B歌曲《Baby I Miss You》可能是最適合這個(gè)組合的，但她們都能輕車(chē)熟路地駕馭，造就出其他成員Dara、Minzy和Park Bom的強(qiáng)勢(shì)表現(xiàn)。

In his?K-Pop primer?from 2011, James Brooks made much of 2NE1's brash, attention-grabbing ethos;?Crush?finds them wisely dialing back the assault.?And, unlike G-Dragon’s strained crossover attempt?Coup d’Etat, YG’s team—primarily the producers Teddy, DEE.P and CHOICE 37—create something fairly universal on?Crush. Like a number of records in this vein, there are a handful of moments that push the sound’s signature maximalism too far—I would argue that “Come Back Home” holds up plenty well without the skizz-skizz-WOMP-WOMP-WOMP breakdown stapled to the bridge—but maybe that’s a little like penalizing a Swans album for having too many guitars. With?Crush, 2NE1 succeed on their inlaid mission statement—they've made music for anyone.

在2011年的?K-Pop入門(mén)書(shū)中，James Brooks對(duì)2NE1狂妄自大、引人注目的氣質(zhì)大加描寫(xiě)；《Crush》中她們明智地做出回?fù)簟?span id="s0sssss00s" class="tgt">而且，不像G-Dragon牽強(qiáng)的跨界嘗試《Coup d’Etat》，YG的團(tuán)隊(duì)——主要是制作人Teddy, DEE.P和CHOICE 37在《Crush》上創(chuàng)作出的一些相當(dāng)普通的東西。如同許多類(lèi)似的專(zhuān)輯，許多時(shí)候追求繁蕪叢雜的標(biāo)志音效太過(guò)了——我想說(shuō)的是，《Come Back Home》在沒(méi)有“skizz-skizz-WOMP-WOMP-WOMP”故障音效的情況下仍然很不錯(cuò)——但可能是因?yàn)闉閺浹a(bǔ)一張Swans專(zhuān)輯的遺憾而使用過(guò)多吉他的原因。通過(guò)《Crush》，2NE1成功實(shí)現(xiàn)了他們的使命宣言——他們?yōu)樗腥藙?chuàng)作音樂(lè)。