When CL wanted a new song for 2NE1‘s reunion tour celebrating the girl group’s 15th anniversary, she knew exactly who to call. While that single ultimately never came together, her reuniting with K-pop super-producer Teddy turned into something much bigger: CL has signed with THEBLACKLABEL, the label the Grammy- and Oscar-winning producer founded back in 2015.
The move is both a homecoming and a new venture for CL. While Teddy wrote and produced most of 2NE1’s catalog, including the group’s signature 2011 single “I Am the Best” (which became the first song by a K-pop group to reach No. 1 on Billboard‘s World Digital Songs chart), the two had not made music together since her 2016 solo single “Lifted” (which peaked at No. 94 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2016). In the years between, CL left her original label home of YG Entertainment, founded her own label in Very Cherry, and set about learning the business side of a career she had only known from the creative side.
CL’s first release under the new deal arrives this month.
In July 2024, YG Entertainment announced that 2NE1’sfour members (CL, Park Bom, Sandara Park and Minzy), would reunite for the group’s 15th anniversary following a surprise reunion during CL’s Coachella set in 2022. The Welcome Back Tour that followed opened in October 2024 with three dates at Olympic Hall before touring across Asia, with more than 258,000 fans reportedly attending before the sold-out two-night finale show at Seoul’s KSPO Dome in April 2025. For her part, CL had hoped the reunion would include more than the old hits.
“I had the reunion with the girls for the 15th year anniversary two years ago already,” CL says, speaking in an exclusive chat to Billboard ahead of the news. “It took a little bit of prep time to reconnect, but it was very healing and a very special moment to reconnect, and also [reconnect] with YG Entertainment,” CL says during an evening video call from Seoul. “So, that was a big thing for us and I’m so happy we did it. I actually wanted to come out with a new single with the girls too, but because we wanted to meet in time for the 15th year anniversary, I was like, ‘Let’s do this tour first and then let’s see how it goes.”
With big sunglasses hiding her eyes, but unable to hide her undeniable giddiness for her new chapter, she continues, “By the end of the tour last year and after singing the songs that we worked on with Teddy — like 99% of our project was him — I was like, ‘Ah, he would be the perfect one to go to and to collaborate [with] if we’re ever doing a new 2NE1 song.’”
Asking was another matter, as the two hadn’t seen each other in some time, and CL, who, by her own account prefers to settle a plan before sharing it, went to him without telling her bandmates.
“I didn’t know how it was gonna go, ’cause I haven’t seen him in a while, so I didn’t tell the girls because I always work on the stuff first and then let them know after,” she reveals. “Because I don’t want this to go south, you know what I mean? So, I wanted to reconnect with them first to ask.”
By the time those conversations were underway, 2NE1 itself had changed with Park Bom stepping away from group activities in August 2025 to focus on her health, according to her agency, and the other members looking toward solo work.
“Health first, above everything, that’s the first thing,” CL says. “I wanted Bom to take some time off and the rest of the girls wanted to go solo on their own projects. So I’m like, ‘OK, this is meant to be, why don’t I work on my solo project with him? It’ll be so fun, special, and full circle.’ I haven’t worked with him (since), what was it, when I did ‘Lifted’ and that was, like, 10 years ago. I thought it would be a fun project and we started working very organically and just started with making songs. And then it ended up being me doing this project with THEBLACKLABEL.”
The reunited pairing carries a hefty history in K-pop’s American crossover: Teddy not only wrote and produced songs like “I Am the Best,” “Come Back Home,” “Lonely” and “Fire” (all of which boast more than 100 million views on YouTube), but also took part in a majority of 2NE1’s second album, Crush (which debuted at No. 61 on the Billboard 200, at the time the highest position a K-pop album had reached that held the record for more than two years until BTS‘ Wings entered at No. 26 in October 2016).
Meanwhile, CL’s own solo career boasts its own set of historic chart firsts thanks in part to Teddy: She reached the Billboard Hot 100 as a featured artist on PSY‘s “Daddy” (which peaked at No. 97) in 2015 with the song co-written and co-produced by Teddy, will.i.am and other collaborators. CL then scored her own solo Hot 100 entry with “Lifted” (No. 94) in 2016, becoming the first female Korean soloist to enter the chart with Teddy producing and co-writing the track with the starlet.
Between the decade from “Lifted” and today, CL took a deliberate step away from the system that made her, leaving YG Entertainment in 2019 after more than a decade at the agency.
“The reason I left the label side of things was because I wanted to explore,” she explains. “I wanted to learn the music business side of things because I’ve always been a part of the creative process and I learned so much from the label and the team there that I started with, but there were a lot of things I was always like, ‘How does this work?’ And I feel like I have to fully understand and learn to continue — and for longevity. So, that’s why I left.
“I learned so much doing my independent project and having my own team – and that was the purpose. I feel like now I understand it just better…I had only been in the creative land and then by being independent, I got to learn the music business side of it. I feel like my perspective now, I could finally oversee everything together where before I was just the artist. I had to just be creative and just play that role. Now I just understand it better so I feel like in some parts I connect to everything more and it got more personal for me too.”
The Teddy she returned to runs a far larger operation. In fact, THEBLACKLABEL has been on a massive hot streak, signing a slew of A-list musicians, actors and athletes. On top of high-profile signings, Teddy and label co-founder Kush, as well as in-house producers 24 and IDO, were among the writers of Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 smash “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters, which earned them the Grammy Award for best song written for visual media and the Academy Award for best original song.
Despite the accolades, CL says their workflow hasn’t changed over time.
“We know each other so well that just energy-wise and work-process-wise, it’s like I worked with him last week,” she says. “It’s very natural and organic, but now that he has his label and I’m working with his label too, with my own team, Very Cherry, so it’s like a collaborative thing. I’m also working with his producers too now and I feel like it’s very organic and natural and I’m used to it. But at the same time it’s new and his sound is different and evolved now too, right? So, it’s interesting because it’s way more people involved.”
The people involved include those responsible for a slew of crossover K-pop moments. Among them are ROSÉ‘s “APT.,” a duet with Bruno Mars that peaked at No. 3 on the Hot 100 and earned three Grammy nominations including record and song of the year, while her debut album, rosie, opened at No. 3 on the Billboard 200. BIGBANG‘s Taeyang earned his first Hot 100 entry with “VIBE,” featuring BTS’ Jimin, which debuted at No. 76 in 2023. And Jeon Somi co-wrote “Suddenly,” the single that reunited her girl group I.O.I for its 10th anniversary produced by THEBLACKLABEL’s VVN, Kush and IDO, and spent three weeks atop South Korea’s Circle Digital Chart.
Meanwhile, MEOVV, THEBLACKLABEL’s first girl group, debuted in 2024 and has placed two EPs in the top 10 of Billboard‘s World Albums chart since signing with Capitol Records. ALLDAY PROJECT, a rare co-ed group in the K-pop industry, has sent two entries to the Billboard Global 200 (“Famous,” to No. 43 and “One More Time,” No. 111). The label’s management side also includes Korean actors Park Bogum, Kwak Dongyeon, plus Im Siwan of Squid Game fame.
In August, the label signed South Korean national team midfielder Lee Kangin, who joined La Liga’s Atlético Madrid this summer after playing in the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
With her new music arriving this month ahead of a highly anticipated performance at the 2026 MAMA Awards, CL says the nearer satisfaction is that what once felt like separate parts of her career between the group and the solo work now no longer pull in different directions. Naturally, she references the fandoms for both 2NE1 (known as Blackjacks, inspired by the card game where 21 is the highest number you can get to win) and GZBs (a take on the Korean slang word for “gizibe” [or 기지배], which means “girl” or “wench,” which CL reclaimed in an empowered way to mean “bad girl”).
“I feel great,” she says, leaning into the camera with a big smile. “It’s like Blackjacks and GZBs are all in one place together now and it all came naturally.”
