2NE1 to Wrap Up Second Mini-Album Promotions This Weekend

2NE1 announced Thursday that their second mini album promotions would come to an end this weekend at SBS “Inkigayo.” Instead, the girls will focus on their upcoming solo concert, “NOLZA,” scheduled for three consecutive days from August 26^th to 28^th.

“Since it’s their first solo concert, we’re spending a lot of time preparing for it. It’s YG’s commitment to come up with high-quality concerts and performances for the fans. We’re working hard night and day to showcase a performance that will completely blow everyone away. In particular, the expectation level is at the highest for 2NE1 members since it’s their first solo concert,” YG Entertainment said.

In today’s music business, you rarely see artists ditch TV promotional activities to focus on live concerts, especially when you are at the peak of your popularity like 2NE1. It is said that YGE’s strong support to put more emphasis on musical quality and live concerts played a big role in this. Also, explosive fan response where all tickets to the first two concerts sold out in a matter of a few minutes made YGE and 2NE1 realize the gravity of this concert. As a result, they added a third concert on August 26^th.

2NE1’s rocketing popularity is also expected to transfer to Japan soon. The group will hold their Japanese debut concert, “NOLZA in Japan,” for five times from September 19^th to October 2^nd, and are currently in consideration of adding another concert at Tokyo Dome in front of 50,000 fans.

“We didn’t expect 2NE1 to be this popular in Japan, with basically no promotional activities. We think it’s because Japanese fans already saw their videos through YouTube and other online sources,” an official from Japan said.

It’s a pity we won’t be able to see 2NE1 anymore on TV for now. Here’s hoping they would come back with another album by year’s end!