[Single Review] 2NE1 "Falling in Love"

YG Entertainment has slowly but surely turned into K-Pop's biggest loose cannon. 

Going to debut a new girl group? No, first G-Dragon will be releasing his solo. What about Taeyang's solo? Oh, that'll happen eventually, but first Big Bang's going on a world tour. No, actually, 2NE1's going to scrap the singles they were supposed to promote and they'll go on a world tour first- then Big Bang can go. Psy's going to release a Korean song and not promote in Korea at all- but wait we have to change the single twice and delay the release by several months. After all that, we'll cut a member or two from the yet to debut girl group. Oh look- Daesung's now doing a solo debut in Japan! Oh, and G-Dragon's going to do another solo. What about Taeyang again? Um, we'll eventually get to him, after CL does her solo. Then we're going to have a reality competition for our new boy group (but what about the new girl group?!). Wait, YG signed Akdong Musician and Bang Yedam? When are they going to have time to debut with all these other debuts waiting in the wings? Oh and surprise! 2NE1's coming back! Another surprise! They're coming back with the song they were supposed to release a year ago!



Understandably, fans were a little skeptical of whether or not 2NE1 was actually coming back this time until teaser photos with Dara's new blonde hairdo surfaced- drastic hair changes are usually a pretty good indicator of an impending comeback. It's been a confusing lead-up to the release of "Falling in Love", a song that was supposed to come to us in the summer of 2012 back when it was originally teased as the intro to "I Love You"'s comeback stage.

Keeping in mind that "Falling in Love" was originally meant to be a follow-up and not a total stand-alone single, it's understandable that the song isn't as impactful as we'd expect for a long-awaited comeback. This song brings us a mix of the K-Popified reggae sound that 2NE1 originally brought us with their unplugged version of "I Don't Care". Add in the slow hip-hop of CL's recent solo project, "The Baddest Female", and it all ties together with some of the cutest lyrics we've ever heard from 2NE1- lines like "I don't know why my heart is fluttering like this / While I'm in front of you, I don't even know your name but / Oh, your heavenly stare is alright" or "I only want you / I've been waiting and waiting for that somebody / You're a rollercoaster / You grab and let go of my heart, what should I do?" could easily be mistaken for A Pink or Hello Venus lyrics. While 2NE1 has done a love song in the past- last year's "I Love You", as well as the members' solo and duet projects from 2009- this is the most cute and innocent concept the group has taken on as a whole since their debut.

While the cutesiness is an interesting direction for K-Pop's resident tough girls, neither the song nor the presentation fully commit to the lighthearted story. CL's tough-girl raps ("I'm gonna make you mine, that's what a queen do", "I'm grabbing onto the trigger / and aiming for your heart" along with demands to "touch me over here, touch me over there") clash with the fluttering hearts and heavenly stares of the verses. This leaves the song feeling a little directionless, which is odd because the production and arrangement of "Falling in Love" is far more straightforward and easy-to-follow than many of this year's big songs like Girls' Generation's "I Got a Boy", 2PM's "A.D.T.O.Y", T-ara N-4's "Countryside Life" and EXO's "Wolf".

Ultimately, "Falling in Love" might have been good as a follow-up track as originally intended last summer, but as a major comeback on its own, it falls flat. On the bright side, this is supposedly only the first of a handful of tracks that 2NE1 will be releasing one at a time over the next several months, much like they were originally supposed to in 2012 after "I Love You", and like they actually did in 2011 with their '2nd Mini Album'. Let's just hope that YG doesn't change their plans on us again.