In a new interview on Alpha, K-pop star CL opened up about how she established her own record label to make the music she always wanted to.
For those who have been following CL since her 2NE1 days, it’s no secret that the road to her album Alpha was long and arduous. Disputes between her agency and international management had put her budding solo career under enormous strain, which only increased when she departed her agency YG Entertainment, shortly after the disbandment of 2NE1.
For CL, thus, Alpha comes not only as a cathartic release, but also as one of the projects that reintroduces her to the world. In the space of only a couple years since branching out on her own, she’s been actively involved in reforming her music and identity – one of those has been through her own label Very Cherry Records.
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone India, CL opened up about the founding of Very Cherry was spurred by her desire to make the music she always wanted to: “I made Very Cherry to protect my creativity.”
“Like right now it’s Very Cherry Records also. Because even if I do in the future work with a label, or with different companies to create other things outside of music, I still want a home base and my people that I always create with. I want to be creative, I want to stay, and I want to protect that.” she said.
The star also admitted that Very Cherry’s genesis was also rooted in her K-pop roots.
“I feel like being in the system for so long, I didn’t really get to meet all the people I work with, or understand the process of it. And there was always a question behind that, like, ‘How does this work?’ I feel that not knowing the truth, the process of it… I was always curious. So those are the sides that I learned more about through making Very Cherry.”
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Elsewhere in the interview, the star also discussed a version of her song ‘Let It’, which featured two of her former fellow members, Park Bom and Sandara Park, and was – according to her – an apt description of ‘what we all went through’.
“Going from the same label and from the same system to now, some of them are their own CEOs and some of them are in a new company, and we’re starting our new chapter. I wanted the girls to hear that too, and I feel like we really can connect to that song very well.”
And while she did not openly discuss an imminent 2NE1 reunion – which the members have actively expressed an interest in – she did wish to finish the song with fellow former Minzy, who was the only one who did not feature on ‘Let It’.
“I would love to finish that, by the way, with the girls if I can. I hope Minzy comes through and then we can finish that.” she said.
You can read more about this topic over at the Asia Pop Observer.
Check out ‘Let It’ by CL:
