''Crush'' (stylized as ''CRUSH'') is the second and final studio album overall by South Korean girl group 2NE1. It was released at midnight local time on February 27, 2014 through YG Entertainment. The album marked the group's first Korean album release since ''2NE1 (2011 EP), 2NE1'' (2011) and the first studio album following ''To Anyone'' in four years. ''Crush'' was primarily produced by Teddy Park with additional contributions from Choice 37, Dee.P, Masta Wu, Choi Pil-kang and Peejay, as well as group leader CL (rapper), CL. Stylistically, the album incorporates a broad range of musical influences, utilizing a variety of genres such as R&B, Hip hop music, hip hop, Dance music, dance, Electronic music, electronic, and reggae. ''Crush'' was positively received by Music journalism, music critics, who highlighted its modern electronic innovation and was listed as one of the best albums of the year worldwide by ''Rolling Stone'' and ''Fuse (TV channel), Fuse''. ''Crush'' sold over 5,000 copies within four days in the United States and debuted at number 61 on the Billboard 200, ''Billboard'' 200—simultaneously becoming the best-selling and the highest charting Korean album in the country, at the time of its release. The Japanese edition of ''Crush'' was made available on June 25, 2014 and peaked at number four on the Oricon Albums Chart. The first single from the album, "Come Back Home (2NE1 song), Come Back Home", peaked at number one on the Gaon Digital Chart for two consecutive weeks, becoming the group's ninth number-one hit in South Korea. The second single, "Gotta Be You (2NE1 song), Gotta Be You", was also promoted on the music program ''Inkigayo'' and peaked at number three on the Gaon Digital Chart. Shortly after the release of ''Crush'', the group commenced their third concert tour titled the All or Nothing World Tour, which visited multiple countries in East and Southeast Asia.

Background

On January 15, 2014, a poster for the group's upcoming All or Nothing World Tour was revealed on YG Entertainment, their agency's website, with hints about a new album. On February 19, it was revealed the album would contain of a total of 10 songs. All of the songs are new, except two; "Scream (2NE1 song), Scream", which was previously featured on their 2012 Japanese language album ''Collection (2NE1 album), Collection'' and an Acoustic Version of the album's title track. It was further revealed that the group's leader CL co-composed and wrote lyrics for three and five songs respectively, a first for the group.

Promotion and release

The digital download of the album was originally slated for release on midnight local time on February 24, 2014, but was pushed back to midnight local time on February 27, 2014, to coincide with CL's birthday on February 26. Two music videos for its lead single "Come Back Home" were planned for release on February 28: a regular version and an unplugged version, although they were not formally released until March 2. The album in physical format was released on March 7. The music video for "Happy" was released on March 2. Prior to the release of the album, 2NE1 held a private listening party for a group of 21 people selected from fans and music experts. It was revealed the new songs would be showcased for the first time at the opening dates of the group's All or Nothing World Tour in Seoul, South Korea on March 1 and 2. On May 20, 2NE1 released the music video for "Gotta Be You".

Reception

Critical reception

''Crush'' was subject to positive reviews from music critics. ''Rolling Stone'' named it the sixth best pop album of 2014—the only appearance from an Asian artist on the list, with Charles Aaron writing "Almost two years after K-pop first giddily barged into America's imagination, the genre hasn't sustained a post-"Gangnam Style" wave, but the Seoul machine [2NE1] keeps humming." He further highlighted the diversity of all its tracks, and identified "MTBD" as the album's centerpiece. ''Fuse'' noted the group's "knack for genre-melding" and wrote that "After fans waited nearly four years for their second full-length album, the K-pop phenoms did not disappoint with a slew of forward-thinking, wholly-accessible tracks". They selected "Come Back Home", "Baby I Miss You" and "Gotta Be You" as the album standouts.'''' The publication further included ''Crush'' in their year-end ranking of best 40 worldwide albums of 2014. ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' ranked it the number one best K-pop album of the year, where they felt that it "proved more than worth the nearly-four-year wait" and highlighted the record's venture into new sonic territory with the fusion of different genres. August Brown of ''Los Angeles Times'' stated that "'Crush' has one foot in each country's pop music: K-pop's neon melodies, with sounds from America's trap and bass-music scenes. It's the most coherent LP to come out of this generation of K-pop." Writing for Pitchfork (website), ''Pitchfork'', Corban Goble commented that "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." Conversely, Jeon Min-seok of webzine ''IZM'' had a more critical stance, feeling that the songs from the record were not as great as those found in the group's earlier albums. ''Crush'' was also chosen as the 'Favorite Girl Group Album' on the "Girl Group Week Readers' Poll" hosted by ''Billboard'', beating albums by Girls Aloud, Little Mix, Destiny's Child and the Spice Girls, as well as being included in ''Fuse (TV channel), Fuse''s mid-year list of the "25 Best Albums of 2014 So Far", alongside artists such as Coldplay, Michael Jackson, Pharrell Williams and Mariah Carey.

Commercial performance

Following its release, ''Crush'' sold over 5,000 copies within four days in the United States and debuted at number 61 on the Billboard 200, ''Billboard'' 200. In doing so, the album broke two records: the best selling K-pop album in the country (the record has since been beaten by Exo (band), Exo's ''Exodus (Exo album), Exodus'' which sold 6,000 copies) and the highest charting album by a Korean artist on the Billboard 200, ''Billboard'' 200, which would hold the record for two and a half years. In the group's native country South Korea, the album debuted and peaked at number two on the Circle Album Chart, Gaon Album Chart in the chart issue dated March 2–8, 2014. According to Gaon's mid-year charts, the tracks from ''Crush'' have been downloaded over 5.2 million times. Due to its successful digital performance, it landed their fourth nomination for Melon Music Award for Album of the Year, Album of the Year at the 2014 Melon Music Awards.

Controversy

Listeners accused the sixth track, "MTBD 멘붕(Mental Breakdown)" of having an audio sample of a young boy reciting Quran verses. This struck social media by storm amongst 2NE1's Muslim listeners, with even death threats being posted on both the group's and CL's social media pages. Because of this controversy, YG Entertainment released an alternate version of "MTBD" which omits the sample.

Japanese edition

The Japanese edition of ''Crush'' was released on June 25, 2014. The Limited Edition (Type A) contains the both Japanese and Korean versions of the album on 2 CD's, as well as a bonus DVD with music video clips and "making of Crush". The Special Edition (Type B) contains the DVD and Japanese version of the album while the Standard Edition (Type C) contains only the Japanese version of the album, without the DVD. The Fan Club Special Edition (Type D) has DVD footage of a fan club event from 2013. The Music Cards also contain information from the group's 2014 All or Nothing World Tour. All editions have alternate covers.

Accolades

Track listing

Korean edition

Japanese edition

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Crush''. 2NE1 *Park Bom, Bom – vocals *CL (singer), CL – vocals *Sandara Park, Dara – vocals *Minzy – vocals Design *Kim Hae-young – art direction, artwork and design *Lee Hae-rin – artwork and design *Jang Ye-ji – artwork and design *Kim Young-joon – photography Production *Jason Robert – Audio mixing (recorded music), mixing *Lee Kyung-joon – producer, recording *Shing Sung-kwan – recording *Lee Ji-hoon – recording *Tom Coyne (music engineer), Tom Coyne – Audio mastering, mastering at Sterling Sound, New York City *Yang Hyun-suk – executive producer *Teddy Park – producer Management *Kim Nam-gook – management *Kim Se-ho – management *Park Heon-pyo – management *Son Ji-hoon – management *Kim Ji-yeon – assistant and promotion design *Park Hyun-ah – assistant and promotion design *Jung Ye-eun – assistant and promotion design *Choi Hae-ryung – assistant and promotion design *Kim Byung-goo – production strategy *Kim Sun-young – production strategy *Kim Jae-yeon – production strategy *Kim Ju-ran – production strategy *Shin Sung-jin – project director

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Sales and certifications

Release history

Korean version

Japanese version

References

Discography Other references

External links

2NE1 official site
{{Authority control YG Entertainment albums Genie Music albums 2NE1 albums Korean-language albums Albums produced by Teddy Park