There are K-Pop idols, and then theres CL.
Now, at 30, shes gearing up to release her first solo album.
And we can all meet her again for the first time.
Or so Chae-rin tells me.
CL was born, fully formed, at age 17, her neck dripping with umbilical chains.
Its a switch, she says.
Its armor for me.
Her fingernails are honed and augmented into weapon-grade claws.
Her hair is a luminescent gray less like an overcast sky, more like a dusty nebula.
Shes a byproduct of an increasingly global music culture a radiant spark between colliding worlds.
She dedicates her body of work to bad girls everywhere bad meaning good, you know?
The songs title, Hello Bitches, greeted CLs Western audience.
Hello Kitty getting hella old, she sang.
Much of that sameness is by design.
CL entered the YG family at 15; her eventual 2NE1 bandmate, Minzy, was 10.
The rest of CLs time at YG is off the table, interview-wise.
One day well probably all know, in detail, what a K-pop trainee undergoes during their remaking.
For now, we can only see the person who enters the machine and the person who exits it.
CL is like a mask, but with the attitude and character too.
Its armor for me.
Its all gratitude, Chae-rin-as-CL says, like a celebrity, of fame and its complications.
(This eagerness was relayed via publicist, prior to our interview.)
This procedure also, in essence, edits a distinctly Asian eye into a slightly more Caucasian-looking one.
It was a thing back then, where everyone got double eyelids.
That was the beauty trend, CL says now.
But she liked hermonolidsand generally bristled at unsolicited image advice.
I even want to say I was sad and angry.
I was like, What the fuck?
Why are all these people telling me how I should look?
How do I digest this?
Against an onslaught of scrutiny, she projected confidence.
You really got to tell yourself, You are beautiful the way you are, she says.
And I double-check I constantly remind myself of that.
In an attempt to enter the American entertainment industry, she moved to Los Angeles.
Her lyrical punches are thrown powerfully but playfully, like those in a cardio boxing class.
I know you want to hear names, she says, but Im going to think about it.
If you think of any, let me kn
Honestly, I love talking to John Malkovich.
John Malkovich, the actor?
CL played an assassin named Queen.
(In other words, a bad girl.)
He was the one who told me its okay to be sad, sometimes.
Its okay to be mad.
He wouldnt say it like that, but hed say it through his stories.
Hes still my mentor.
He played a big part of my L.A. life.
You really got to tell yourself, You are beautiful the way you are.
The cherry is something of an icon for Chae-rin, which sounds like cherry in Korean.
She doesnt enjoy eating cherries, but she likes what they do for the fruit world.
(What she means is: They have great branding.)
I think to some people Im aK-pop artist.
I dont want to correct anything, but also I dont want to put myself in a box.
People could choose, but I dont want to be one layer.
53 Myeongdong-gil, Jung-gu.
All the Korean local makeup brands in one place.
I love shopping there, CL says.
I would get all the eyeliners there and test them.
I usually end up with two, but I love testing them.
When Im performing, it needs to be waterproof and all those things.
I dont know if youve heard about pigskin?
Its a Korean old-school remedy.
Pigskin is pure collagen, so its a jot down of mask Korean people make and do.
And when I have a shoot, Ill mix manuka honey and matcha powder.
That really cleanses [my skin].
509-29 Yeonnam-dong, Mapo-gu.
My friend Oh Hyuk [vocalist and guitarist of Hyukoh] is really into coffee, CL says.
He invited me there and their coffee is amazing.
Duomo Books & Cooks.
5 Jahamun-ro 16-gil, Jongno-gu.
Its an Italian restaurant.
I go there when I feel like eating a home-cooked meal, she says.
I know the chef through my aunt.
Whenever I feel like good food and good vibes, thats one of my favorite places.
Click hereto read CL’s cover story in Korean.
