On 22 July 2024, YG Entertainment posted a short video with two words on it: WELCOME BACK. After almost eight years apart, CL, Sandara Park (Dara), Park Bom and Minzy were reuniting as 2NE1 for the group's 15th anniversary, starting with a concert in Seoul that October. For the 2NE1 fandom, known as Blackjack, it was the announcement many had stopped expecting.
Who Blackjack are
2NE1 is pronounced "twenty-one," and the fandom name plays on that. In the card game blackjack, the aim is to get as close to 21 as possible without going over, so a Blackjack is a fan who sticks with 2NE1. The name dates from the group's early years and survived the long break intact.
Hot pink is the color fans associate with the group, and the two original official lightsticks were built in pink and black, one of them with a winged design that fans still call the original. When YG unveiled a new lightstick for the reunion tour in September 2024, a simple sphere that glows red, many Blackjacks said openly that they preferred the old ones.
- Fandom nameBlackjack, after the card game in which 21 wins.
- MembersCL, Sandara Park (Dara), Park Bom, Minzy.
- AgencyYG Entertainment.
- Debut2009, with "Fire" in May.
- DisbandedNovember 2016; final single "Goodbye" in January 2017.
- ReunionAnnounced 22 July 2024; Welcome Back tour from October 2024 to April 2025.
From "Fire" to "Come Back Home"
2NE1 were introduced in March 2009 on "Lollipop," a commercial song with labelmates BIGBANG, and debuted properly two months later with "Fire." "I Don't Care" followed that summer and won Song of the Year at the 2009 Mnet Asian Music Awards, a rare result for a rookie group.
The run that followed is the reason the name still carries weight. "Can't Nobody" and "Go Away" made 2010 their breakout year, and in 2011 "Lonely," "I Am the Best" and "Ugly" all reached number one on Korea's Gaon Digital Chart. "I Am the Best" won Song of the Year at the 2011 Mnet Asian Music Awards, which made 2NE1 the first group to take that prize twice. Years later the song reached Western audiences through a Microsoft Surface commercial and topped Billboard's World Digital Songs chart, the first K-pop song to do so. "I Love You" (2012), "Missing You" (2013) and "Come Back Home" (2014) kept the group at the top; "Come Back Home" was their ninth and final number one.
In the editors' view, what set 2NE1 apart was attitude more than any single hit: loud styling, CL's rap verses, Bom's high notes and stage shows built for arenas rather than music show sets.
The break-up and the long wait
YG confirmed Minzy's departure in April 2016, and on 25 November 2016 the agency announced that 2NE1 had disbanded. The remaining three members released a farewell single, "Goodbye," on 21 January 2017. All four went on to solo work in music, television and acting, and the group's last full performance together had been at the 2015 Mnet Asian Music Awards.
For six years, the closest Blackjacks got to a reunion was a rumor. Then all four walked onto a stage in the California desert.
The Coachella surprise
On 16 April 2022, CL performed at Coachella as part of 88rising's Head in the Clouds Forever set. Midway through, Dara, Bom and Minzy joined her for "I Am the Best," the first time the four had performed as 2NE1 in more than six years. Nothing was announced beforehand. The clips spread quickly, and the question of a full reunion stopped sounding hypothetical.
The reunion, as we saw it in July 2024
When the WELCOME BACK video appeared, YG confirmed a solo concert in Seoul in early October and said further tour plans, including shows in Japan, were in progress. It did not announce new music, and neither did the members. Our original 2024 story speculated about new songs and collaborations; none of that was confirmed, and it has been left out here.
Update, October 2026: the Welcome Back tour and after
The Welcome Back tour opened with three nights at Olympic Hall in Seoul from 4 to 6 October 2024. It then moved through Asia: Manila (16 and 17 November), Jakarta (22 and 23 November), Kobe (29 November to 1 December), Hong Kong (8 December), Tokyo (13 to 15 December) and Singapore (21 and 22 December). In 2025 the group played Bangkok (25 and 26 January), Kuala Lumpur (1 February), Taoyuan in Taiwan (8 and 9 February), Ho Chi Minh City (15 and 16 February) and Macau (22 and 23 February).
YG announced two encore concerts at the KSPO Dome in Seoul in January 2025, in a venue more than three times the size of the opening shows. They took place on 12 and 13 April 2025 and closed the tour after 27 concerts. Published tallies put attendance above 250,000 and the gross at an estimated 44 million US dollars. In December 2024 the group also appeared at SBS Gayo Daejeon, their first appearance on the year-end show in ten years.
In summer 2025, 2NE1 played a run of festivals, including 88rising's Head in the Clouds in Pasadena in June, the festival brand behind the 2022 Coachella set, and several editions of Waterbomb in Korea and across Asia.
The reunion has been a live project. The tour setlists were built from existing hits, and as of mid-October 2026 2NE1 has not released a new group single or album, nor announced new group dates. The members continue their solo careers; Dara, for example, launched her own label, ARADNAS, in June 2026 and released the single album rePRISM. For Blackjacks, the 2024 announcement delivered the concerts. New music is still waiting.
Editor's note: This story first appeared on kpop-fandom on 22 July 2024. It was rewritten and updated in October 2026: we removed speculation about new music and collaborations, removed social media embeds, added the background of the Blackjack fandom name, corrected and dated the group's history, and added the full Welcome Back tour, the 2025 festival appearances and the group's status as of October 2026.
Sources YG Entertainment: 2NE1 reunion announcement, Soompi: 2NE1 surprises at Coachella, Soompi: 2NE1 announces Welcome Back encore concert in Seoul, Koreaboo: 2NE1 fans on the new lightstick, Wikipedia: Welcome Back Tour.