What should have been:
To Anyone - 2NE1 (2011)
POD: K-Pop girl group 2NE1 isn't sent to Japan by their label, YG Entertainment; instead, the English language album they were working on with will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas is completed and, in the second half of 2011, the foursome promotes it in the US.
Owing to the many, many connections YG Entertainment has in the US music industry, and to the connections of the girls themselves - 2NE1 member CL being somewhat of a wannabe socialite - 2NE1 is able to promote their album, a pastiche of original tracks and English versions of their previous Korean hits, in the United States, making several radio and television appearances and performing around the country, mostly in cities with big Asian-American communities.
When the album is finally released, it becomes a hit in the club scene, and slowly climbs the Billboard 200 chart until the English version of their song I Am The Best becomes the girl group's breakthrough hit and signature song in the US, owing to social media and a larger than life music video; the album peaks at around #15, an incredible feat for an Asian act. 2NE1 member Dara's mastery of social media and endearing, loveable personality play a big role in building up hype for the group.
Most shockingly, 2NE1 member Minzy - a 17 year old that, ever since the group's debut, has been in the shadow of the other members of 2NE1, due to her lack of popularity - quickly becomes a fan favourite in the United States: her tomboy persona appeals to American audiences far more than to those of conservative and patriarchal South Korea, and she becomes the second most popular member of the group overseas after CL, a fact that shocks both YG Entertainment CEO Yang Hyun Suk, and Minzy herself.
Even though their brief stint in the US was only mildly successful, 2NE1 become national heroes in South Korea; in 2012, taking advantage of the hype generated by their US debut, YG Entertainment releases 2NE1 member Bom's debut EP as a soloist: the most popular member of the group by far in her own country, she goes straight to #1 in every chart in South Korea mere hours after her EP's release. CL and Minzy's first singles as soloists are also released; while CL's single isn't very different from OTL's The Baddest Female, Minzy's single is an entirely original uptempo R&B song; overnight, she becomes known as "the female Taeyang" and, in an interview, she credits her US experience with giving her confidence in herself.
The group's second album, Crush, is released a year earlier than in OTL, in 2013, in both a Korean and an English language version, that goes up to #10 in the Billboard 200. In 2014, the debut EPs of CL and Minzy and the first full length album of Bom are released. Minzy's departure from the group is butterflied away, and Bom's "drug scandal" is better handled by the label, that doesn't try to replace 2NE1 with new girl group Black Pink as in OTL: in fact, their 2016 album - never released in OTL - is full of songs that went to Black Pink in OTL, plus a few tracks written by CL.
In 2017, 2NE1 is nearing the end (they will disband in 2018, ten years after their debut) but, instead of being viewed as a missed opportunity and the proof that Yang Hyun Suk is a misogynistic piece of shit that doesn't quite understand the concept of time, they're considered the biggest pop act to ever come out of South Korea, next to their labelmate PSY. Bom becomes a ballad singer known for singing plenty of overdramatic K-Drama soundtrack songs, and she actually gets to see a decent psychiatrist for her Michael Jackson-tier case of body dysmorphic disorder, and her depression. CL keeps dropping unsubtle hints about her bisexuality in her songs' lyrics, but can't do much more than that since South Korea's the kind of country where queer entertainers get blacklisted from the stage as soon as they come out; she becomes a fairly successful rapper, one that however is more pop than hip hop. Dara becomes a TV personality, resumes her acting career, keeps acting like a child while in her early 30s, and makes people question her sexuality through her uncomfortably close friendship with CL; Minzy never resorts to a 180° shift in image and plastic surgery in order to be accepted by the South Korean public, and carves herself a comfortable niche as a contemporary R&B artist with occasional dips into gospel; she develops close ties to the singers of urban record label AOMG, especially Jay Park, and eventually leaves YG Entertainment to join Park's label.
Keep it up!