To Anyone

Development and background

In August 2010, YG Entertainment CEO Yang Hyun Suk announced that 2NE1 will promote three title tracks for their first full-length album. Each promotional single would have a music video to accompany it. They were later announced as "Clap Your Hands", "Go Away", and "Can't Nobody". "Clap Your Hands" was written and composed by producer e.knock, whereas "Go Away" and "Can't Nobody" were created by Teddy Park. Two days before the release of the album, the pre-orders for the album had reached 120,000 copies. By the end of September, the album had sold 100,000 copies. On October 28, it was announced that the group would be re-releasing the album in Japan on December 8, 2010 under Japanese record label Avex. The release of To Anyone in Japan would mark the group's debut there. However it was later announced that the album's release was delayed as both YG Entertainment and Avex wanted to develop the album further. The album was also announced to be sold in Thailand on October 28. YG Entertainment also announced a partnership with Universal Records to release the album in the Philippines.

Music and lyrics

To Anyone is classified largely as pop, but contains strong elements of dance and R&B. Lyrically, the album is about female independence. "Go Away" is about telling a man to "go away" during a break-up.

Promotion

Music videos for "Clap Your Hands" and "Go Away" were released on September 9 and 10, respectively. "It Hurts (Slow)" was promoted after the initial three songs, with its music video releasing on November 1.

The first stage performances for the album were on SBS's September 12 episode of The Music Trend. They performed their three title tracks, "Clap Your Hands," "Go Away," and "Can't Nobody". The performances were recorded early in the day so they could perform at the Hallyu Dream Concert in Gyeongju later in the evening. They won first place on Mnet M! Countdown for "Clap Your Hands" on the day of their performances, followed by first-place win the next day on KBS' Music Bank for "Can't Nobody", and a first-place win the following week on SBS' The Music Trend for "Can't Nobody". Overall, 2NE1 had gained first place eleven times on the various music shows.

After the group finished performing the three main singles of the album, YG Entertaintment announced that 2NE1 will be resuming promotions with the album performing "It Hurts (Slow)" on music programs. The group began their first promotions with the song on SBS's Inkigayo during Halloween, October 31, 2010. The music video for the song was released on November 1, 2010 to accompany with the group's follow-up promotions.

Singles

"I Don't Care" was remixed and retitled "I Don't Care (Reggae Mix Ver.)" and became the first single from the album. It was first performed on the September 1, 2009 showing of The Music Trend. It was released on September 3, and peaked at number twenty six on the monthly BGM Chart. "Kiss" was a solo song for Dara featuring CL, and served as the next single. It was released on September 7, and peaked at number five. "Kiss" was followed by Bom's solo song "You and I", released on October 28, 2009. The song reached number one for November."Please Don't Go", a duet between leader CL and youngest member Minzy, was the last single of 2009 released for the album. The song, released November 20, peaked at number six."Try to Follow Me" was a surprise release by the group on February 9, 2010. It peaked at number one on February 13, 2010. The group went under the radar until September 9, when they released their album along with the triple promotional singles. "Clap Your Hands" peaked at number three in South Korea and was the first track to have a music video, which was released the same day. The song was praised for having top production qualityand being aggressive. "Go Away" and "Can't Nobody" were the other two of the simultaneous track releases. They were both praised and had received positive responses overall. However, all three songs were criticized for use of auto-tune."Go Away" peaked at number one in South Korea, while "Can't Nobody" and "Clap Your Hands" topped at the second and third positions. "It Hurts (Slow)" was the last promoted single from the album, and peaked at number four upon album's release. It was praised as one of the bright spots of the album that focused on the group's vocal talents.

"Can't Nobody (Eng Ver)" was released as a ringtone in Japan to start their initial debut there but was delayed until November, due to the March earthquake."Go Away" was selected to be the first official single, with a release on March 9, 2011.

Critical reception

To Anyone received positive to mixed reviews from critics. KBS World praised the album, stating the album showed that YG Entertainment was still "one of the top companies [...] in music production quality". They also stated that the album showed off a more "grown-up image" and that songs like "It Hurts (Slow)" showed off the vocal talent they possess. However, complaints were often made about auto-tune and vocoders. Regardless, To Anyone was a commercial success in Korea, launching the group to become one of the most popular girl groups in South Korea.

Commercial performance

To Anyone debuted at number one on September 11, 2010. Additionally, the album charted at number one for the month of September to November. In the United States, the album peaked at number seven on the Billboard World Albums chart. In total, the album sold 122,845 copies by the end of 2010.

"Go Away", on its own, sold 2,444,933 digital downloads, and "Can't Nobody" had similar numbers at 2,327,146 downloads. "Clap Your Hands" was downloaded 1,841,485 times, and "It Hurts (Slow)" sold 1,703,377 copies. "Try to Follow Me" was the last song from the album to be downloaded over a million times, enjoying an early February release on its own as a digital single, at 1,770,787 downloads. "Love Is Ouch" and "I'm Busy", neither promoted or released as a single, were downloaded 903,293 and 902,101 times respectively. Click on the 다운로드 button to get download sales figures.. In 2011, the singles from "To Anyone" reached other 6.000.000 downloads, for example "Go Away" incremented its downloads from 2.5 million to 4 millions in that year, also "Can't Nobody", "Clap Your Hands", "Try to Follow Me" and "It Hurts" incremented their total of copies sold.