On Tuesday, Rihanna graced Dazed magazine's top 20 tracks of 2015, but so did her Korean counterpart, 2NE1 frontwoman Lee "CL" Chaerin.
Coming in at number 14, the publication heralded CL's latest teaser single "Hello Bitches." Much like the sentiments of many K-pop fans, the single prompted Dazed to compare CL to the 27-year-old "American Oxygen" singer.
"CL might have caught our attention as the Rihanna of K-pop style, but she's since evolved into an artist that defies comparisons," wrote contributor Daisy Jones.
On Thursday, Nov. 26, Justin Bieber shared CL's dance performance video for "Hello Bitches" along with the caption saying "this is dope" on his official Twitter page.
"Personally, I am very satisfied with the dance performance clip of 'Hello Bitches,'" said YG Entertainment founder Yang Hyun Suk, as reported by K-Pop Herald. "Frankly, CL hasn't shown such powerful dance moves, following an intense-tempo track, when she was part of the group."
According to Billboard, the plan is for CL to release an EP through Diplo's record label Mad Decent, with a full-length album to follow.
The comparison could be a good omen for CL's American debut, as Rihanna is planning to soar to new heights with her upcoming album, "Anti." According to the New York Post, Rihanna recently inked a $25 million deal with Samsung to sponsor her upcoming album and world tour.
But Rihanna is not the only superstar CL has been compared to. In August, Diplo conducted an interview with Time magazine, and CL's name came up as one of his "most-buzzed about collaborators."
"K-pop is a weird term because K-pop has everything-rap records, it's very pop-sounding, there are really boy-band sounding records," said the 36-year-old DJ-producer.
"It's going to be [labeled] K-pop because she's doing it, so it's going to be coming from another place and there's going to be Korean lyrics. But for the most part it's eclectic. She's very rap-leaning, she's very fashion forward. She's like the Nicki Minaj of that world."
