Sandara Park on 22 years with no break, new band music, and how CL saved her 2NE1 audition

Sandara Park hasn't taken a single break in 22 years. She made that clear in an interview released June 27 on the YouTube channel 조현아의 평범한 목요일밤, walking through her career from Philippine debut to her current solo run.

"If I rest, I feel anxious," she said. At her busiest, she was doing four variety show appearances a week. "I really worked while bleeding from my nose."

Her latest project marks a new direction. "This time I challenged band music," she said, explaining that a rock-leaning vocal style had always suited her better than the YG sound she trained under. "My style and vocal tone match well with band music, and I'm finally challenging it now."

On her solo standing, she was candid: "It seems my position as a solo artist is not yet solid." She's been performing solo for two years. Reinterpreting 2NE1 songs alone has made her happier than she expected. "The audience loves it, so I think I'll sing them for life."

She also revisited the rocky early days of 2NE1, when the group nearly never formed. The members were told repeatedly that their sound didn't fit YG's color, and they couldn't even practice together. Then CL overheard Sandara rehearsing to a Jennifer Lopez track and asked if it was actually Lopez. When Sandara said it was her own voice, CL told her to use that song for the end-of-month evaluation—then showed up to do a rap feature on it herself. That moment of CL vouching for her is what got all four members into the same practice room. "Through that incident, the four of us were able to practice together," Sandara said.