YG almost never disappoints. I use ‘almost’ lest some SM
stans come screaming at me, berating about the ‘countless’ flaws that YG and
its acts have. I have had my disappointments with YG before, many in fact; I
hate their closed-ness to their fans, their secretive ways and I was definitely
disappointed with a couple of their songs. (‘I Love You’, ‘Ugly’, ‘I Need A
Girl’) Not to mention, they have not been first-timers with controversy, with
the marijuana and sex scandals whatnot.
However, while they have hit some lows, their ability to
just bounce back and blow everyone’s socks off have been nothing short of pure,
remarkable perfection. 2NE1 have still remained epically swaggy and confident without
being overly-brass, BIGBANG time and time again have reminded us why they are
indeed the true kings of the K-pop industry, and perhaps the most important
achievement of all of YG’s countless, Gangnam Style!!
Thus, when I heard about Lee Hi’s upcoming debut, I was
excited. I had seen her on Kpop Star before, and she was pretty damn good a
singer then. So, I know she can sing, but all of YG’s acts have had a sort of
unique stage presence about them. Could a young barely legal teenager pull off
a head-turning, confident performance, being the junior of legends in a highly
dog-eat-dog industry? I wondered and hoped.
‘1.2.3.4’ is very much like a bluesy, soulful song, with
hints of Duffy and Amy Winehouse injected into many portions of it. The
slowness of the song, coupled sometimes with the lack of background music
really enable Lee Hi’s incredibly mature and rich voice to shine, though at
points I think I would hoped for more intonation variation, as certain sections
were really one-dimensional, and really soft, like the verse before the chorus.
I won’t really be going on a full breakdown of the song, because there really
isn’t that much for me to talk about (on a whole, they sound fine) but I will
be putting some input about the chorus.
The way she says ‘1 and 2 and 3, 4’ is so catchy and I’ve
been repeating it in my head for days since listening to it. She is really deep
when she hits this section, which makes her reminiscent of those 1960s
trot/blues singers. Her voice is really well-developed I’d say, very mature,
and I especially like the tiny tinges of vibrato which sometimes penetrate. It
is bluesy not because she is raspy, but because she is serious in her voice.
The serious quality of her tone really adds a lot to the feel of the song. The
way she delivers her lines are composed and in their own way, emotional.
Despite this emotion, her acting in her music video is cringe-worthy, such
irony.
On a whole, a solid debut track, though not the best female
solo K-pop debut I’ve ever heard, the honours of which are tied between G.Na
and Ailee, for ‘I’ll Back Off So You Can Live Better’ and ‘Heaven’, but
nonetheless, I will be looking forward to what direction YG will be taking her.
I hope they can
continue developing on the soul route, as it is a genre seldom used or heard in
K-pop which should give Lee Hi, and her voice, a chance to shine. Please YG,
don’t botch up her career like how Cube botched G.Na after her debut (still a
fan of hers, don’t get me wrong).
I will be looking forward to what lies in store for Lee Hi
next.
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