K-pop Goes February: Day 22- Ailee

It’s the last Monday in February! Is that a good thing? Depends on how your February was I guess. Hope it’s been OK. A new week means a new theme in the K-pop Goes February project, and for the final week, I’m looking at soloists. In the general world of K-pop, soloists often seem to be side-lined: in almost the opposite manner to Western pop, the group is what dominates in Korea. I don’t have enough knowledge to know why this is, but I watched a K-pop review video the other day that suggested soloists have less reach because there’s only one personality to identify with, rather than the range of options a group gives you. You can’t pick out the goofy one, the introspective one or hot one when there is only, well, one. Thus, you don’t see as many of them in the K-pop market. That doesn’t mean they don’t exist though, and by Jove I’m going to give them a jolly good listen, to see how they hold up. Let’s get it. First up this week is the female soloist, Ailee.

Who is Ailee?

Ahh, thank god, it’s one person, so no explanations of member line-ups! No complicated name origins! Ailee is a Korean American singer, whose birth name of Amy Lee was pushed together to create her moniker. Having grown up in New Jersey, she moved to Korea in 2010, and was signed by YMC Entertainment. No points for guessing here that yes, I don’t know who they are. She made her debut in 2012, putting her in the Second Generation camp of artists.

From looking at the wonderful The Bias List blog, it sounds as though Ailee is known for a powerful vocal ability, self-empowerment anthems and a mix of dance and ballad style tracks. I’ve also seen her described as ‘The Korean Beyoncé’, which is one hell of a compliment, though maybe accurate, as she famously sung an impressive version of Halo in her pre-debut days. If this is in any way true, I’m in for a ride.

The First Song

Ailee debuted in February 2012 with the song Heaven. Immediately as I listened, I was weirdly put in mind of Halo, as this song is very much in a similar vein: a big power ballad, but with a very strong beat supporting it, and an even stronger voice. Even the topics seem related- heaven is obviously where angels live, and what do angels have? You get the picture. The chorus is built around the rapid repetition of the word ‘heaven’, which actually works really well to change the pace briefly, and bring the song’s passion to a point. The video is very ‘2012 debut’ with very strong white lighting, which I guess is to evoke heaven, though we don’t always need to be so literal my dears. There is a nice little plot twist in the video’s story too, and overall the effect of it all left me charmed.

Five of the Big Hits

I didn’t remember to ask Reddit about this one, so, terrifyingly, I had to rely on myself. Ew. Looking at a combination of YouTube, Spotify and googling ‘Ailee best songs’, I came up with I Will Go To You Like The First Snow, I Will Show You, Don’t Touch Me, U&I and Evening Sky.

When I started with Evening Sky, also from 2012, I realised that this must be a soundtrack song, given that the video is exclusively clips from a movie starring Dakota Fanning as a girl who appears to be falling in love as she’s dying from cancer. As you might be able to guess from this hilarious material, the song is a ballad, which is, of course, not my thing, though Ailee’s power in the choruses is striking, and there are some lovely tender moments when her voice dances in the high range. It’s proper lighter-in-the-air-and-sway type stuff, which works surprisingly well here. To follow on from this, I decided to go for the catchily-titled I Will You To You Like The First Snow (from 2017), which has over fifty million views on YouTube, probably due to being used in the hugely popular K-drama Guardian: The Lonely and Great God. Here we are, once again, in full ballad territory, all swirling strings, tender piano and passionate choruses. Ailee’s voice is really standing out though, and I like how softly and emotively she begins the track. It’s the classic ballad formula: start gentle, and build to the point where your emotions burst through. She handles it well though, and I am guessing that if I had watched this drama (I should, the gorgeous Gong Yoo is in it), the song would connect even more with me.

Moving out of soundtrack territory (hopefully), next up is another 2012 track, I Will Show You. My heart initially sank when listening to this: we begin with more swirling strings and serious piano. Gosh darnit I’ve picked another ballad, how did I do that? I was already to try and find some parts that weren’t super generic- and then the beat kicked in. Ailee you little minx! Picking up the pace, she reveals a chorus full of power and sass, to match a video where she goes from the rejected, mousy girl to the superstar everyone wants. Much like a lot of the other great stuff from the second gen, the song is wonderfully full, with a rich instrumentation, lyrics that aren’t simple chants or repetitions, and a voice that knows what it’s doing. This is more bally like it.

We don’t even have a tricksy false start in 2014’s Don’t Touch Me: we start fun and we continue with it. The song begins with a clapping beat, accompanied by a thudding deep piano. Brass sneaks in to build us up to the chorus, which, to me, actually sounded about a half beat slower, an odd touch. But the stomping rhythm is relentlessly engaging, and, as can be guessed from title, we get a whole lot of attitude from Ailee here. She’s clearly having fun in this mode, belting, running, and even growling a little bit. In contrast to that childish affectation I’ve heard so many girl groups fall pray too, this is exactly what I like to hear. If you have the voice of a woman, why would you pick the voice of a child? Ailee clearly knows which way to go here.

Last up is 2013’s U&I. And hot diggity damn, someone’s listened to Beyoncé’s Crazy In Love a few times haven’t they? When one of the first shots of a video is a fully rhinestoned silver telephone, I’m on board. This is a full R&B, pop, funk anthem, full of shiny brass, a jazzy drum beat (that even gets a few seconds of its own to shine) and a catchy chorus hook (“you and I-ah-ah-ah-I”). Queen Bey’s influence is clear here, in the formation of the dance routines, the outfits, and the style of the instrumentation. And that’s no bad thing, as Ailee proves, yet again, that she has the voice and the attitude to carry this off. She has total vocal clarity, and boy, can she go loud. No wonder The Bias List chose this as her best track.

The Latest Song

The latest release from Ailee is October 2020’s When We Were In Love. It seems we are back in ballad town again. Look to your left, there’s some soft piano, and up on our right, we’ll be able to make out some swirling violins. It’s all the stuff that Korean ballads are made of, and it still doesn’t do much for me. My theory on this more generally is that ballads are about strong feelings, and thus it’s more important here to understand the words, which I generally don’t. Her singing and expression is beautiful, and I like how she held off adding in percussion until the second chorus. I kind of wish she’d kept it out of the whole thing: for me a ballad works best when it constrains itself, rather than always going the full Whitney. The video tells an interesting story though: there’s a couple, a very cute golden retriever, and a whole narrative. Come for the song, stay for the dog.

The Latest Album

When We Were In Love is one of five tracks from Ailee’s most recent 2020 EP, I’m. And, god damnit, they’re pretty much all ballads. I am trying so hard to find them interesting, but they just don’t grab me. Where is powerful, brassy Ailee?? I want her back!

The album opens with possibly the softest of the songs, with a nice piano intro and a lovely, soft, controlled voice from Ailee. But I just can’t bring myself to notice anything more about it. It’s nice, slow singing with pianos and violins. Sorry, but that’s all I’ve got. When We Were In Love follows, but, without the video to give me the dog, it doesn’t do anything either. Beautiful Disaster at least adds in a drum beat from the outset, but it’s a slow one, so it too fails to excite. What About It is slightly more interesting, adding a deeper, echoing drumbeat after the first minute that ends up sounding almost militaristic, alongside, yep, you guessed it, violins. It’s a little change of direction that sets it apart from the other ballads on this EP, but not enough for me. The last song, What If I, is the most upbeat, going for a more chilled out vibe with casual guitars and clicking beats replacing the pianos and bloody violins we’ve had for the other four songs. It sounds similar to a 2000s R&B pop ballad, still not my favourite thing, but more engaging than anything else here. I don’t want to sound like I despise ballads, but hearing four in a row, with not much to differentiate them to my ear, is just dull for me. I would have preferred four identical songs in Ailee’s powerhouse mode, over this.

Thoughts?

It’s clear that Ailee’s work falls into two distinct camps for me: attitude-driven, funky R&B/pop, aaaand….ballads. This may be an error on my part in my selections: maybe I just happened to pick all the soppy stuff, though that does seem to be what strikes a chord in terms of views or listens. Ballads are a big part of Korean music, and, I fear, especially for soloists, so I shouldn’t be surprised. I can’t, at this point, figure out why this would be: maybe they feel that one person is more suited to the minimal tone and personal expression of the ballad format? That may be true, but Ailee has more than proven over her Korea that she can also release fun, empowering bangers to rival any Western pop equivalent. When it comes to this side of her work, I’m absolutely a fan. In the future, if I look into her work again, I will happily skip over the many, many piano tracks to find the pop-belter queen that is so entertaining.