Heaven - Ailee (에일리) [MUSIC REVIEW]

Before reading this review please watch the video: Heaven - Ailee (Official MV)

Ailee

Ailee debuted earlier this year (2012) with YMC Entertainment after releasing a teaser that caught the attention of many either from her powerful vocals, B2ST's KiKwang or the guy who, ironically, resembled Jesus. 

I hadn't really been following the new K-pop releases because it was really all just slurring together and becoming the same sound, the same dance and the same story lines. It was becoming so useless to follow up on which new groups were debuting because I felt like I already knew what the product was going to be. Especially when it came to the female groups and solo artists. So it wasn't a big shocker that I didn't discover Ailee until weeks after her debut when a friend of a mine pointed out how much he enjoyed her music.

I listened to the audio before I watched the music video and my initial reaction was just goosebumps all over. There was not one part of my body that did not have those pesky little bumps riddling it. I kid you not, I was in utter shock over the power this girl held in her voice. There was so much emotion packed into one song that I almost felt like I was living in the shoes of the person in the story. While listening to this song I found myself inspired and moved along with six hundred other things that I'm not able to decipher even in this moment.

I was very disappointed in myself for not having followed Ailee because she really was this fresh, new talent brought into the lulling Hallyu wave. She in herself is an amazing talent that strays from the original K-pop style by adding in a R&B edge while still maintaining the pop quality that creates the genre. 

My theory of why she's attracted so many fans in such a short amount of time involves her voice. When she sings Ailee has this husky, rugged edge to her voice and yet she still manages to keep this cute edge to her voice that female singers in Korea seem to be so renound for. These qualities in her voice (as well as just pure, raw talent) are what I believe has drawn such a large audience to her.

But not everything is based on the song. Especially not with K-pop (even though I would probably just leave it at this being a great song, but unfortunately I can't do that). 

The music video was a fresh new taste to accompany this brilliant song. Unlike so many other videos clogging up the business these days the video wasn't packed with flashy backgrounds, close-ups to the face interrupted with random fits of dancing and a story line about either chasing after a girl/boy or shooting someone for betraying you in one way or another. 

The first thing that catches your eye with the video is the way the producers set the lighting to make it foggy and very bright almost as if you were in heaven. Following the curious lighting, the next thing that caught my eye was the odd (maybe a bit disconcerting?) looking man hogging up the screen. My first impression of him was that he gave off a very fatherly air about him and I thought he might have been related to Ailee in the scheme of the video plot line, but the more the video progressed I realized he might not be her father after all but a deceased ex-boyfriend. 

The intricate plot line to the song and video is only one of the unique things pertaining to this video. I love how there are different plays on the camera angle. The way it zooms up close to Ailee's face then zooms back out to the bigger picture leaves my head reeling a bit but in a good way. When it's combined with that foggy lighting it kind of makes you dizzy but you're so over powered by the song anyways that you barely notice it.

What I particularly enjoyed about this video - other than the bouncing angles - was that the plot line was a different play on matters of the heart. Instead of the song talking straight up about losing a loved one and mourning over it, it worked differently by focusing on the after math of losing a loved one. The video (from what I can grasp from it anyways) is a story being told in the perspective of two people: Ailee and the guy with the unreasonably long hair. When we're in the guy's perspective we can clearly see him reminiscing over old times as he smiles adoringly at Ailee and goes about their daily activities with her. He always seems to be focused one hundred percent on her but not in that K-pop creepy way where we sometimes see the actors/actresses going out of their way dramatic to make their point get across. I find that his caring comes across subtly. Not by his actions but just by the persona he managed to hold throughout the duration of the video. When we're in the point of view of Ailee we almost always see her laughing and smiling (and gosh, doesn't she look beautiful with that squinty smile of hers? I adore it) no matter what she's doing. Watching TV or eating she comes off as a generally happy person. 

We don't realize that the long haired man is actually just an angel type being/memory until near the end of the music video when KiKwang makes his entrance. That's when we realize that this man is not actually enjoying those times with Ailee but watching over her in a way that makes it look like he's protecting her. 

It's bittersweet. On one hand you see Ailee has come to terms with this loss of hers (probably after going down a long hard road of tears and heart ache) and has started moving on and gaining back her life. But on the other hand we see her looking at videos and pictures of her lost lover and we see said lover watching over her with an impossible longing. It's almost as if he wishes he could be with her again which is where the bittersweetness to the story comes in because we know he can't have her because he's up in heaven - or we assume he is. 

I mentioned before how I found the inspirational and moving and the video played in with that. The inspiration comes from the fact that Ailee has this guardian angel watching over her as she moves on and discovers new areas of life. The moved part is negative and positive as I'm moved by the fact that they both still hold a deep and unforgettable love for each other but that they can't have each other.

Now that I've done a thorough probably unnecessary ananlysis of the music video I'll move on to the dance which I was surprised to see because the video didn't specify a dance at all. It wasn't until I watched a live performance that I realized there was a dance accompanying this song.

To be honest, I couldn't care for the dance. It does add character to the song in a live performance but with the stunning voice Ailee has I think she could have blown our minds by just standing in the middle of the stage with a microphone and her voice. 

Nonetheless, here are a few live performances for you to judge this by yourself:

Heaven - Ailee (Live: M!Countdown)

Heaven - Ailee (Live - Wave K)

Heaven - Ailee (Live - Music On Top)

As you can see, though, there really isn't much point to the dance as it's very simple and Ailee only jumps in every now and then. I believe the dance was there just to add a better stage presence to the song.

All in all, I absolutely adore this girl. Her song is brilliant, the video is brilliant, she's brilliant. Everything about this song and girl is amazing and I'm happy she debuted and brought something new and likeable to the expanding K-pop industry. Even though she's still just a rookie I think she'll go far in the music industry as long as she keeps getting powerful songs like these to promote. We can do nothing now but enjoy her talent and cross our fingers so that her company promotes her the right way.

Rating: 9.5/10

And  of course, we'll finish off with my favourite YouTube coverists. Watch and support them following the links down below:

Vocal Covers:

christineeykimmy - Heaven - Vocal Cover

Gae1370 - Heaven - Vocal Cover

Joyce - Heaven - Vocal Cover

Korea - Heaven - Vocal Cover

Dance Covers (Solo):

jysdvenny255 - Heaven - Dance Cover

Michelle - Heaven - Dance Cover

Minzyful - Heaven - Dance Cover

Dance Covers (Group):

Dance School of Korea (Mother's Class) - Heaven - Dance Cover

One More Day (하루만 더) - Chocolat (쇼콜라) [MUSIC REVIEW]

Before reading this review please watch the music video here: One More Day (하루만 더) - Chocolat (쇼콜라)

(Left to Right: Melanie, Tia, Soa, Julianne)

Chocolat debuted on August 17, 2011 and gained a lot of attention for being one of South Korea's first biracial K-pop groups. The girls were introduced as being an American-Korean girl group that would wow our ears and eyes with their singing and dancing abilities. Melanie (maknae: 05/05/97), Tia (second maknae: 15/03/97) and Julianne are all American-Korean girls while Soa is Korean. They originally debuted with five members, but for this single one member (JaeYoon) had to leave due to dealing with colon cancer.

The group debuted with their catchy single Syndrome which received much negative and positive feed back. The music video was critiqued for showcasing maknae Tia too much while the song was critiqued for being catchy to the point of annoyance and they were pushed off to the back of the shelf where all the bland, cute K-pop groups get pushed to when they debut with a song that sticks to the standard.

The girls came back again with their next single I Like It (which they did not promote with a music video) before finally coming back with the ever catchy song being reviewed in this post.

The transition from Syndrome to One More Day was a drastic but well needed change in their management. The group had me more annoyed than interested when they first started out because of the way Tia was hogging the spot light but in One More Day we see even Julianne getting a fair share of the song. The music video was still a bit biased towards the maknae but it was still an improvement.

When I first heard the song I couldn't help but think that it sounded like a fusion of the old Britney Spears and Korean. It had that old school edge that made me drown in my own nostalgia. Nonetheless, I found myself humming the tune over and over again as it was always stuck in my head. The powerful vocals combined with the catchy tune made an all kill in my mind. Melanie baffled Chocolat fans with the way she was able to belt out those high notes - and at such a young age too (15). 

Comparing this song to their debut and second single, we can see that they took a turn away from the pop, techno music to the more sultry ballad like K-pop that I find leaves a stronger impact on people. Their company did well in choosing a song that could showcase their vocals and still be upbeat enough for them to dance to it and to leave the audience constantly singing it unconsciously.

As far as the song goes, it's fantastic. Taking a look at the dance, however... That leaves much to be desired. Watching their live performances (One More Day - Chocolat (Live) K-pop Con Concert) we see them dancing on their chairs like in the video whilst singing. The use of chairs works well in this dance, in my opinion, though it is not unique to K-pop as we have seen it in other music videos such as SHINee's Love Like Oxygen. I realize that the song is not much of a dance tune but the choreography was disappointing. I expected to see some intricacy and uniqueness in the moves but instead I was forced to watch Tia, a fourteen year old girl, grind up against a men well beyond her age and then forced again to watch her group mates throw themselves onto the floor and do moves on the chair that looked a bit like the actions a man would do when pleasuring himself.

It's not that it was a horrible dance, it's better then a couple dances I've seen, but them doing such awkward moves at such a young age is not a pleasant thing to watch. The chair move especially reminded me of Miss A's Goodbye Baby in which they do a similar movement during their chorus. 

That being said, I didn't find the dance original or very difficult and the moves were a bit too odd to watch with the fact that they are young girls nagging at the back of my mind which is why I give it such a low opinion.

Though the dance was disappointing, I did thoroughly enjoy the fresh new look their company gave them. They went from looking like little girls to sophisticated women (even though that's stretching it a bit). They matured into young women in this video instead of the baby doll, donut girl look that they had going for them with their debut. Below, you can see just how much they transformed from the bubbly, less than average look they came out with, to the classy, matured look they acquired promoting this song.

(Left: Syndrome; Right: One More Day)

Name: Soa 

Position: Leader

Name: Julianne

Position: Vocalist

Name: Tia

Position: Vocalist/Second maknae

Name: Melanie

Position: Main vocalist/maknae

Some might argue that the drastic change in appearance is a negative thing. They believe that Paramount Music should have waited a couple years before giving the girls such major changes in style. Especially, some say, being that the two youngest members are not even of age yet. In the defense of the girls, though, I enjoy this new look and find it fresh and, for lack of a better word, cool that they are being promoted outside the box of standard K-pop. Plus, was Minzy (2NE1) not fifteen when she debuted with the band? Was Boa (SM Entertainment) not thirteen when she debuted? And Lee TaeMin (SHINee) was fourteen when he debuted in the group. 

The transformation may seem rushed to certain people but I find it was a necessary change they needed to undergo in order to make it in this ever growing business.

Controversy has not only risen with regards to the girls' looks, but rumours of plagiarism have also been surfacing as the song sounds very familiar to a Romanian song (Dragostea ramane -Andra), but since the girls did not produce the song themselves I'm holding this against their producers and not them. Just like with the dance, they didn't choreograph it themselves which is why I don't accuse them of trying to act beyong their age.

All in all, this song is very catchy and will have you singing along in no time - even if you can't speak or understand Korean. The dance was mediocre but paired of with their dazzling transformation I find that Paramount Music achieved something quite amazing with this single. 

Rating: 8/10

Now enjoy some YouTube coverists versions of this song:

Coming soon...