October 29, 2012
Watch the debut video below:
For people who don't know, Lee Hi is from the very popular Korean equivalent of the American X-Factor/American Idol called K-Pop Star, in which the 3 judges were high-in-position representatives from the well-known Big 3 whom we Yang Hyun Suk (CEO of YG Entertainment), Park Jinyoung (Former CEO of JYP Entertainment) and Kwon BoA (Legendary, 12 year idol of SM Entertainment). She won the hearts of many Korean and international viewers through stopped only one short of winning the competition behind Park Jimin who is now in JYP Entertainment and planning her own debut.
However, even though Lee Hi was just one away from glory, she was signed one step above the winner, in the arguably most influential Korean Pop Entertainment industry of South Korea, YG Entertainment, along with 3 other hopefuls to remake a much loved group that participated in the show K-Pop Star called SuPearls. Because of her placing in the finals of the show, she was to debut with YG Entertainment before her fellow group mates as a soloist, and yesterday, Lee Hi did with her song "One, Two, Three, Four"
In the music video, I must say, I recognized and loved her vocals. They were notably stronger than about any debuted artist from YG Entertainment and arguably the other members of the Big 3, as well. I wouldn't compare her to Adele completely, but at one point in the music video, it must have been her expression PLUS her vocals PLUS the way she moved, that I was reminded of Adele.
The scenery and how the music video was formulated was also amazing--the retro feel added to this video was in no way unnecessary.
However, though her vocals were up to par and the scenery, I still cannot shake from my mind that Lee Hi looked extremely awkward about 95% of this video. It was like she didn't know what she was doing, and it surprises me that YG Entertainment didn't correct it when shooting this video so Lee Hi looked a bit more in place. There were parts in which she either tried TOO hard or she didn't try hard ENOUGH and it is hard to miss unless you are blind. She looked dull and boring--even the back-up dancers looked more exciting than her and there was even a point in which my eye flicked towards the back-up dancer instead of Hi.
In the end, this music video was a bit under standard. Her vocals were amazing, the concept was great... but Lee Hi acted as if she was sub-standard. I hope she does improve for the SuPearls debut so she doesn't seem dull against her other 3 group-mates.
