Review: Lee Hi - Red Lipstick Ft. Yoo Mi Rae
Few artists are harder to put a finger on than Lee Hi. Part of that is due to the abysmal management and promotion of her by former agency YG, who made it clear that she was a once-in-a-era vocalist but never really gave her the material to live up to her talent. She had a great duet with equal Suhyun, a great song written by Jonghyun, and a nice debut, that was about it.
After finally leaving YG entertainment last year, she gave us the excellent HOLO. HOLO was personal in a rarely-seen fashion and fully showcased what Lee Hi could do with her new creative freedom. It still stands as her best release by far, and one of 2020's most underrated songs.
Afterwards, however, her releases were of only mixed quality. This sucked, given how HOLO had clearly set her up as an experimental soul artist, willing to guide songs with her voice exclusively. Red Lipstick is certainly no HOLO, but it is her best release since.
Before I talk about the song, I want to talk about the 'Dance people' line. I don't know about you, but it makes me laugh and smile. I think it is because I had a young acquaintance in my youth who used to add 'people' at the end to add a sense of drama. Also, putting 'people' at the end of a sentence does little except make one sound a bit immature.
Nonetheless, it does little to hurt Red Lipstick, with its sound certainly much more youthful and playful than the mature and calm HOLO. Given that Lee Hi is only 24 (and has somehow been through the highs and lows of a lengthy career), this makes sense. She finally gets to do something fun.
Red Lipstick's retro and filtered groove certainly helps with that. While the genre is based on '70s and '80s music, various flourishes add elements of the '90s and early 2000s. This diverse set of years allows the song to tribute several genres, while never falling prey to sounding dated. The various camera filters certainly help with this.
With its danceable and funky groove, the song requires a strong performance for it to pop to life. Thankfully, Yoo Mi Rae and Lee Hi are strong performers. Lee Hi gives a youthful performance, popping and full of joyful playfulness. On the other hand, the legendary Yoo Mi Rae, a veteran of the music industry, tackles the track with the ferociousness that would like make Jessi move to the side. This dissonance is surprisingly effective, with Lee Hi's vocals and Yoo Mi Rae's rap flows providing strong contrast.
While it is hard to judge Red Lipstick's longevity, it comes off as a surprising dance track to pair with Heize's Happen for this year's best non-idol K-Pop retro tracks.
Finally got around to listening to this song properly and I am not disappointed for this release.
ReplyDeleteMan this is the first buoyant track from Lee Hi I've seen (I'm aware she has done energetic tracks before, especially in her earlier years).
I've only known some of her older works, which all happen to be more soulful like "Holo" and "Breathe" so "Red Lipstick" came as a huge surprise to me.
"This dissonance is surprisingly effective, with Lee Hi's vocals and Yoo Mi Rae's rap flows providing strong contrast"
Agreed! This is probably one of the best pair-ups of a singer and a rapper I've seen in a song this year. The other notable pair would be IMFACT's Taeho featuring Yegeun Choi in the former's solo debut "Ggoma" (great song too! Also any IMFACT activity is appreciated, even if it's in the form of a member solo).
It's crazy how fed fans are getting from Lee Hi releasing new songs after signing with AOMG compared to her activity at YG. Ha! Suck on that YG. You just a lost a gem that can now "dance dance dance" freely with an agency that (seemingly) treats her career properly.
Glad you enjoyed it!
DeleteThis sort of funky and buoyant sound works great for Lee Hi, even if I prefer her soulful releases, such as HOLO. A suggestion I'd give for her old material would be her collaboration with Suhyun featuring Bobby, entitled as 'I'm Different'. Its old school sound is a whole lot of fun.
Ooh, I love Ggoma. In my review, I noted that it thrived on the differences between the singers. And yes! I love more IMFACT! Though I do believe Ggoma is a better song, I feel Hi and Mi rae pair better with each other.
Yes, I love Lee Hi's new promotional burst since joining AOMG! I don't think YG noticed they lost a gem, probably to busy sleeping on their still-existing talent unfortunately :(
Ohh "I'm Different"! I was so obsessed with that song as an early k-pop fan. I agree, it's such a fun song. Shame that Lee Hi and Suhyun didn't get to have a comeback together like MOBB. I thought the girls had great chemistry together with their unique voices. Thanks for the recommendation 108 ent!
DeleteI saw your review of "Ggoma" when you posted it! :D
The song is really great and more people need to know more about IMFACT as well as Taeho! He's got a beautiful voice.
Another person who loved I'm Different during their earlier K-Pop days (for me, I was already listening to K-Pop for a few years when the song came out). Yeah, I wish they got another comeback like MOBB, YG once again goofing up their artists.
DeleteWow, you have been reading my blog for a while! Thank you so much Haruko!
Yes! The song is so underrated!
Nice similarity drawn here between this and Heize's 'Happen' in your closing statement - an opinion that I hadn't considered but one which I totally agree with!
ReplyDelete'Red Lipstick' seems to just keep finding itself at the mercy of the play button - I have ended up loving this way more than expected evidently.
Both songs are retro bops from great singers!
DeleteIt is at the mercy of my play button too, I keep on hearing this absolute jam!