MV Review | Lee Michelle - I Can Sing

The song

The guitar sounds good and groovy. I kinda like it. Her vocals were on point.

Now I don't understand why she didn't do a vocal performance thing on this song...you know, she says "I can sing" so that's what you could expect, a girl who would sing the hell out of this song, you know what I mean? 

Why did she make her "doom doom" part so short (from 1:25 to 1:35) ? THAT was the best part of the song to me, she was doing some RnB singing and I was like "yes, go ahead girl!" and then she sang the chorus and then rapped...you can sing girl, but why rapping? She's not bad at it, but c'mon, all of a sudden, a rap part...it didn't really suit the classy and groovy character of the song, in my opinion. 

This song was too soft, too "good girl" to me...when it could (should?) have been fierce and memorable.

It's a good song, but for the most part Michelle's songs sound too standard, too safe. They're not really exciting. But they probably sound like her, to be honest. She's said before that she's not adventurous or something like that. She's simple, and there's nothing wrong with that. But as a new artist trying to break into a saturated and highly competitive music industry (Kpop), you would expect her to show us something different in order to stand out, and be more visible in a sea of pale-skinned, thin sexy young women. 

Well, YES, she already stands out. She's thick, half black and doesn't show skin. She doesn't dance and she didn't dye her hair blond with blue contact lenses. Good. But still, music-wise her song is not outstanding; emotionally, vocally and visually.

She preferred to keep it cool and low-key, almost like an accoustic song.

The visuals

It's not a bad idea, it doesn't put Lee Michelle in the spotlight, you can see her but it's very subtle and sober with a playful light. I do worry a little bit about the reason being that she's not the "conventional Korean beauty"...which might be why they don't put day light emphasis on her face and body.

There are seats in front of her, but nobody is sitting to watch her sing. How sad you'd say, but that's interesting, she knows she's not super famous, she knows she has few fans and is just debuting as an artist. She's (still) introducing herself and proving herself.

I like that she doesn't look thin. She has nice legs. Her outfit is good but it kinda makes her look older or too serious. The necklace is great, the pants and shoes too. 

But it saddens me a little to see her hair like that. Korean hairdressers don't really seem to know how to handle kinky or frizzy hair (cf. Michelle's promotional pics). Now, she probably doesn't give a shit about that, she's probably fine with her hair this way, and if that's the case then I shouldn't say anything. 

MV Review | Cheetah - My Number

I wouldn't say that I was disappointed, I didn't have expectations to begin with and I'm not a fan of her. Still, I know she's a good rapper as I've watched Unpretty Rapstar.

What do I think of this MV?

Too Kpop for my taste. Flashy colors, pink, yellow, no story. The only good point was the Pinky Cheeks dancers. Oh, that and the "men use half naked women as props, lemme do the same but with men on my promotional pic". That's how I understood it (I kinda like this tongue-in-cheek thing) though I also get a feeling of usng drags as props as in a way to make a buzz and get more views...
The song is "meh", I'm not fond of the saxophone and it's not catchy as a whole, no hook. The lyrics are basic. Cheetah's flow was kinda boring too, not much energy in it.

It's funny how Cheetah's fans reacted to this...they're all like "But why didn't she show all she can do? Why does this MV look Kpop and not Hip Hop or badass? She can do better!"

Lol. I get you folks. But Kpop doesn't give a shit about badass female rappers. If so you would have already seen solo badass female rappers on the mainstream scene (which means Kpop) and on the charts. But that's not the case, right? No, CL is NOT badass. She SAYS she is. Nuance.
Kpop has a mold and it wants all of its artists to fit in with a certain image, a certain sound. It's all about toning down the strong ones so that they can still be palatable to the mainstream audience, and hyping up the weak ones so that they look decent and kind of talented.

No surprise here. Cheetah's no exception to Kpop's mold. Though I must say I was a little bit surprised  that she decided to start off with pop instead of Hip Hop. Usually Hip Hop artists do it the other way....like a natural "evolution" as an artist (which means getting a bigger fanbase). But the thing is, why would she be seen as an Hip Hop artist? Because she can be kinda badass in reality TV show Unpretty Rapstar? As a matter of fact, AOA's Jimin did too. And she's an idol, she's not Hip Hop.
So, unless Cheetah releases a full Hip Hop album, I won't consider her a Hip Hop rapper. She'll just be a Kpop rapper in my opinion. Which is fine. I'm not talking about talent here. But there's a difference and we shouldn't mix the 2. Rapping doesn't equate Hip Hop. Period.
And to those who are already calling her "Queen" and "at Yoon Mi Rae's level"...folks, get real. She has released like ONE Kpop song, where's her album? Just wait for her to show consistency before snatching Tasha's crown.