[Review] CL’s “Lifted” Is Catchy But Busy

CL has dropped her long awaited song/MV “Lifted.”

There were a lot of elements from a lot of different people (Missy Elliot, Rihanna,etc.) and trends (Vaping, etc,), and while the cinematography of the video was amazing and my favorite part of the whole package, there just seemed to be a whole lot of pandering to everyone (MJKPOP talks about this in details) and it comes of as desperate for everyone to like her rather than being confident in what she has to offer American listeners. Being a woman and being Asian, there’s no denying that her journey to get into the American music industry will be much more difficult, so I almost get the logic of following trends. Give them what they already like. Still, I wish CL and the people working with her and managing her would realize that she (and 2ne1) don’t have the international fanbase that they do by accident. She doesn’t need to pander with the grinding and the vaping and skateboarding and everything else. I want to see CL get back to her roots and give us the unique Kpop swag that got her international attention in the first place. Also, CL and 2ne1 do great with reggae songs, and I think she should go full force on that because Korea on a whole does reggae in a different way that could be fresh for American audiences (but leave out the forced Jamaican accent please and thank you).

I actually really like the song, it’s catchy, it’s addictive, but I WISH that they had switch the song around, and made that reggae beat that comes in near the end (the part of the video where she starts grinding on those two guys by the bridge), throughout the video and come in with the original version of the chorus come in just at the end.

Lastly, I will say as a Bronxite, I felt a little twinge of pride and joy to see that CL filmed her video in The Bronx, and near my neighborhood too! I’m pretty sure that the scene where she was sitting on the building and the guys were running up the side was filmed by the Jackson Avenue stop on the 2 train line. I am mad that this happened and I didn’t see or hear about it. I also damn near lost my mind when Method Man made his appearance because….Method Man!

Overall this, for me, CL’s best solo effort and I definitely see myself listening to this for a long time. If this is an indication of the direction she is going, I have high hope that her solo career and efforts to get into the American market will only get better.