Tag: Yezi

Yezi, the rapper of Fiestar, is back with a new solo release. She has previously released tracks like Crazy Dog and Cider, which all showcases a different side to the rapper which you do not get to see while she performs with the rest of the members. This review literally me listening to the song and watching the music video for the first time. I have been extremely busy this week, so I actually haven’t listened to some new releases yet. So, this review will be my raw opinions of the song.

The track has a distinctive exotic sound that you associate with the ancient Egyptians. This would make a lot of sense since the song is based on an ancient mummy and a movie character. But what makes it interesting is that from the very start, the song mixes in more modern sounds to appeal to the audience of the 21st century (hahaha…). And this transforms a ‘could-have-been-used-in-the-background-of-the-museum-exhibit-soundtrack’ to a really powerful and sexy sounding song. The song builds up in a really satisfying way and this leads me to be on the edge of my seat throughout the entire song. Yezi’s rapping has been noted in the past through her appearance of Unpretty Rapstar and my praising in Cider. And she has proven herself once again in this song. I love her delivery in this song. It makes me why Fiestar doesn’t somehow use her skills in their songs more. And it also throws her up there on the list of best female rappers in KPOP. Overall, it is an amazing song which left me in awe when I listened to it the first time. And it continues to do so every time I go back to it.

The video is amazing. It plays nicely into the exotic sound which I mentioned before. The video also shows an extremely sexy side, while still managing to keep up with the intensity of the song. For the most part, the video consisted of choreography scenes, which looked spectacular overall. There are a few closeups, but she looked unrecognisable due to her long hair (I honestly don’t remember when she last had long hair). Nonetheless, she still looks amazing and extremely sexy in the video. The sets may not have been elaborate, but they still manage to look cool. Sometimes the simplistic approach works well and this is an example of that.

Likewise, the choreography deserves its own praise. Once again, it isn’t memorable. But the sexy choreography is somewhat refreshing. It has been a while. It too manages to keep up with the song and its intensity, which it maintains strongly. Talking about strength, the dance, while it is sexy, has a tough side, which matches the rapper’s stage presence and sound.

Song – 9.5/10
Music Video – 9/10
Performance – 8/10
Overall Rating – 9/10

Fiestar has returned with a brand new song in time for the Summer comeback rush. With their previous releases being focused on a much darker and sexier concept, the girls have returned with a brighter and fresh concept. Is it enough for the girls to succeed in South Korea? Since they were picked as one of the girl groups to look out for in 2016.

Sadly, Korea does not agree with the song (or the band for that matter). This song failed to even dent the charts and it seems that the group (or their company) failed at capturing the right moment. I’ll talk more about that later. I actually enjoyed the song. I was expecting something a lot darker (given their recent releases), so I was caught off guard. It took a few listens to actually get into the song. It sounds like a generic KPOP song, hence I kind of shrugged it off and went off to other songs. But after leaving it for a while, I actually fell in love with it. The vocals were okay. I feel like I enjoyed the song more because of it is catchiness rather than the vocals. Besides the vocals, I think Yezi’s rapping was pretty good. I was more impressed with her part than any of the other members in the song. The instrumental was a little odd. It was generic for the most part, but there was that odd breakdown (which I loved) just after the first chorus and after Yezi’s rap. It added another dimension to the song and matched the for the rap. It just did not match the rest of the song. The song still managed to flow, but that part always seem to catch me off guard.

The music video is honestly just boring. I feel like the girls should have avoided the concept altogether and went with something that suits all the members. Yeah, sure, the girls were originally the cutesy and bright concept group. But with their latest string of concepts and with a particular member (I will discuss this even more) looking like she is regretting life choices, I think the dark and sexy concepts are better for them. Anyway, we have the girls centred around Apple Pies and their attempt to get a good Apple Pie or bake the perfect Apple Pie. It ties in nicely with Snow White’s story, though. Instead of eating all those apples (which could kill her), she can simply eat an apple pie. Which is less nutritious that an apple, but oh well. The sets didn’t seem to match. All of them was bright, besides one which was made to look like an alleyway, which I do not understand.  Don’t get me wrong. The video itself wasn’t awful but more boring than anything else.

The dance falls in between boring and okay. It doesn’t amaze me and I don’t think their fans were feeling this comeback as well. As for Yezi, after appearing in Unpretty Rapstar, she looked mighty uncomfortable with this comeback. Maybe it is her own way to keep to her rapper style, but she barely smiled and it looked like she did not want to be there at all.

As I said before, the song barely made a dent on the charts and I think people are now agreeing that Fiestar’s company threw a good chance of making the girls big. Mirror (their previous comeback) charted well and higher than any of their previous releases, but Apple Pie seemed to go backward.

Anyway, final rating of Apple Pie – 5/10

Fiestar has returned with their latest mini album and title track, Mirror. This is their first comeback since members Yezi and Cao Lu have shined the light back onto the girls through their solo promotions. Yezi recently made her solo debut with song Cider, due to her increase in popularity due to Unpretty Rapstar. Cao Lu has been hitting it big with her participation on variety TV shows. With the new popularity, the girls and their company decided a comeback was needed to embrace the new love (and that is has been about one year since their last promotions).

Mirror, once again, has become another underrated track for the group. This sad dance song is really good and I thought it neared perfection (hmm… Like yesterday). At first I thought a dance song with a more upbeat feel and sound would suit the girls more. However I was kind of shocked they went with a song that sounded darker than their last. But the sound sounded amazing upon first listen and now I totally dig it. I am going to say that the emotions in their vocals are very subtle. It just feels like they are singing a song. There really isn’t much more to their voice and it is all rather flat. Also very distant. The vocals are probably my only complaint. The rapping though was amazing. Yezi usually have this tough and strong sound to her, but here she managed to fit her rapping into the song. The song was soft and her rapping complimented just that. It sounded fragile, just like what the song was all about. It probably has to be one of the few rapping sequences that fit perfectly with the song it was in. The chorus was catchy. The “save me, save me” and “baby baby” are just constantly replaying in my head. Also Cao Lu got more lines. Our prayers were answered.

Love the imagery of the music video. The use of the cracked mirror was just too good in my opinion. Loved it how they stood there holding the piece and then the editor just edited in the reflection. Oh boy, I just totally made it sound like it was stupid. But it wasn’t. It was completely amazing. The darkness of the video is like no other. The only probably I found with the video is the formula that they used. It just seemed to be too similar to their last music video. The dance set and the cinematography for those scenes were nearly the same and I kind of got bored of it. It just made the video seemed generic. Everytime we watch a new video, we expect something different. Same formula is okay, but the girls needed something to spice the video up and make it into an instant hit. Maybe a more interesting set and better camera work?

As for the dance, mega disappointed. It was such a sensual sounding song that it had so much potential into being turned into dance that could have rivaled other sexy dances like Something by Girls Day or Alone by Sistar. I did love the squats they did in the chorus, but beside that, it was really boring.

Song was amazing. Video and dance let the comeback down. I honestly thought the girls would get more attention, but it seems like it will become another forgotten song for the girls. 6/10

Late last year, I reviewed Crazy Dog, which I assumed to be Yezi’s solo debut. But apparently, I was completely wrong and that Cider would be her first official solo song, and hence her debut as a solo artist on the stage. For those who don’t know, Yezi is the rapper for the girl group Fiestar. Last year, she shot to fame with her appearance and participation on Unpretty Rapstar. With her new found popularity, it is said that Fiestar could potentially break out as a top group this year.

You all know that I am not into the rap or hip hop side of KPOP, but once again, Yezi does a pretty good job with making me enjoying this genre. When I first heard the song, for some reason, the start of the song (just before Yezi started rapping) sounded a lot like an intro to a boy group dance based song. I don’t wish to discriminate, but that was my first initial thought into the song. As soon as I heard her rap, I can say I was slayed. She sounded extremely powerful and badass. Throw away my thoughts of the intro to a boy group dance song, Yezi does an amazing job with the song. The chorus was extremely short for my liking, but damn, does the way she say ‘Cider’ sound so sexy? I am literally floored with the song. The “Let’s Do It, Just Do It” at the very end sounds so good to my ears. Totally digging this song. The song was extremely fast (what I tend to think with any song that has majority of it rap based) and seemed short at first glance, but it was an amazing solid 3 minutes, I just did not notice time flew by.

The music video was pretty cool. When I first watched the video, I was a little confused. She started off wearing white and they were in a pretty bright room. Too bright for genre. I mean, the colour that is associated with rap and hip hop is black, but the white threw me off. And then, it all started. Throw away that whiteness and supposed innocence, because she started to rebel and cause havoc on the set of whatever they were shooting. The directors seem to be fed up, but that poor assistant looked like he just crapped his pants when she pulled the pieces of paper out of his hands. I think the point of the video is show that the old concepts are out and the new concepts will be coming in. I am going to be honest, but I secretly like her when she is wearing black. It suits her more and also fits in with the rest of the concept. I really like the plot or idea around the video

The dance. Well, there really is not much of a dance. What I see Yezi do, seems to just be simple hand movements and there really isn’t anything that seems complex. Her hips though, in some performances, wow. The background dancers seem to have the more complex moves, and I think their presence behind Yezi seem to make the stage more complete and fill in the rest of the concept on the stage. And that red box that she rides on seem so cool. It gives off a very polished feel to it.

Amazing solo debut. Everything rocked. 9/10