A Demanded Quick Look at CLC

A couple of my friends have been gushing about CLC ever since their debut, and one of them just flat-out demanded that I write something about them. To me CLC have been one of the slightly more memorable groups among the billions of similar girl groups that have debuted recently, but nothing special. They’re not a group I listen to. But since I do adore my friends, this post will be me honestly and truly trying to understand what it is they love so much. Guys, I promise I’ll try. 

CLC is a five-member girl group under the Cube label, and they debuted about two months ago. The five girls are between nineteen and sixteen, and their lead vocalist Sorn hails from Thailand. CLC stands for CrystaL Clear. Okay, that’s some base information for y’all. Now let’s dive into this.

Part 1 – The Music

CLC have just released their second extended play, and their third single. Only two of those singles have music videos, but I’ll look at all three of them, in chronological order, nonetheless.

“Pepe”

This was their debut, and while it didn’t blow me away, it was a good song and it did stand out among the masses. It’s cute, but there’s a sass to it that was completely missing from the stuff that other girl groups have been debuting with this year. As I said, good song, but it wasn’t so good that I felt myself having to listen to it outside of Music Bank.

The girls sing it well, and although their rapper isn’t amazing, she does hold her own well and has a cool attitude.

Another thing that set them apart from the masses of new cute girl groups are the lyrics. While I’ve heard a billion of sweet and innocent love songs recently, this is a straight up rejection song. Just look at these lyrics from the rap part: (done by their maknae, by the way)

“Typical guys, howling like wolves
Poking around like they’re starved
I’m losing interest, losing heart
I’m not even getting mad now
After breaking up with you, I’m singing
Even my family and friends sing hurray
Bye now baby
Forgetting you is so easy”

I mean, that’s harsh. There’s no sweet innocent love here, for sure.

“Eighteen”

This was their followup single, and at this point I lost more interest. “Pepe” didn’t leave me in love, but it did leave me intrigued, and “Eighteen” let me down. It does have somewhat of the same sound as their debut single and they still sing it well, so that’s all good. But their singing is more high-pitched and the sass is all gone with the cuteness being amped up. This song is all about “oppa” and coy gestures. And I can get that anywhere, especially these days. Yeah, they’re cute. So?

These are the final lines of the song, and I think they can show why I’m not so crazy about this song:

“I’m not kidding, I really love you oppa
I can be really good U belong with me U belong to me”

“Like”

This is their new single which was literally just released. And well… I love the glitter outfits. That’s it.

Well, the song is alright. I don’t find it great or particularly unique, except for some strange parts. But what happened to their poor rapper? She had a certain coolness and sass that I really liked, but now it’s completely gone and replaced with overly cute and high-pitched rapping. Which I don’t like. I even got some AOA’s Jimin vibes from her, and in my book that’s pretty much the worst thing a rapper can do. (I’m not trying to bash Jimin, I think her style and flow is alright. I just can’t stand her voice.)

This song is super duper cute, so if you’re into that kind of stuff I’m sure you’ll like this. But I’m highly selective when it comes to my aegyo, and this is just not my cup of tea.

Let’s just talk about the video for a second… They broke into his apartment and messed around with his underwear? And this random awkward white dude (who dresses his dog up in cute dresses btw) doesn’t even mind? Okay. Sure. I mean I get that the song’s Korean name means “Curious”, but isn’t this taking it slightly too far?

Oh and also, why is Seungyeon incapable off seeing moderately cute guys without fainting? (I hope I got her name right) I’m pretty sure that might be some sort of a disorder.

These lyrics are definitely a lot closer to “Eighteen” than to “Pepe” which I find a bit of a shame. In summary, they’re obsessed with him and everything that he does:

“I like you, the way you talk, your face expressions, everything
Your friends, your dog, your hobbies, everything
I wanna be in the same place, in the same time, with you
Every day, I wanna be with you”

This is a slightly generic but alright cutesy song which is totally not my cup of tea. That’s a pretty decent summary, I’d say.

Part 2 – The Girls

While I seem to become less and less enamored with CLC’s music, I will say that the girls seem to be pretty talented. Of course I know nothing about them so this section will just be some quick first impressions that I’ve gotten.

 

This is Seunghee, their nineteen years old leader and main vocalist. I’d say she’s one of my favorites, purely based on the fact that she’s the best singer. She’s very stable and seems to really hold the group together vocally. I’m impressed. Besides that she really hasn’t made a strong impression on me yet.

 

This is Sorn, the group’s eighteen years old Thai member and lead vocalist. She’s definitely the member I’ve paid the most attention to, partly because she’s the bias (I assume) of at least one of my friends and because I’ve never ever seen any kpop star that looks like her before. I’ve heard her being called ugly, but that’s definitely not true. She just looks a little different. I find it interesting, and it definitely makes her easier to identify. She’s also a good singer.

 

This is Yujin, the group’s eighteen years old vocalist and lead dancer. Yujin seems to be the weakest of the vocalists, but in “Eighteen” I really liked her voice, and her parts were my favorites. She has this natural innocent glow that I think loads of “cute” female kpop stars would kill for. I don’t know why this is, but I find it intriguing.

 

This be Seungyeon, the eighteen years old lead vocalist and main dancer. She’s a good singer, maybe second best in the group and I really like her tone of voice. She’s also really pretty. But the thing that strikes me the most when I see her is how much she looks like… someone. I can’t put my finger on who it is, and it’s annoying me to no end. Pleeeeeaaaaase, if you know who it is she looks like, tell me in the comments below!

 

And finally, this is Yeeun, the group’s sixteen years old maknae and main rapper. If Yeeun can go back to rapping like she did in their first single, she is well on her way to becoming my bias. I think she’s the most beautiful one, and there is a sort of sass to her that I really like. Somehow, I feel like she might be secretly evil. Don’t ask me where I got that from, but I love it!

Right now I’m leaning towards Seungyeon for a bias, unless their music style goes back to something that lets Yeeun be cool, that is.

Okay, so final thoughts… I would have liked CLC a lot more if they stayed true to their first concept. There’s still hope that they’ll be great, of course, since they debuted only two months ago, but right now I’m not feeling them. So, sorry Alice, and maybe Leo too, I’m just not amazed. But maybe I’ll join you in your love one day?

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What do you think of CLC? Would you like to see more posts like this about rookie groups? I enjoyed writing this, so I’m more than willing to write more like it.