The Baddest (and Most Fashionable) Female

This week’s review is CL’s first solo single, The Baddest Female. It released on May 27^th, 2013, and currently has 3,245,122 views. Damn. If you have not yet seen the most badass warrior-princess-gangster-basketball-player-child-pirate-idol in action, check it out here: WHAT WILL I BE FOR HALLOWEEN

Overall impression:

Em: This week’s music video was CL’s Baddest Female, which was, well, badass. The outfits were in-your-face, overdone, and kinda spectacular. There were tons of cool details and quirky pieces that together basically said the same thing as the song—I am CL, look at me because I am AWESOME. Most of it was intended to be sexy…not much aegyo here. In fact, they put her in pigtails and she still looked pretty badass (the shoes and motorcycle gang helped). Even the backup dancers had the same bold colors and powerful image. Let’s just say the clothing lives up to the title of the song.

Badass

What could be more childlike and innocent than pigtails and a swingset. There was even a lollipop!

Ruby: CL definitely played up the gangster style here with elements like grills and heavy chains. Her outfits ranged from red carpet ready, to quirky but wearable, to straight up warrior princess. The link between them was this idea of hip-hop style that integrated into each piece. Aegyo was kept at bay with details, such as dark, bold makeup. She kept the clothing fairly traditional and very recognizable within the gangster style, so even if it is a different style for kpop, she wouldn’t be perceived as being completely incomprehensible. CL likes to be the bad girl, and I think that's reflected in the video.

Gangster...or vampire. You decide!

Other promotional Materials:

Em: Her stage took the hip hop style from the MV, using the white clothing with heavy gold jewelry like in the first part of the video. This was probably the most basic of the outfits, which makes sense for a stage show...warrior princess would be cool but a little impractical. Teaser photos were basically directly from the MV.

STOP. I'm too cool for this.

Still too cool for this, even in live stages.

Ruby: YG took an odd route. They did a lot with graphics, including a really cool thing on the side of their building. It added to the suspense, but I think seeing the artist really excited me more. Personally. The graphics did allude to the lux and very rich feeling of the video. It was super detailed and really cool actually.

And the only legitimate video promo YG actually did: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utf7hJZlD3U&list=PL40A02D1E4F573E12&index=2

Continuity:

Em: The continuity was a LITTLE jumpy just because the style was intended to have an element of craziness to it and they had so many different outfits. However, the intensity was the same throughout and the aesthetic didn’t actually stray too far. There didn’t seem to be much of a storyline behind the outfit changes though…it was more of just AND HERE’S ANOTHER WAY SHE CAN LOOK BADASS. The variety did make it more interesting though.

Ruby: I think solo artists get cut a lot of slack for continuity. I’ll admit, it doesn’t matter as much when its only one person because its not as disorienting. I actually thought it was really well tied together. There were really two main styles, the put together super rich, super high maintenance pop star look and then her baggy pants, sweats and heavy accessories looks. The makeup remained pretty consistent and the hair was simple (by kpop standards…). It worked for me.

eyepatch, leather, death spike heels...scary CL 

neon heels, white fur, detailed nail polish...diva CL

Band’s Overall Image:

Em: This was right in keeping with other 2NE1 styles…they’ve always maintained a powerful image, even in acoustic songs like Lonely. There was also some references to I Love You, with the same organic gold details and exotic feel, just even more CL-ified. The new set of outfits fit right into her already-established image, and the teasers even made a point to connect previous work from 2NE1 with the new MV.

Maybe lonely...but still punk. That's a skill, ladies and gentlemen.

Ruby: CL hits somewhere between 2ne1 and GD in a way. She takes from crazy and lux fashion here. It is very much in keeping with her image. It’s her first solo so this really sets a precedent for the future as well.  There are pieces that would have done GD proud here, her alien golfing hat or her eye patch. However she also keeps it really high end. Sometimes she even manages to shoot a gap, like with her warrior princess look, where its clearly not wearable clothing but it still feels expensive and luxurious. She wears it well, so it works.

Alien Golfer Hat. Not even kidding.

fashionable warrior princess, WHAT NOW

Trends in K-POP:

Em: A lot of really popular trends showed up here, from neon colors to the bondage-y leather and spikes. I saw a few REALLY cool face-covering pieces, including CL’s chains and a backup dancer’s mask. Baseball caps made an appearance (something we’ve been seeing a lot of lately) as well as crazy hair and shoes. There were also references to other YG group’s stuff, especially GD’s One of a Kind.

Baseball cap, crazy hair, face covers, neon color, spikes, fantastic shoes, etc, etc.

These shoes needed to appear somewhere.

Ruby: I agree on the hats. A lot. I mean this year we've seen a lot of girl groups rocking the caps, new groups, like GI in “Beatles” and old standbys like Girls Generation in “ I Got a Boy”. Facemasks were really big last year, from normal to some weird uses of face covers. This year they seem to be more on the outs. I think the idea of integrating aegyo into other styles has become really big recently. Trying with Lee Hi and the jazz sound and BAP with “Stop It”. Even Hyuna in “Ice Cream”. Everyone is trying to get in on it. Which is cool. I have a thing for pigtails.

Baseball cap and neon hair  in GI's Beatles

MORE baseball caps and some more neon in SNSD's I Got A Boy (same cap too)

Integrating aegyo with subtlety and finesse, from BAP's Stop It 

Conclusion:

Em: In terms of fashion, Baddest Female was awesome. It was full of statement clothing that matched CL’s image and fit the song. It was powerful and cool and generally, well, badass. A few things were questionable (the basketball outfit wasn’t exactly my favorite) but other outfits made up for them. If there’s anything that gets me to like animal prints, it would be those shoes. As she says, it was bad but not bad meaning bad but bad meaning good, you know? (OKAY THAT WAS A BAD JOKE AND NOT BAD MEANING GOOD BUT BAD MEANING BAD BUT WE WARNED YOU ABOUT BAD JOKES)

The shoes in question

And this outfit, just because it deserves mention.

Ruby: I love CL’s image. Always have. This for me was her in a nutshell, so I loved the outfits. I completely adored the swing clothing, and personally, loved the jersey. It provided some cheek to a very fashion heavy video. I guess I wish that she had done something a little more out of the ordinary for her. I adored what she wore in “I love You”. A black cat suit was totally unexpected but in context, it worked so well. For me those are the breakout moments, when she takes clothing and makes it badass. I didn’t get as much of that as I wanted. Oh well. I still fangirled pretty hardcore over this whole video.

The catsuit from 2NE1's I Love You

Daily Dose of Daebak:

Find GDragon. Now find GDragon’s pants. You can’t, can you. Nope.

REVERSE HAREM. Seriously though. I probably don’t recognize everyone she has in her manly-collection but here are some: G-Dragon (BIGBANG), Taeyang (BIGBANG), Teddy (1TYM, they were popular once, okay? He’s a bigwig in yg now) and Yang Seungho (2ne1 stylist, member of nuthang, all around bad boy)

Please feel free to leave comments, questions, statements, monologues, prologues, or anything else you want! What did you think?

See ya next week!

Ruby & Em <3