A few weeks ago, Secret’s Song Ji-eun teased fans by announcing via Twitter that she was recording alone in the studio without her fellow members, eliciting a collective gasp from both Secret fans and fans of Ji-eun’s beyond fabulous blue hair with blunt bangs. Could it be — was TS Entertainment preparing to unleash another wave of awesome by letting Ji-eun go solo and do her thang? Preferably with more pleather and blue hair?
Let me just get it out of my system right now: Ji-eun is mah homegurl, and in my head we are best friends (who also hang out with SNSD‘s Tiffany, my other homegurl and secret best friend). Her first solo song “Going Crazy” was my jam for a solid three weeks following its release, and I loved the way she was styled so much that I seriously considered (for about three serious seconds) dyeing my hair blue and getting blunt bangs. For those three seconds, it didn’t really matter that it would have looked simply atrocious on me; my only concern was looking more like Song Ji-eun, whose badassery was inspiring at a time when Secret was releasing one aegyo-saturated tune after another. So naturally, when a solo comeback was hinted at, I preemptively held myself a little fangirl party.
Alas, it was not to be — Ji-eun was only recording a ballad called “It’s Cold,” which is featured on the OST of “Please Take Care of Us, Captain.” Granted, she did get to kind-of star in a music video for the song, but she didn’t have blue hair and didn’t get to watch a girl in fur torch her estranged lover in the middle of the desert. But that really wouldn’t have fit with the song this time.
Overall, I’d say that both the song and video are underwhelming, but not in an unexpected way; it is a song for an OST, after all. The video simply features shots of Ji-eun looking pensive while recording the song interspersed with poignant scenes from the drama itself. Altogether, it gets the job done — but it’s likely not a song that I’ll remember or attempt to butcher at karaoke/noraebang.
Despite it not being the solo comeback I was hoping for, I was happy to see Ji-eun getting the chance to shine again. But even though I think she sounds lovely (although I’m not quite a fan of her singing in her upper register), I realize that, more than ever, I miss Fierce Ji-eun (and Fierce Secret in general). Compared to the belting that Ji-eun did during Secret’s “Madonna” days (which I am definitely biased towards, because “Madonna” was what really sold me on Secret –and Ji-eun consistently sounded FABULOUS) and her voice in “Going Crazy”, this song sounds weak and doesn’t showcase her full potential. Ji-eun and her bandmates have some serious attitude, talent, and look amazing when their hair is colored in the blue-purple spectrum (yeah, I was obviously a fan of Hyo-sung’s purple locks, so sue me) — and I want to see it.
I hope that Ji-eun’s next project, be it for Secret or be it another highly-anticipated solo release, better showcases what this girl is really capable of. Would it be too much to also wish for the return of the blue hair?
