[Review] HER – MINNIE (i-dle)

I made a promise on the blog a while back to review MINNIE’s solo single ‘soon’. Well, ‘soon’ has come as I am finally getting around to reviewing MINNIE’s official solo debut single HER, which is featured as the lead single off her debut mini-album of the same name. An album review for this mini-album will follow, after I’ve reviewed some of the other singles with accompanying music videos. I haven’t decided whether to review all of them separately before the album review, but you will find out soon enough. (Note: ‘soon’ has been used this time around to mean soon, and not a couple of months away.)

HER leans into the groovy and upbeat pop music trend that we have been hearing a lot in KPOP (now and back when HER was released). I find the instrumental to be pretty simplistic, with a hefty beat and those groovy tropes serving as the main elements of HER‘s background. MINNIE’s vocals throughout the song are light and delicate, which I find to be well-balanced with the instrumentation. I did wish MINNIE had been given material that made her sound stronger to give HER some additional oomph and dimension. Yet, somewhere along the way, both vocals and backing come together to make HER sound sophisticated, which suits the concept the debut went for (more on that in a second). What I have always liked about the song is how catchy it is. The chorus plays the repetitive card, but it was effective and has allowed the song to stay strong in my books. Overall, a strong solo debut track from MINNIE.

The music video sees MINNIE play 3 versions of herself. The first version we see, MINNIE dressed in white, is actually MINNIE herself. She goes on a drive at the start of the video, but returns home later on presumably to deal with the other two versions of herself. Left behind at the mansion are playful MINNIE (dressed in pink) and serious MINNIE (dressed in red). They are polar opposites, representing two distinct halves of MINNIE’s mind and personality. I like how they are continuously clashing, though I wish it were more physical than verbal clashing. I also like MINNIE’s final expression in the entire video, clearly fed up with her alter-egos.

I liked how MINNIE embraces her sensual and seductive sides for their accompanying performance. I liked how sassy the chorus felt, both on stage and within the music. It was definitely worth checking out.

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