[Review] Ailee - Don't Touch Me

The diva who competes for the title of “Korea’s Beyonce” returns with “Don’t Touch Me,” and as a follow-up to the likes of “I’ll Show You” and “U&I,” I’m…somewhat disappointed.

Ailee is known for the explosive vocals that we’ve seen from her since even before debut. However, I think this is one of her weakest showings yet, but let me clarify. The problems i have with this song are all in the chorus. It’s usually a distinct line between when a singer is hitting the notes and when she (or he!) is reaching for them, but to me almost all of the high notes in this chorus are reaches, and they are not graceful reaches. To be honest, there may be and probably are other factors to why I feel this way. Her high notes in previous songs like “I’ll Show You” were also reaches, but I never really had problems with them. It’s interesting, to say the least.

The verses are absolutely divine. Ailee’s least impressive area had always been her lower register, and “Don’t Touch Me” brings out her lower notes powerfully and smoothly. The bridge is also pretty solid, in a year where I consider a majority of the songs to have stronger starts and weaker finishes, Ailee comes in the middle for both.

As for the video, it’s nothing special. The set for the first chorus reminded me of some of the backgrounds in “U&I” which unfortunately reminds me of how much weaker I think this song is in comparison. But the key difference in this video and the others is how damn skinny Ailee has gotten. Apparently she lost 22 pounds for this comeback? Why? Ailee always possessed a healthy image, and like Hyosung, there was no real reason to lose the weight. Her appearance is much more frail, almost to the point where it’s unsettling. This is especially true during the bridge, I could hardly bring myself to watch. Please bring that weight back!

I do not think this was Ailee at her best. The chorus is unstable and the bridge is forgettable. Curious weight loss hurts her image and makes the supposed standard eye candy a little painful. That being said, she’s made impressive progress with her low range and that manages to hold the song together.

[ Score: 80 / 100 ]