There's no turning back now, South Korea's "baddest female" CL is ready to take on the U.S. market and her latest digital single "Hello Bitches" makes the perfect introduction.
Chaerin Lee, known to fans the world over simply as CL, has long been heralded as Korea's answer to Nicki Minaj and Beyonce. In addition to her recent collaboration projects with the likes of Diplo and Skrillex, and her official solo debut last year with the song "The Baddest Female," the 24-year-old singer-rapper has topped charts and toured the world with the wildly popular K-pop act 2NE1.
Recent months have brought the Hallyu icon stateside where she has teamed up with Justin Bieber's manager Scooter Braun to work on an English-language solo album. The music video for "Hello Bitches" was unveiled on Nov. 21 by VICE's music site Noisey as a pre-promotion track to drum up interest for the project.
"It's not an official single but more of a street single," explained CL in her interview with Noisey. "I wanted to give a little surprise video to excite the fans who have been waiting while I prepare for my solo album."
But it seems that CL isn't quite ready to shed her K-pop identity just yet. On "Hello Bitches," she effortlessly weaves Korean and English lyrics together to slam stereotypes of what it means to be a modern Asian woman, and has all the swag and dance moves to back it up.
"Since I am Korean, it's a good way of presenting me and it's for everyone around the world to see where I am from and to keep it authentic," she told Noisey.
Back in September, CL revealed to Dazed that "Hello Bitches" originally started as "Asian Bitches" with a remix featuring English star M.I.A. "We started it then, but I was like, ''Asian Bitches' is too categorized,'" she explained. "I mean, you can't sing along with 'Asian Bitches,' you know?"
The infectious hook and ultra sexy bridge are guaranteed to draw in a whole slew of new fans curious to see what the Korean pop star will offer American audiences with her upcoming EP, Lifted.
"This is my first solo album and something that I have always wanted to do so I am excited," CL said to Noisey. "I have good people who support and trust me. I feel blessed."
"['Hello Bitches'] is just the tip of the iceberg," she added. "I wanted to do something for the fans and I love how this music video came out. I wanted to share it just for people to enjoy so it's free music... it's a gift to my fans."
Check out CL's dance performance music video for "Hello Bitches" below and head over to SoundCloud to download it for free now.
