K-pop superstar and fashion icon CL is a member of girl group 2NE1, already hugely popular around the world. But with her latest tracks, she’s been set on further breaking through to an English language audience, and in brand-new video “Lifted,” she gets a cool cosign and makes it locationally clear, too, placing her squarely in New York and getting Method Man—whose namesake Wu-Tang Clan song is interpolated—to cheese in a cameo.
As ever, the styling is impeccable, but for her debut Stateside single, the song is a bit thin. Cowritten by YG producer TEDDY, CL and Asher Roth (?), she kicks it off with a Missy Elliott flow and eases into a midtempo jingle, easily sing-song but flat considering the last jam was “Hello Bitches.” Still, YG Entertainment knows what the hell they’re doing, and the clear goal is to attain pop supremacy Stateside, which this simple, reggae-influenced track is geared specifically to do, particularly with the hashtaggable “You don’t know me and you don’t know my style.” It’s weedy subtext is interesting, considering the exceedingly strict laws about marijuana in South Korea; consider the scandal that ensued after Big Bang’s G-Dragon “accidentally” got caught smoking a joint in a club in Japan. That’s a signal, though, too: CL is fully here in the States, ready for her close-up.