Weekly Idol this week brings us to Korean American soloist Ailee
Born as Amy Lee/Lee Yejin in Colorado, USA young Ailee began her singing through personal Youtube channel, uploading songs to showcase her vocal talent followed by auditions upon moving to South Korea.
After cameos in other artists’ tracks such as Wheesung‘s “They Are Coming”, Ailee made her official Kpop debut in Feburary 2012 with the single “Heaven” which was written and produced by Wheesung himself. The song proved to be an instant success in the music charts. In October 2012 she released her first mini album “Invitation” which contained another title track “I’ll Show You.” Her second mini album followed in July 2013 under the name A’s Doll House where “U+I” was the leading single for promotion and gave Ailee her first “all-kill” status upon release.
In addition to making her Japanese debut in August 2013, Ailee released “Higher” as a digital single which features Korean pianist Yiruma and after a six month hiatus, returned with another digital single “Singing Got Better” in the beginning of the year 2014.
Popular Songs
Heaven Ailee‘s debut song
[youtube id=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9ro1KjkJMg”]
I’ll Show You
[youtube id=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCEcWcIww5k”]
U + I
[youtube id=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4_rwTytAOs”]
Higher featuring Yiruma
[youtube id=”http://youtu.be/oJCOCjG6c90″]
Singing Got Better
[youtube id=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcID0Wn4zwI”]
A performance of Kim Kwang Seok‘s Love That Is Too Painful Was Not Love on Immortal Songs 2
[youtube id=”http://youtu.be/vxz2Z3mzCAE”]
As a bonus, here is Ailee performing Dolly Parton‘s classic I Will Always Love You but more in the style of how the late Whitney Houston covered it.
[youtube id=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOmnfmXlZCc”]
Why I chose Ailee as Weekly Idol
Even though she debuted two years ago, Ailee has shown her capabilities as a confident female soloist and can command the stage with her voice. I truly believe her Immortal Songs is evidence of this. Regardless of how you feel about her over-vocalising that seems very common in many female singers, Ailee has a voice and she could blow the stage up if she wanted to, as well as get the crowd going with sassy performances. However she also proves she can pour her heart out with power ballads. Given the right songs, Ailee shows she can tackle many kinds of songs and power up with her vocals.
