With a swift 180 change in the Cube’s girl group’s concept, we’re seeing a new side to CLC as they made their comeback with ‘Hobgoblin’. This week, we’ll be looking at their latest song and what we think of their transition into the grittier, darker style.
Firstly, we’ll look at the title of this song is ‘Hobgoblin’, which is an interesting title and is defined as a mischievous imp or sprite. The girls described themselves as on the V app as being ‘hobgoblins’ which entice others to love them. The EDM track has an addictive beat, it’s definitely a tune which prompts replaying in comparison to their past songs.
There was a considerable amount of support given by their labelmate Hyuna, who seemed to coach the girls in this comeback. Which explains the similar rapping style used by Yeeun is that of the former 4Minute member is known for, though the one possible issue with this is that although she may have been encouraged to use Hyuna’s method of rapping – unless she puts her own spin on it, it just seems like a carbon copy. However, looking past the similarity claims towards their senior groups 4Minute and 2NE1, this concept was executed well.
“Come out of gold, Nope
Come out of silver, Nope
Hey, come out and play with me
Boom! Nice.”
While there has been clashes over opinions in terms of CLC’s concept being a copycat of past girl groups, it’s also important to note that while the strong, bad-girl music videos have been covered before – it doesn’t mean to say that notable groups such as 4Minute and 2NE1 are the only ones who can do it. It just looks like CLC are carrying on the torch from where their former senior group left off.
From UKP’s viewpoint anyway, CLC really do pull it off nicely and they seem natural in this. They maintain a healthy balance of eluding a confident vibe and a sprinkle of femininity coupled with fierce choreography which really ties it all well together. Personally, while I did like their debut single, I wasn’t further convinced with their comeback song last year. But perhaps this could give them more exposure and hopefully gain some sort of recognition in the future.
