Katie Kim, Winner of Kpop Star 4, has escaped from the YG dungeon…sorta…and teamed up with agency Axis to release her debut track…and it is a banger!

Speaking to us about that love affair that has seeped into your skin and just keeps drowning you in sweet memories, Katie shows us the reason that YG saved her from elimination during the show.  She has such a lovely, soulful voice that is somewhat at odds with her age.  Like a lot of the female, YG soloists, she tends to naturally occupy the middle-to-lower end of the alto scale when it comes to singing, though she has shown an ability to hit higher notes.  She still manages to sound young so that her tone works with the production, but she has a gravitas at moments that just hits you.

The production is a winner for this.  In a lot of ways, it reminds of Galimatias; the mixture of  R&B and deep house suits her and offers some nice support while also standing out in a way that makes her also stand out.  We thought, a few times, that the swell of the music would overwhelm her, but it dials itself back at just the right moments so that she shines even while you are nodding your head while vibing along to her floating on top of it all.

The lyrics are well done even if they get repetitive after the short second verse.  Even though it’s in English, it still has those flavors of Korean point of view.  That means that some of the metaphors are new to us and may not immediately make sense (although nothing is hard to decipher).  It make the song a lot more memorable (no pun intended) and you find yourself singing it easily without having to hear it too many times.

As for the visual, we love how trippy it is.  The escalation of the imagery goes right along with the beatwork and she looks lovely.  We are also loving that she is getting the cosign from some of our favorite KR&B and KHip-Hop artists like CJamm and Zion.T with them all appearing on stage with her and rocking out to her music.

Word is that she is going to promote this track for the next two months before she releases something else.  Whether it is another single or an EP, we will be here waiting for it because she has more than shown that she has the vocals worth waiting for.

No need for a translation; it’s all in English.