|
|
Post by Admin on Apr 8, 2014 17:57:53 GMT -8
 Michelle Lee Michelle Lee (Hangul: 이미쉘, born September 9, 1991) is a Korean female singer and music instructor from Paju, South Korea. After successfully auditioning for K-pop Star Season 1 in 2011, she eventually was signed to YG Entertainment as part of a new girl group called Su:Pearls. However, after two years of training, the group was suddenly disbanded before they could debut, and Lee's contract was nullified. She is now signed to DIMA Entertainment, the affiliate agency of her alma mater, the Dong-Ah Institute of Media and Arts. Michelle Lee was born September 9, 1991 in Paju, South Korea, to a Korean mother and African American father. She grew up in Paju with her older sister and mother, as her father to return to the United States prior to her birth after her parents split. She does not know her father. Despite the absence of a father, Lee's childhood was very vivid. Since the age of five, Lee and her sister would listen to their mother's H.O.T and Toni Braxton cassette tapes while trying to match their voices to the pitch of the tune, occasionally even trying to learn the dance moves. However, like fellow Black-Korean musicians Insooni and Yoon Mi-rae, Lee faced constant discrimination for her biracial identity in school. Her debut single, "Without You", centers around the bullying she suffered. Lee admits to never have left South Korean soil, and occasionally struggles with English. Source: Wikipedia |
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Apr 8, 2014 18:03:52 GMT -8
Michelle Lee's Critically Acclaimed Kpop Video about growing up Blasian in Korea From: radio-palava.tumblr.com/post/80377600120/its-only-march-but-im-going-to-go-ahead-andIt’s only March, but I’m going to go ahead and call it for Lee Michelle’s Without You as the most important kpop music video of 2014. I’ve been glad to see many folks talking about this video, and I hope that the kpop community will continue to have conversations (that is, speaking and listening) about it for a long time to come. The song and the video center Lee Michelle’s experiences as a biracial Korean woman coming into her own at a time when her society is struggling to embrace multiculturalism. “I’m beautiful without you; I’m meaningful without you,” Lee Michelle sings: she does not need external forces defining her life or measuring her significance as a human being. Her identity is hers to create and hers to celebrate. The video’s story suggests a message of self-creation in the face of tremendous, systematically-imposed and individually-enacted odds. Lee Michelle’s younger counterpart, Yoona, barricades herself in a room where she is ostensibly safe from her unseen pursuers - but she cannot escape the impressions their words have made. On the wall of the room, she draws herself as she’s heard herself described, and she writes some of the words she’s heard, as someone with dark skin: chocolate, die, monster. Societal beauty standards have led people in her life to convey negative, dehumanizing messages to her. Yoona tries to fit in, powdering her face white and coloring her lips red in an effort to meet the expectations of her tormentors. But it only upsets her more. She stands in front of a wall-length portrait of Lee Michelle and hurls paintballs at it, first in anger, then in enjoyment as colors explode and splatter onto the wall. This portrait is free of the terrible words and unkind thoughts that had plagued Yoona. This portrait is her own. She steps through a door in the wall and stands face-to-face with Lee Michelle. I see two possible meanings for this scene: In the first instance, Lee Michelle faces her younger self. She has used her gifts and resiliency to overcome (some of) the barriers she faces as a biracial and dark-skinned person; she has fulfilled a promise to herself. In the second instance, Lee Michelle faces other young people, particularly Korean young people, of multicultural backgrounds and offers encouragement and hope. It seems to be a promise made, a pledge to honor the struggles she shares with them as Korean society shifts around them. On a final note, I want to acknowledge that this incredibly powerful music video is a team effort. Lee Michelle brings a visually and vocally stunning performance, and her message is further layered and deepened by the video’s storyline and cinematography. I am so impressed by Lee Michelle, and I am grateful that she has an amazing team behind her who can help broadcast her talent and hard work to all of us. It reminds me that just as it’s important for each of us to do the work of self-creation, it’s also important for us to support others as they do that work. Listen to others and recognize how beautiful their selves are. Be on somebody’s team. Help somebody shine. That’s how we change the world together. |
|
