Minnie ((G)I-dle): Blind Eyes Red {Pre-Debut}

• Release date: 2025 January 21

• Album tracklist: Blind Eyes Red, HER, Drive U Crazy, Cherry Sky, Valentine's Dream, It's Okay, Obsession

• Album runtime: 22 minutes

 What do you mean this isn't on Spotify? Why does CUBE suck so badly? Congrats on the release, Minnie! I hope you get it released in streaming channels soon.

There are two big things of note going on with the instrumentals. First is the slow roll through the song. Quite frequently, the instrumentals shift up in pitch, only to move back down, and it creates a sort of wheel-like progression through the song, but this also isn't brisk by any stretch of the definition, creating more of a saunter that flicks its hair with a sultry, red-lipsticked smirk. Second, I'm fascinated by the irregular beat of whatever that higher tapping is, because even when you think you have it covered, the tapping will shift, but it's not consistent enough to be able to really predict what is going on.

Is this a full English track? Nice. The use of autotune is a choice. On the one hand, it makes me think of robots a little and turns the song into a message from a robot/android/etc. who fell in love and was rejected. Is it sort of a Frankenstein situation? Maybe. Falling in love with the Creator isn't specified, but it's also not exactly impossible either. Either way, she has turned on him, and frankly, the song is a horror movie, which I am here for. On the other hand, it feels like a crutch because it's so present throughout the song, and I don't like that the professional singer is using it that much. There are places where it's used less, sure, but I can still hear it. Like, obviously it's going to be used during sound mixing and production, because most people don't have perfect pitch and the studio recording needs to sound as close to perfect as can be done, but there should at least be some moments where it doesn't sound like it. Perhaps it's simply a backwards way of thinking, but I still have autotune mentally mapped to "inability to sing the correct note", which I doubt is true.

So much of the music video is monochromatic, and that starkness makes the red really stand out. I can't decide if I'm getting more "red thread of fate" vibes from this or if I'm getting more capillaries. The montage aspect to it as well would be something I'd be happy to sit down for hours and study and analyze, because it's pretty fantastic. There's less choreography than I was expecting, All in all, solid music video.