Battle of the B-Sides:: Ailee: Love Recipe

 Two big powerhouse vocalists back to back. Nice. We're continuing with July's "I'm doing b-sides by artists that I haven't covered yet" theme, I suppose you could call it. I've had a few months of writing a lot of Greatest Hits posts for the Expanded Offerings, so I thought I'd forcibly balance that out a bit to compensate for that a little and for what will be happening in the short term that I know about. Which isn't a lot because I keep changing my mind about exactly what songs I'm going to do although the topic has been fairly stable once I decide it. Next month is "Events". For the record. With a tiny three post arc in the middle that's slightly unrelated. That mini arc is the only one that's one hundred percent locked though. 

Ailee debuted in 2012 as a soloist, which makes her one of my beloved 2012 debuts, and congrats to her because she got married in 2024! I wish her a long and happy life with her husband. And you want to know what I learned? Not only is she a 2012 debut, but she trained at Pledis for a year before she debuted! Which means that she likely trained alongside the new batch of After School members and NU'EST and Seventeen and maybe some Pristin as well. I did not know this. Huh. The more you know.

Love Recipe is the eighth track of her first studio album, VIVID, released in 2015. Was there a promoted b-side I could have done instead? Yes. But you know what, this is fine. I found a performance of Love Recipe so you don't have to deal with me yapping the entire time with only the song. For the lyrics and composition, we have Heo Seongjin (KATSEYE, Junny, Chen, SISTAR, Young K, Minnie, TWS, Park Bo Gum, UP10TION, B1A4,  Teen Top, Punch, Baek A Yeon, Zico, Wendy, Eric Nam, CNBLUE, Se.A, Onestar, GWSN, Big Mama, LUCY, Blady, Sandeul, Taeil (Block B)), and for just composition, we have Ha Hyeong Ju (GFRIEND, Parc Jae Jung, Block B, MAMAMOO, Rain, Park Jiwon, DAVICHI, B1A4, and Daesung). Both of those lists may be longer, but 'twould require me digging through Komca and I would love to say I have the inclination, but I don't.  

Ailee has a powerful voice.

Water is wet (actually it isn't but let's pretend it is for the sake of this introduction).

T'Challa has opinions. 

I'm in love with her vibrato.

These are all undeniably true statements that leave me with this sense that I'm missing something with this song, so I'm going to do something I don't normally do for the b-sides, and that's take a listen to the title track. B-sides should be able to stand on their own, and this one absolutely does, don't get me wrong, but the flawed human being that I am is listening to this song going "Yes." That's it. 

I am so wildly satisfied by this song that it's not even a question.

So where do I start with this song? By looking at what this song does as a b-side for her discography. Of course this is a big song. Of course this is a vocally rich song. But there's a particular quality to it that the title track does not have.

This feels like a country song by, like, Leann Rimes or Trisha Yearwood or Martina McBride or Reba. For those of you who have no idea who those women are, I included links of performances and I need you all to understand that these are all award-winning artists (three of them multi-Grammy winning) with vocals that are considered some of the best country singers out there (my mother saw Reba in concert back in the nineties and to this day says she's the best vocalist she's ever heard and no recording compares to her in person). This is probably one of the highest compliments I can give to any singer, to have my brain say "This is the same caliber of artist". But it's this song, as a b-side, that's hitting me so strongly this way.

I'm pretty sure that it's the guitar at :05 and :09 that is telling my brain that this is a country song, at least at the start, but the way she's sliding around on those notes accompanied by gritty runs is very 90s and 80s country. I have no idea what her musical influences were growing up, to be clear. But I'm hearing some of that influence in her voice here (this actually makes a lot of sense because I just found her performance of I Will Always Love You in 2014, which I know most people know as a Whitney Houston song, but it started out as a Dolly Parton song, and she's one of the big vocal forerunners of those women I mentioned above).

I'd also like to point out with a fond smile that the first two seconds of the song remind me of the beginning of Get a Guitar by RIIZE. I appreciate seeing things like this. 

This is only part of the song, but it's better than nothing, so thank you, YouTube Channel All For Ailee Taiwan, for uploading this from her 2017 concert. There's no reason why she shouldn't be performing this live, unless she's got a bad vocal condition because the choreography is present, but not aggressively strenuous, so I'm going to assume these are live vocals. Also, I'm swooning over her vibrato, especially at 1:37, :34, and at 1:00, even if it's a little cut off because of recording editing.

The sparkly silver boots also feel weirdly country artist, but of the Carrie Underwood variety.

I wouldn't call the song sultry, because it isn't, but it's very much a joyful statement all the same. The constant smiling throughout the performance would say it is, even if it didn't sound like it. Which it does. This is a sweet song, both lyrically and vocally, without being saccharine, and it makes you want to smile along with her.

She's got such a cute little nose scrunch at :28 as she's being helped up. At :42, when she looks over to the side at her dancer, her smile changes just a little bit to look like it's more directed at him. This is only a small bit of the song, but it's obviously a potentially fun one to perform, especially with her dancers where she can play a little bit with them since this isn't an intense song. 

I don't know, y'all. This is a really cute performance. I'd like to see her do this song again now with another nine or more years under her belt, depending on when she would add this to her setlist.

Thanks for reading, Champions! I know this is a bit short and not entirely deserving of Ailee, but this is also a great showcase of her abilities when she doesn't have to worry about the song being important like a title track. Instead, it shows off what she can do when she has a song that shifts away from a more normal pop sound that gets to just be vibrant and sweet, and a little bit country. 

Last song for July, and then you're going to be getting the August songs. If you've got some suggestions for me, I'd love to see what you've got, so drop a comment or toss something at me via The Form. Happy hunting, everyone! Remember to be kind!

Previously: "carefully closely" by Baek Z Young                                         Next: "Pantomime" by WJSN