On January 21, Minnie became the latest (G)I-DLE member to make a solo debut. With the surprise drop of her pre-release single “Blind Eyes Red” weeks prior, Minnie’s solo debut EP, HER, shows that she has many sides of herself to showcase. She contributed to the lyrics of all seven tracks and helped compose most of them.

The Pre-Release: “Blind Eyes Red”

The music video for “Blind Eyes Red” came out on January 7. This English track sees Minnie singing of becoming increasingly obsessed with someone. The affair is one of surprise as she feels “blind” to this development. As if to parallel the nature of the song’s speaker feeling constrained by these thoughts, the song uses trap in a slower, darker sound. 

The video is simple without choreography; only artistic shots surround Minnie with optic illusions and haunting eye imagery. As viewers will also see in the music video for the title track “HER,” “Blind Eyes Red” shows just one of the many sides of Minnie: it showcases her “inner transformation into “Red Minnie” through black, white, and red color motifs,” said a representative. 

The Title Track: “HER”

Minnie incorporates a lot of personality in the title track, “HER.” Minnie discusses the fame and glamor that follows her on the surface, but she also addresses the scars that lie underneath. These different sides represent what Minnie wished to accomplish with the EP. “I think all these different sides are Minnie, and I want to show them all,” she said in an interview with The Korea Times. 

Minnie becomes her own muse in the music video for the song. Various personas of the singer end up meeting, each with the same unbothered nature. Any animosity fails to faze them. They can endure death glares, attempts at sabotage, and physical threats. These versions of Minnie show an unflinching persistence and strength. 

Collaborations: “Drive U Crazy” and “Obsession”

HER includes two collaboration songs: “Drive U Crazy” with Minnie’s fellow (G)I-DLE member Yuqi and “Obsession” with fellow Thai K-Pop idol TEN from NCT sub-unit WayV. After Minnie featured on “Everytime” from Yuqi’s Korean solo debut EP last year, Yuqi returned the favor with “Drive U Crazy.” Like “Everytime,” “Drive U Crazy” is an English duet between the two foreign members of (G)I-DLE. It uses the funk genre to describe an irresistible charm of a woman towards her lover. 

Minnie and Ten’s English duet, “Obsession,” centers on two partners deeply in love with each other. They sing about a romance that keeps pulling them in for more, something they can’t deny. The music video for this disco pop song creates an attractive atmosphere between the main vocalists, who sing and dance closely together. With its title track snatching a Music Bank show win on January 31, HER seems like a success so far. (G)I-DLE as a group uses many strong and creative concepts, and it seems like the members’ solo works also use their own visions to create something meaningful and unabashedly theirs. 

You can experience Minnie’s debut EP—including the aforementioned songs and the additional B-sides “Cherry Sky” and “Valentines Dream”—on streaming platforms or through the album’s multiple physical versions. HER will be distributed through American retailers starting February 28.

Edited by Clark Royandoyan