ALPHA is the first solo album released by CL, two years after starting her own label, five years after her U.S. debut, eight years after going solo and a full twelve years after her Korean debut. What can we expect from the album? The fact that this is her first full-length studio album speaks volumes about what she has been through. In a way, ALPHA pieces together a picture of “what’s to come” with “what came before.” But lest we forget. Although CL has carved out her own place in the music scene as an independent female artist and Korean-speaking solo artist with global appeal, what she does is pop music, “not a do-it-yourself music but professionally produced and packaged music,” as the music critic Simon Frith once said. As a result, it is only natural that ALPHA finds itself caught in the middle of a tug of war between different forces going in opposite directions. It has to sort out what came before while presenting a picture of what’s to come and accommodate different artists contributed to the album and the different styles they bring in to create something cohesive “in the unique style of CL.” What we look for in ALPHA, a recording album from a bona fide pop star, is the balance that CL has discovered in this process of making music amidst a tug of war between opposing forces.

ALPHA is made up of different sounds that define CL. Some of the tracks headlined by “Spicy” pick up after her previous releases, “The Baddest Female” and “Hello Bitches.” Simple and unassuming hooks are supported by a beat that plays out the repetition of extremely short segments and the isolated interjection of pounding, assertive bass sounds. Layered on top are either old and familiar Korean phrases accompanied by familiar “Korean melody” samples (reminiscent of the famous “hooks” from her YG days) such as “Mugunghwa has bloomed / You better hide or I’ll find you (‘HWA’),” a coincidental choice given the recent trending of the “red light, green light” chant used in Squid Game, or directly and unapologetically, borrowed phrases such as “Imma do it my way (‘My Way’).” Of course, such lyrical choices as “Just like the way I did, just like me (‘My Way’)” are skillfully coordinated and controlled to create sounds “just like” CL. More familiar “banger” tracks in ALPHA are similar to what she did in the early days of her solo career, hitting straight with a pounding, low-pitch sound or fusing pop-star braggadocio in just the right way, with the help of different contributors, to blend in with CL’s vocal tone. This finishing touch works as if adding hot sauce to different dishes to bring them together and complete a course of hot and spicy menu items. CL no longer needs to “fake” or “pretend” anything to show herself (“I don’t pretend, Just know what’s fake (‘Chuck’)”) and makes it clear from the first track “Spicy” what the flavor of the music is, effectively setting the tone of the entire album. Of course, ALPHA has more than “spicy” flavor to offer.

Other tracks that make ALPHA cohesive are ones that focus more on emotional intimacy and vocal lines but are still grounded within the pop sound, which extends the influence from “+Paradox17115+” and “+I Quit180327+”. This is clearly pronounced in “Xai,” which slowly builds up to the chorus with softer synth sounds and dense rhythms, and “Siren” and “5 Star,” which add more texture to the rest of the album with a more dramatic addition and subtraction of sounds. Vocal highlights full of emotions, which are not as dominant as in her previous single release “In the Name of Love,” sound modulated and controlled in “Lover Like Me” and “Tie a Cherry” after the heavier trap-pop sounds from the earlier tracks in the album. Thanks to this transition, these two tracks set the emotional and stylistic tone of the album. ALPHA moves on to highlight CL’s unique voice tone with a mix of deft choices, including smoothly sliding melodies for the chorus, a slow-but-steady buildup for a drop (“Tie a Cherry”) or introduction of rap to the flashy sounds of the beat (‘Lover Like Me’). The balance she has discovered in ALPHA is to take the “flavors” associated with CL’s solo career and fuse them together with the elements and tracks created with slightly different qualities, styles and sounds.

This approach is particularly pronounced in “Let It,” which was first envisioned for the complete 2NE1 troupe, and the Travis Scott-inspired “Paradise,” which is perhaps the piece that least conforms to CL’s musical spectrum. “Let It” opens with electric guitar and its relatively slow tempo and rhythmical beats are reminiscent of the intros of “If I Were You,” “It Hurts” and “Come Back Home.” Subtly Auto-Tuned rapping that follows oscillating melodies in “Paradise” references mainstream hip hop and rap music from the mid- to late 2010s. It may come across as a mix of what she has done in the past and what’s in vogue now, but these references do not compromise or take away from the sounds. Instead, they fit nicely into the all-encompassing kaleidoscope called ALPHA, with surprisingly successful results. The use of Auto Tune and introduction of exclamations in “Paradise” gently envelopes the melody in just the right way, and such approach, bringing in what’s trendy into CL’s spectrum despite the apparent risks, was also used in her tracks released in the mid 2010s. Similarly, “Let It” also shakes away 2NE1’s elaborate sounds and uses controlled beats to shine the spotlight on the melody. These examples show that CL has succeeded in weaving these ingredients masterfully into the recipe of ALPHA. This becomes even more evident when we consider that though the famous rappers Tablo, Sokodomo and Nafla contributed lyrics to the album, the rap flow throughout the tracks conforms to CL’s own style. ALPHA sounds just like CL and is clearly CL’s, regardless of the styles and contributors brought within the folds of her album.

ALPHA successfully completes its mission as a pop music album—piecing diverse elements together to create a cohesive package of music—by focusing on CL’s signature voice tone and melodies that go well with her voice to firmly solidify the image of CL, and her music, built through her 12-year career, whether it be the riff-like repetition of the same note or vocal chord progression that encompasses the entire track. Of course, what anchors the entire album in terms of melody is CL’s voice. Though it is not as pronounced as it was within “In the Name of Love”, her voice, the most unique and defining element in her music, takes center stage at every moment and in every track in the album, from a pounding trap dance number, which pieces together and repeats short but intense segments like sound effects, to a pop ballad, which masterfully travels the full range of emotions on a well-structured buildup. This approach to music making, carefully refining and putting together her musical signatures to serve her music, is also apparent—it’s subtle but clear—in the intro of “Spicy,” which opens the entire album. The intro highlights CL’s unique voice, layering it on top of the voice of John Malkovich saying the iconic phrase “energy, power, chemistry,” taken from the five-minute monologue recorded by him and scattered across low-pitch bass sounds with the subtle differences in sound quality subdued by powerful beats. This is a clear example of how this album brings together the elements that determine who CL is and what she represents, and mix the flavors together to create a powerful balance, and complete the mix into a cohesive entity.

ALPHA serves as the blueprint for CL and her music as it takes the faceted and segmented time and experiences of CL, orients these elements to the “first full-length solo album in 2021,” and carefully processes and integrates them to become a cohesive single entity. It is rare for someone to display her ego unapologetically but not buckle under the weight, as CL has. It is also rare for someone to build a solid image of herself quite so successfully while both displaying her outer persona and revealing her innermost side, as CL did. This is an important quality to have for a pop star. CL has shown that she has command over the forces that go against her varying personas, and that she has achieved such command by reconstructing herself through ALPHA. CL has been always clear about how she sees herself as she had proudly proclaimed: “I go by the name of CL.” In her first solo album in her 12-year career, CL also expresses herself with ruthless efficiency without the need for larger-than-life power, scale or image. She asks and answers herself in “Lover Like Me”: “Remember the last time you called me Chae Lin / Can't remember the last time you called me that name,” spells out who she is in “Chuck”: “C H A E L I N THAT'S ME,” and picks up “cherries” like a crafty wordplay or “discarded fun” (“Siren”) and displays them here and there. And yet we still call her CL.