"No" (CLC)
(written by Luna)
published 11.30.20
The song “No” by K-pop girl group CLC is by far one of the best feminist anthems I’ve ever heard. Let me explain. CLC came out with their album “No.1” in 2019, and in this album "No" was their lead single. The meaning of the song is about choice-- they focus on how women can choose what to wear, act, and do. They are rejecting the standards and being true to themselves. What I mean by that is they are trying to send this message to women on how society has no right to decide if you are woman-like or feminine enough by the way one looks and acts. The lyrics and symbolism in this song are what really put the cherry on top.
Starting off with the lyrics, Seungyeon, says: “Not the way to become cooler, cause I’m already cool enough.” This is trying to explain how society is always trying to change a woman’s look to fit the gender norms, which leads to the following line: “I think I’m more suitable with this cool tone, I won’t change my tone for you” (sung by member Sorn). Going into the chorus of the song, Elkie and Seunghee say “I love me I like it, The lipstick which is most suitable for me,” which refers back to when I was talking about choice and how they can choose what they want to wear. If I had to choose the most empowering lyric from the whole song it would be this one. My reasoning for this is that women are always being criticized for not following society’s standards, and in this line, they are trying to break those norms by telling society that they can wear whatever they feel like. Moving on to the most popular line: “Red lip? No. Earrings? No. High heels? No. Handbag? No.” Sung by all members, the girls are once again breaking the societal norms and rules of what a woman "must" look like. It rejects everything that society has deemed as "feminine" because, in reality, nothing has a definitive gender. Not clothing. Not people. Not tastes and preferences. Gender is a social identity and it's different for everyone. Sorn then says “If you do not like it, find another one who matches your taste.” I personally love this line because it is such a girl boss line. Just as Sorn said, if society/men do not like us the way we are, then they can go find someone who fits their criteria! The last lyric I will talk about is Yujins “you won’t change me. I won’t become cutie or sexy according to your words.” This line has a very deep meaning-- she was saying that no matter how much criticism she gets she will always stay true to herself and won’t become what others expect her to just because they said so. The reason I said it has a deep meaning is because she used two very specific words, “cutie” and “sexy.” These words in Korea are used to categorize what “a woman should look like.” If you did not know, suicide rates in Korea are very high, and one of the many reasons for that is due to the beauty standards. Women AND men, especially teenagers, struggle with trying to match the beauty standards
That was a lot, wasn’t it? Let’s take a break from that and move onto the music video. Like I mentioned earlier, there is a lot of symbolism. At the beginning of the video, we see the girls inside these show-like windows which I think could be a metaphor used to represent how women and female idols are treated and perceived as objects.
Related to the previous metaphor, the girls are now carrying a coffin, which I think means that they have now buried those generalized beliefs on what “defines a woman” and are now moving past that and being themselves.
The last metaphor/piece of symbolism that caught my eye was the way they were wearing things stereotypically for women. Most people think that the video was in a way contradicting what the whole song was about, but it actually is, again, emphasizing choice-- they are choosing when and if they want to wear it; they have even stated on Weekly Idol that their reason for doing this is to show that they can choose what they want to wear-- regardless if it adheres to society's standards or not, it's still their own choice.
To sum it up, a woman should not be told how to be a woman. We should live freely and not feel as though we have to conform to what others want us to be. Feminism is all about choice and giving power to women. So, remember girls if you want to wear those cliché standards wear it because you want to-- not because someone else is telling you to!