"Lifted" is a song by

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

n rapper, singer and songwriter CL. It was released as her debut American single on August 19, 2016.

Background

The song was written by CL,

Asher Roth Asher Paul Roth (born August 11, 1985) is an American rapper. He is best known for his debut single " I Love College". Roth released his debut studio album ''Asleep in the Bread Aisle'', on April 20, 2009, by Universal Motown, SRC, and School B ...

, and

Teddy Park Teddy Park (born Park Hong-jun on September 14, 1978), is a Korean–American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Born in Seoul, South Korea, Park moved to the United States with his family as a young child. When he was 17 years old, P ...

, with the production being handled by the latter. It heavily samples the song "

Method Man Clifford Smith, Jr. (born March 2, 1971), better known by his stage name Method Man, is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is known as a member of the East Coast hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan. He is also half of t ...

" by

Wu-Tang Clan Wu-Tang Clan is an American hip hop group formed in Staten Island, New York City, in 1992. Its original members include RZA, GZA, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, and Masta Killa. Close affili ...

Critical reception

Colette Bennett of ''

The Daily Dot ''The Daily Dot'' is a digital media company covering the culture of the Internet and the World Wide Web. Founded by Nicholas White in 2011, ''The Daily Dot'' is headquartered in Austin, Texas. The site, conceived as the Internet's "hometown ...

'' said "something about

he song He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

seems too simple" and went on to say that "CL's rapping is strong as usual" and "the song has a chill, reggae-inspired vibe". ''Billboard''s Tamar Herman stated that the song "diverges sharply from CL's image as one of South Korea's most prominent female rappers and eschews her typical aggressive style. Referencing drugs and liquor liberally while roaming around New York City, this isn't the same CL that K-pop fans are used to. Built for listening to on a hazy summer day, 'Lifted' takes a step back from CL's typical raps, aside from a quick bit at the beginning of the song." Nolan Feeney of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' labeled it "a solid-gold banger".

Commercial performance

The song debuted at number 94 on the

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

making CL's first entry as a lead artist, second overall on the chart and also the third Korean act to do so overall. The song garnered 5.2 million streams in the United States by the week ending on October 6.

Music video and promotion

A music video for the song, directed by Dave Meyers, was released on August 18, 2016. CL performed the song live for the first time on ''

The Late Late Show with James Corden ''The Late Late Show with James Corden'' (also known as ''Late Late'') is an American late-night talk show on CBS. It is the fourth and current iteration of '' The Late Late Show''. Airing in the U.S. from Monday to Friday nights at 12:37:28am ...

'' on September 15, 2016. It was also performed throughout CL's

Hello Bitches Tour The Hello Bitches Tour (stylized as Hello Bi+ches Tour) was the debut concert tour of South Korean singer CL. The tour visited nine cities in 2016 in the United States and Canada, kicking off in New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom on October 2 ...

in late 2016 in several North American cities. She also performed the song at the 2016 ''

SBS Gayo Daejun ''SBS Gayo Daejeon'' (, broadly ''SBS'' '' Battle of the Bands'') is an annual televised music festival that is broadcast by the Seoul Broadcasting System at the end of each year. The program first aired in 1997, and awards were given to musica ...

'', the first time the song was performed in Korea.

Charts

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lifted 2016 singles 2016 songs Songs written by Asher Roth Songs written by Teddy Park YG Entertainment singles