Singers with a hidden identity seems to be a growing trend in the music industry. There’s Zhu, DJ Marshmello and of course we can’t forget about The Weeknd. But now we got a female artist wanting in all of the fun.
On January 6, 2017, it was announced that WestSide Entertainment, a Los Angles based music label and management agency, would be launching a new mystery artist under the alias A.Leean. All WestSide would say about A.Leean was that she already has a large fan base and has performed in large concert venues all around the world. Her debut U.S. single, “Fall Back” was released on January 7 and the teaser for the music video dropped January 12.
Despite all the secrecy, most people suspect that A.Leean is actually Ailee, a Korean-American singer who already established herself as a successful solo artist in South Korea. Not only are the names similar, but Ailee also has a large following and the fact that her voice sounds a lot like A.Leean when she sings just adds fuel to the fire.
In a statement to Kultscene, David Kim, an entertainment lawyer based in Hollywood who apparently represents A.Leean, claims that he isn’t worried about his client being outed by her fans:
“We’re not afraid of fans,” he said. “Because we’d actually like more fan participation. We just won’t be making an official statement until later.”
Now I can understand why A.Leean’s team doesn’t want to reveal her identity right away. It is very difficult for Asian artists to break into the American music industry and K-pop have struggled to achieve any mainstream success, or in the case of Psy, did achieve it but failed to maintain it. I just don’t see the point of keeping up this rouse any longer. If A.Leean is Ailee, then most people have already figured it out and when the “big reveal” is finally made people aren’t going to care.
Mystery artists are only fun when you don’t already know who he/she is. If A.Leean and Ailee are the same person, just say so and focus on the promotions for “Fall Back”. If Ailee isn’t A.Leean then hats off to WestSide Entertainment for coming up with one hell of a plot twist.
