I think Spicy was the re-building of aespa. Since LSM & YYJ left they had to subtly build aespa back up. Spicy was definitely a more real-life, girl crush image. Then with Drama bringing them back to their dramatic, high concept origins. Armageddon & Supernova is their experimental stage & Whiplash as the first step into their future. I definitely see Spicy as aespa’s re-debut.
I understand that spicy was different from their other stuff but I really love the song. I’m a new fan but I see a ton of people hating on it, not because of the change. Do people really think it’s that bad?
Spicy was the song they all liked as trainees and Karina recommended to the company as a title, so it had to be a song that LSM was aware of and had plans of releasing.
I would have loved to see a little cameo from the new ae members because the visual glow up is so good, but the girls themselves were styled so good this comeback that I bought my second ever physical K-pop album in 15 years of being in the fandom.
@@vixxexo6855 image how cool if in the end when they gather every piece of that metallic sphere....that object opens a portal, and the aes comes out and boom! end of the video.
It's really interesting to see people come around to the ae's. Initially, people hated the whole "Ai idols" concept, but I think aespa was the only group to pull this off. The ae's weren't meant to replace idols or become "separate" entities but characters/alter egos of the girls within the Kwangya storyline like naevis or black mamba. Plus, there's the whole cost issue (I wouldn't be surprised if the silver teasers ate a chunck of Whiplash's budget) Although they've been reduced to easter eggs, I do have to wonder how the ae's could be integrated in the future. Regardless, the ae's are Kpop fashion icons. Edit: I meant virtual idols but honeslty it's the same thing.
I think also the main issue with the ae's was that... the designs weren't the best. Yes they were cute but after black mamba most of the members ended up becoming unrecognizable to their ae selves and their outfits got dated quick, specially since they tried mashing them in concept pictures and it just didn't make sense besides the real aespa's styling for the respective era.
I think also they never really explained the Ae's well especially with the debut trailer where they interact with their Aes When they dropped Black Mamba people expected it was going to be an 8 member group with 4 virtual members and 4 real members.
I have a theory! the concept is present in the video but its done in a new way. I think the Whiplash MV is the AEs fighting for control to come back to the real world. notice how the members have 2 distinct looks The black version of the outfits the AEs are wearing from teaser and the Camo/RealWorld look that's reminiscent of their Armageddon era. Throughout the video the "AEs" are constantly fighting for the pieces of this orb i think that if they put it together they can leave like naevis did. Another thing that makes me think this theory may be a thing is that the "AE" members are in this all white studio with wires and technology constantly surrounding them and at some points the members are "paused" in scenes. and the real world Aespa members still look like they are coming out of their Armageddon era. I think this was aespa's way of reintroduce the ae's to the viewer and listener and I have a feeling the next comeback we will see the ae's again
Great album, the title song surprised me! There is only the disorientating split of Armageddon, otherwise the discography is very consistent. I also liked the SYNK solos very much, though no one seems to talk about them.
@@raytsh The SYNK solos were so good, but yeah I have noticed not many people talk about them! Maybe it’s because we’ve been listening to them and begging for an officially release for more than a year, and now that we have them, there’s not much else to talk about 😭
The album cohesion satisfied me fully after the mess I believe Armageddon album to be. I don’t know if this is just a hunch, but I can really feel some sort of Nct sound in the album? makes me feel like Pink hoodie and Flights, not Feelings were supposed to be Nct’s but amidst the controversy, I really am up for SM giving their best work to Aespa rn. Music video to me felt like it was shot just because in kpop, you cannot release an album without it. The lack of ae members, storyline, budget? It felt like the executives gave them minimal budget and just forced the editors to go crazy. I love this project so much, but the lack of budget is really disappointing (I mean they shot the photobook pictures at the same sets as mv? A big company like SM is cheap like that?) Overall I am just really grateful for all the editors, stylists and directors behind this mv cause they really created something out of nothing. Overall a solid 8/10 comeback love it🤍🤍
I think that’s a super fair critique of the ep. The mv felt kinda empty to me I think especially after having supernova and especially Armageddon I was expecting a bit more. I was super happy with it though!
I need the SM culture universe videos back😭 from them… Kwangya was revolutionary and we could’ve gone places like Daft Punk bringing out a movie to their universe etc..😭
I think Whiplash would be 10/10 with a bigger final chorus but it's still very good. I'm a huge sucker for vocal fry and it really delivers. I'm also glad that the Kwangya stuff is being dropped. I never minded it but I never got anything out of it. The vibe is more important for me.
I'm also a GIRLS lover and defender, and a kwangya lore/naevis/æs defender so you can image how sad i am of loosing the CLEAR version of the concept with smcu episodes and all to what is now just mere fan theories with no confirmation. Don't get me wrong i still love the songs and the mvs but i don't like this "vague approach" to the lore because i think such detailed lore is what set aespa above any other kpop group. I can understand dropping the smcu episodes because it's expensive and it takes time...but i don't like how they are not explaining or connecting anything at all anymore. We don't really know what is going on on drama...we don't know how they got the new super power of Supernova, we have zero lore in whiplash....the last thing i could connect was the strange phenomenon from spicy that was later mentioned in Armageddon too, saying it's the sign of the parallel universe. But it's not even clear if we are seeing different aespa each time. And i don't like how they acted as if the æ-aespa never existed for four comeback...they redesigned them now and like you i was super happy ans then i was super disappointed because not even a cameo in whiplash? I feel like they fooled us and so i was a bit mad tbh. And i feel like we will never see the girls with Naevis together ever again, they welcomed into the real world and never acknowledged her again after that.... which is sad cause i really wanted aespa to go all out on the lore and become popular outside kpop in fields like technology and videogames. aespa still have unique sound and style in kpop which is cool but i feel like it's too toned down instead of using the full potential of a concept related to metaverse. Idk maybe because i'm a gamer and comics fan...the heavy lore was never strange for me, but rather it was cool.
Literally same! It's so confusing now and they're kinda just pretending like the first half of the lore didn't even happen almost w the way they aren't continuing it?
@@Terminallyposessed what's worse is that SM gives vague explanation for each comeback via articles instead of SHOWING it or letting the girls talking about it. (I noticed the girls don't mention the lore anymore at all and i wonder if they are embarassed by it.... cause many time i saw them cringe about kwangya, Naevis and the aes and it kinda makes me sad). Ningning even said they stopped saying be my æ cause they think it's awkward :(
@@Terminallyposessed Btw as i was saying they wrote "Spicy is them returning to the real world after defeating Black mamba". Okay...yes... why are they just partying and going to college? They don't look like the aespa se saw in the real world before in smcu. Then "drama is about them fighting the trauma left from black mamba" Ok....now they are dealing with the trauma? They were all happy having parties in Spicy! And why are they fighting each other??? Then: "Supernova is about the girls becoming superbeing" How? Where do these powers come from? Why are they aliens? And here they are all having fun again?🤷🏻♀️ Then "Armageddon is about the parallel universes and them fighting their evil alter ego from another dimension" .... whatever. it's cool but how is this connected to Supernova? In Armageddon the strange phenomenon from spicy is mentioned too, saying it's the sign of the other world.... but here aespa are again dark, serious and fighting while in spicy that were just having fun and pretending the strange phenomenon was nothing. 🥲 Then we cane to Whiplash. Totally unrelated again. SM said "it's about all the datas from the parallel universes forming the new ae-aespa"...and yet ae-aespa were not in the video and nothing like this was shown. Not even an explanation of that metallic sphere...
girls… GIRLS girls… “we dem girls” girls??? if it wasn’t for her i doubt i’d be listening to the group today. taste really is subjective keke 😗 thank you for another video 🖤
I'm not so sure on the SM culture universe, though I do think the ground work built in aespa's Black Mamba storyline era award them a lot of material and leniency in reference and depth when it comes to their new releases. They just can't milk it forever without giving fans something more substantial, if they keep it around. For me though, it does say something that I only admitted to myself that I was a MY after they abandoned the Kwangya storytelling aspect of their concept. Also my reaction to the ae-member teaser images was initially negative, so I suppose I'm on the "moving on"- side of the argument. I'm not gonna stop being a MY if they go back deeper into Kwangya again, but still.
I fear Aespa’s creative direction needs to be handed over to Seulgi, she’s the only creative director left at SM (yes I know this is questionable given she hasn’t been in full control of a comeback/debut since 28 reasons, and gets the bare minimum in red velvets recent comebacks just so they can keep her in the creative team department) she is kinda the last person in the department that has worked extensively with Lee sooman, BoA, and Yoo Youngi. All 3 of which have left or are leaving and have done at least some work with Aespa. So I just gotta hope that seulgi has the OG Aespa files somewhere or knowledge of what the OG plans of were with Aespa
@@lunam.9640 she was given the job 7 months before 28 Reasons, it’s why she was aloud to go solo because SM largely didn’t play a huge part in her solo debut. She did almost all the work behind it
@@lunam.9640 she’s been training under BoA and under creative directors since Be Natrual as she built a friendship and mentorship relationship with BoA when she was a trainee
I don't think they were even meant to focus on kwangya and æs only. it was a part of their lore. after k wording black mamba and nævis's death, they came back to the real world and i believe they have lost contact with the æs because of nævis's death. if they ditched kwangya then idt sm would've made nævis "debut." they're focusing on multiverse. that siren like figure in armageddon is rumoured to be the next villain
I love me some pop rock aespa, so Just Another Girl is definitely my favorite b side but the whole mini album is amazing. Can't wait to see them in Madrid. Here's hoping they'll include anything from Whiplash in the line up for the later legs of the world tour.
I was really dispointed with armageddon album but this one is one of my favorite releases of the year. Though you’re right it missed the ae at least in the mv. Anyways love from France ❤
I like how SM does not play with aespa's releases and treat them as their flagship girl group, since they really are. This year has been really big and successful for them, 1st full album did well, Supernova is running for SOTY on year end award ceremonies. Yet SM had to prove that 2024 is truly aespa's year and they came back with Whiplash. Whiplash is very good song, very aespa coded. but now I want to talk about b-sides, Flights, Not Feelings and Flowers. I like those two songs, genres that you normally would not expect from aespa yet they experimented with new sound and delivered those tracks with touch of aespa. I think I like Flights, Not Feelings more than Flowers for myself.
yeah, speaking also as kwangya citizen, i also think it's fair to let go of the kwangya aspects in aespa at this point in their career. they have already proven time & time again that they can & will commit fully to any concept they are given & execute it to its best potential - i think it's fair we trust them with their artistic integrity. i think the inclusion of their solos in these two tours was a good step forward, too. while they didn't get to participate much in their past solos, they did for their new ones this year & it shows with how enthusiastic they are to perform them. look at karina topping the charts without a proper promo period or music video! they clearly don't need the smcu to attract attention & deliver an interesting performance. i was also super excited for the new look for their aes, but i'm gonna be so honest when i say i didn't even notice they weren't in the whiplash mv. it's already such a jam-packed video, with each shot being meticulous & purposeful, i don't think it would've even been a good idea to include anyways.
Just want to point out that someone on Reddit found a connection with the Back to the Future movie. The mv release date is the same one as the one that appeared in the movie (October 21, 2024) and the car that Karina drives is similar to a Dolorian. Also, on the first stage for Whiplash, M countdown played b-roll from Armageddon and it tied the camera concept with security cameras. Aespa’ concept now is infinite since they introduced the idea of multiple universes in the Armageddon lore narrative
Yeah I don’t know if I agree with this multiple universes idea that’s been going around. In my eyes Armageddon was more about them finally pulling the plug on everything - they had to destroy the virtual world (and maybe the real world too I’m not not sure) because of the way it had been bleeding into the real world. And Whiplash is the blank canvas after Armageddon, where they’re free to create a new universe in whatever form they desire. Like the Big Bang. ‘Beat drop with a big flash’. And that big bang gives us whiplash.
@@magpiejoneski139i mean they started teasing the possibility of parallel worlds in "girls" so i dont think its farfetched to believe that all the aespa's we see in their mv's exist in different realities
I'm super skeptical of k-pop going lore heavy. While it's _possible_ that it could create more narrative depth, the most likely outcome is that it's unoriginal and bolted on. It reminds me of the TV series Lost where the early seasons built on mysterious phenomena and references which made lore seem extremely deep but when it came time for actually tying all these disparate narrative strings into a cohesive story in the later seasons, most fans were disappointed that the story wasn't as planned out as implied. The problem with lore is that not only do you have to create good music (which is hard) but you also have to keep lore continuity which is constraining on the art.
So I'm on a still kind of a boycott type of thing on sm entertainment at the moment, although I have heard copied snippets of Whiplash on twitter and.. Why must they randomly release one of their best tracks ever just when I am on the verge of boycotting sm entertainment entirely? I have been in such pain. Literally everything for this comeback seems perfect 😭 The make-over of the aes was literal perfection. The photography was amazing. The title track was really strong and I was curious towards another b-side as well. Some rnb song. But yeah... I am super conflicted now. People said they would mass boycott all of sm entertainment until we got justice for Seunghan, but seeing how many people ended up streaming aespa made me feel like now I'm pointless for protesting seemingly almost on my own :(
@@soomi I’m avoiding streaming out of consideration for RIIZE as well, but after a year like 2024, I don’t have faith that a company-wide boycott is going to be at all effective concerning Seunghan. Boycotts need to be isolated and concentrated. If it extends to the entire company in an effort to cause them financial stress with reckless abandon, SM can almost safely rely on the movement fizzling out over time. It’s hard to express that without people thinking it comes from a selfish place, but I think that’s the whole point. Unfortunately, asking kpop fans to stop being selfish is unreasonable. The HYBE boycotts and how fans were able to poke holes through it in order to be selfish has ruined my faith when it comes to organizing our community; broadening the scope of a boycott has the potential to radicalize people against it and cause it to backfire
@@soomi I’ve been boycotting SM to and I’ve only heard the TT from the MV Google drive link another creator posted here, it’s why I’m holding off judgements of the full quality of the song for now, but stay strong in the boycott bestie
@@choujimi Thank you so much for your response! Yeah you pretty much conveyed all the additional debates on the potential sm entertainment boycott that I've seen across stan twitter as well. Some people were way too extreme with their approach to the boycott, like saying ALL knetz are horrible. Which we know is nonsense. I haven't heard of a HYBE boycott yet, but I'm not surprised in the slightest. About the effectiveness of the sm entertainment boycott.. you may be right indeed. They will just keep on going and honestly I don't think we should want Seunghan back per se. I personally just want sm to apologise to Seunghan and firmly support him as a soloist from now.
@@CatNagTaylorsVersion I'm really so/so on it so far. Everyone has already massively moved on it seems like and honestly I am with Choujimi where it feels like it ultimately doesn't truly affect companies like HYBE or SM to 'boycott' them as a foreign audience. Most people weren't true to their words and never have it in them to truly boycott. I'm not saying I will suddenly purchase the aespa or other SM entertainment group albums atm, but yeah.. Trust has been broken. It would take a whole lot for me to buy physical albums from here on from them. I'll maybe stream a few songs and talk about them, but I would definitely never endorse SM anymore from here on.
@@soomi I’m so/so on the boycott too the only fandoms really participating at this point are OT7 Briize, Blinks, Orbits, and Revuluvs. I feel that the Hybe boycotts going on at the same time where gonna be a shot in the foot, I don’t think people were ready to give up both companies groups. I’m holding out at this point because SM needs to learn a point
SAME OMG! Girls actually got me into aespa. Idk why everybody hated that song like it just has me convinced that people will hate anything just cuz somebody told them to. I'm actually also hearing a lot of mixed opinions on whiplash and it just baffles me like what else do you want them to do lol. Ik this opinion is not that popular among fans but I kinda don't want kwangya to come back in full force. I myself would let kwangya go any day if it means getting to experience something like Armageddon. Moreover, I believe aespa without kwangya are in a superior form. They embody what they have right now so well that atp kwangya just feels like an empty shell. From the members' own words, aespa essentially has an alien concept and that in and of itself could be so passionately explored with clever nods to kwangya here and there.
I was so confused about the missing æ members but at the end of the mv u can see the girls wearing the black renditions of the æ silver outfits so that has to mean something right…. Right?
I am and always will be a huge Girls defender. It’s still my favourite title track from them and I will die on that hill lol. I don’t understand why people hate it. Sonically the structure is super similar to Drama so Ive never been able to get why people hated it so much. I also think Girls conceptually was done really well even if the album it was released on is probably the weakest in their discography because half of it was already released before hand.
I was recently going through old reddit posts(in kpop subreddits) related to aespa from 2020 to 2022. And the amount of hate they were getting was insane. I love "girls" a lot. its my favourite aespa title track. And seeing how their old music was hated because of their concept was shocking to me at first becacuse i wasn't active in online kpop communities around that time. Even if aespa moves on from their kwangya concept, i kinda wish that they do some sort of futristic concepts because it really suits them. Retro futurism or something.
Kwangya is now MYWORLD. Yes, they are still world building but it's just under new management literally. You have to pay attention to the lyrics on top of what the rest of SMCU is doing because they do leave easter eggs especially if you're chronically online. Like I said before SM has been leaving Easter eggs to connections like the world wide web creates a butterfly effect. Also they expanded on the Naevis storyline with an SMCU Origin Story which is still the same but has more details now.
My theory is that in the Whiplash MV they are filming The Drama, which I think is about the events of Supernova-Armageddon: the car crash as a metaphor for world's colliding (I think cars in the aespa lore deserve their own video by you); the confusing 4th instruction that contradicts the previous ones, which I think is placed there by Giselle, as I see her as the villain in Armageddon; NingNing slashing the frame and Giselle showing through, which mirrors NingNing touching the rift in reality in Armageddon, allowing for an evil Giselle to come through (the only superbeing version of the members whose birth we don't see); the Drama album artwork which says "the beginning here shows the end (Armageddon); the Giants as a representation of the Superbeings. The metal orb they keep trying to rebuild in Whiplash (and is destroyed by Winter) also remings me of Armageddon's album cover agroglyph, produced by Karina in Supernova. It's as if that shape has been doubled and traversed (like the aes are a double of the real world members and "go through" them). I also like to think Spicy and Drama somehow mirror Supernova and Armageddon, but can't quite articulate how. It's as if the first two happen in Kwangya (borrowing from your theory of how they fit into the lore), or even in any digital/media "space", and the latter show what has actually happened. Would love to know yours and everyone else's thoughts on this :)
I was so glad to see the AEs get a looks upgrade. I kinda thought that they would get new looks with each comeback, then they didn’t, and the designs started to feel very dissonant with Aespa’s increased maturity and concept change from cartoonish sci-fantasy to grittier sci-fi. I think I had to stop myself from screaming when their upgrade looked as good as it did for Whiplash. Couldn’t be more perfect tbh
Girls was great okay, it was bad choreo but has always been a great song and I'll defend that hills. also flight not feeling and whiplash scratch something in my brain becomes it feels like I can listen it on loop
1:06 CHOUJIMI I *KNOW* YOU DID NOT SAY THIS WITHOUT MENTIONING ATEEZ APOLOGIZE FOR YOUR SINS 😭😭😭 no but in all honesty, aespa has always made me feel things... like if karina wangs me to go up yOU KNOW WE GOING UP AKSKSNAAN
I personally think that it's time to accept the fact that the whole Kwangya/SYNK storyline will never be fully aespa main storyline like pre-Girls eras. And that's totally fine for me, Kwangya storyline is cool and creative, but I think it could somehow box aespa into a fixed concept that is kinda abstract and has many terms & details which might make some people confused (like me in the first time knowing about aespa). Also LSM and YYJ - souls & brains of Kwangya things left so I don't get the point of continuing the storyline. I like the aespa post-Girls, they're more diverse in the genres but still somehow integrate their core sound - metallic and hyper pop elements, the visual and creative direction are developed insanely! I'm here for the visual and music, so at long as they still have the core metallic sounds, I'd still eatt. And also a great - solid - cohesive album like Savage manifesting, Whiplash is good tho.
Wait fr? You got a speeding ticket while listening to girls? :00000 I understand getting it while on the dance break portion but if it's anywhere else in that song, I'm shooked
lol I still can't get over the fact that one of the composers of Lucid Dreams is Hayley Kyoko... I just don't like it because it reminds me of some other song... Maybe from Queendom album from Red Velvet, not sure, and my head just gets confused as it goes to a totally different direction than I am expecting...
i saw articles being sent out from sm saying that aespa is having the girls leave the group (not permanently) just one member is going to get switched out with an ‘ae’ version while the member does solo promotions for upcoming solo releases.
The only thing I hate about Girls is how boring the mv was 😔 oh and their attempt to enter the western market with 2013-ass song life's too short. But "Girls" the song itself? Banger. To this day
re: album cohesion - i feel like a lot of kpop fans don't really know what they mean when they talk about album cohesion or even just discography cohesion in part due to how kpop groups tend to dip their toes into various different sounds so as to match an overarching concept / visual coding for the group (if that makes sense) . with the exceptions of girls and armageddon , aespa's honestly always been very good with track cohesion simply due to how strong their commitment to concept is , but people generally tend to see 'album cohesion' moreso as tracks sounding similar to one another rather than matching an overall image . a lot of the time people will complain about the 'tacked on ballad / rnb / other-genre' track(s) at the end of an album without really considering what those track bring to the album as a resolution , which is what lucid dream + flowers / just another girl bring to their respective works . we also find this in my world with i'm unhappy + til we meet again , and kinda in girls with icu but it's a lot less refined there . i would argue for armageddon but they kinda dropped the ball on that one LMAO ? regardless , album cohesion is , in my opinion , less about genre-matching , sonic similarities , etc. and moreso about how all the tracks work together to accomplish an overall listening experience . sawry i kind of just took this as an excuse to yap . anyway great job team everyone take 5
How can this be a review when you barely talked about the actual music? Anyways, I find their discography somewhat lacking, there is always missing something and Whiplash is the most obvious case yet to me. Their other songs, wether I liked them or not, were at least memorable, unlike Whiplash. Like, I could remember the MV and the girls singing, but the actual melody, beat, etc? No. It was so forgetable instead of the unforgetable they were going for. I seriously consider it their most boring release ever and paired with the poor remixes of Supernova that have been released recently, I seriously fear the musical quality of the group is going downhill which is weird because of how excellent their solos are. When it comes to the musical direction Winter's song is PERFECT for Aespa's concept. Spark seriously reminds me of VocaTrance, especially at the very beginning. Vocatrance, which to the uncultured of you- stands for Vocaloid Trance as EDM is a huge subgenre within the Vocaloid fandom. Vocatrance generally leans into melodious trance with dreamy vocals. It would be a perfect sound for Aespa and Winter's solo showcases they do have proper producers who can pull that sound of so why are we getting this dull beat instead? Like which person at SM thought it was a good idea to give the best melodies to the girls solo performances rather then for the group? Also, Giselle's face in the MV looks a little off to me, and I am just praying its the makeup and they haven't made her go under the knife as I find Giselle's beauty so underrated. I hope people didn't make her feel like she's the ugliest member because she's gorgeous. Strangely enough, when I commented that under the MV my comment was removed which only further makes me suspicious as I'm clearly not hating on Giselle. She's my literal bias.
tbh since drama i started liking their comebacks more. the kwangya was okay but it was also shoved into other sm artists' songs desperately trying to make a connection. kinda meh
i am also a HUGE girls defender, that song singlehandedly made me a my. i remember liking aespa very casually but once girls dropped i literally drove 25 miles from the middle of nowhere colorado to the nearest target to buy the album the week it came out (and i pulled my biases 🤭). then I heard people saying it was their weakest song and i was like??????????? are we listening to the same song, the instrumental is AMAZING, the prechorus is AMAZING, the dance break is AMAZING (the instrumental of it, the choreo itself is.....something!), KARINA HAS PURPLE HAIR HOW ARE WE NOT EXPERIENCING THE SAME SONG??????
I think Spicy was the re-building of aespa. Since LSM & YYJ left they had to subtly build aespa back up. Spicy was definitely a more real-life, girl crush image. Then with Drama bringing them back to their dramatic, high concept origins. Armageddon & Supernova is their experimental stage & Whiplash as the first step into their future. I definitely see Spicy as aespa’s re-debut.
Exactly, they ended the storyline with their first aes with girls.
I understand that spicy was different from their other stuff but I really love the song. I’m a new fan but I see a ton of people hating on it, not because of the change. Do people really think it’s that bad?
Spicy was the song they all liked as trainees and Karina recommended to the company as a title, so it had to be a song that LSM was aware of and had plans of releasing.
@@ennipumpkinyeah and it's not like the song doesn't fit them with that beat.
@@ennipumpkinSpicy is a mid song. I can even imagine G idle and Itzy do Spicy.
I would have loved to see a little cameo from the new ae members because the visual glow up is so good, but the girls themselves were styled so good this comeback that I bought my second ever physical K-pop album in 15 years of being in the fandom.
Like they could have showed a clip of the new AE in the end or something.
@@vixxexo6855 image how cool if in the end when they gather every piece of that metallic sphere....that object opens a portal, and the aes comes out and boom! end of the video.
15 years of being in the... aespa fandom?
@@thisishome111kpop as a whole im assuming!
@@cmool oh yeah you're right 😭
It's really interesting to see people come around to the ae's. Initially, people hated the whole "Ai idols" concept, but I think aespa was the only group to pull this off. The ae's weren't meant to replace idols or become "separate" entities but characters/alter egos of the girls within the Kwangya storyline like naevis or black mamba. Plus, there's the whole cost issue (I wouldn't be surprised if the silver teasers ate a chunck of Whiplash's budget)
Although they've been reduced to easter eggs, I do have to wonder how the ae's could be integrated in the future. Regardless, the ae's are Kpop fashion icons.
Edit: I meant virtual idols but honeslty it's the same thing.
I think also the main issue with the ae's was that... the designs weren't the best. Yes they were cute but after black mamba most of the members ended up becoming unrecognizable to their ae selves and their outfits got dated quick, specially since they tried mashing them in concept pictures and it just didn't make sense besides the real aespa's styling for the respective era.
it’s not ai idols…
I still do hate them tho, I just don't care about anymore
Virtual idols
I think also they never really explained the Ae's well especially with the debut trailer where they interact with their Aes
When they dropped Black Mamba people expected it was going to be an 8 member group with 4 virtual members and 4 real members.
I have a theory! the concept is present in the video but its done in a new way. I think the Whiplash MV is the AEs fighting for control to come back to the real world. notice how the members have 2 distinct looks
The black version of the outfits the AEs are wearing from teaser and the Camo/RealWorld look that's reminiscent of their Armageddon era.
Throughout the video the "AEs" are constantly fighting for the pieces of this orb i think that if they put it together they can leave like naevis did.
Another thing that makes me think this theory may be a thing is that the "AE" members are in this all white studio with wires and technology constantly surrounding them and at some points the members are "paused" in scenes. and the real world Aespa members still look like they are coming out of their Armageddon era.
I think this was aespa's way of reintroduce the ae's to the viewer and listener and I have a feeling the next comeback we will see the ae's again
@@kuumih0 I really like this theory!! It makes so much sense - I was wondering what that orb was supposed to mean or be about lol
Great album, the title song surprised me! There is only the disorientating split of Armageddon, otherwise the discography is very consistent. I also liked the SYNK solos very much, though no one seems to talk about them.
@@raytsh The SYNK solos were so good, but yeah I have noticed not many people talk about them! Maybe it’s because we’ve been listening to them and begging for an officially release for more than a year, and now that we have them, there’s not much else to talk about 😭
everyones talking about the solos.. get on the internet
karina got a RAK with her solo and is the only 4th gen soloist to do so
The album cohesion satisfied me fully after the mess I believe Armageddon album to be.
I don’t know if this is just a hunch, but I can really feel some sort of Nct sound in the album? makes me feel like Pink hoodie and Flights, not Feelings were supposed to be Nct’s but amidst the controversy, I really am up for SM giving their best work to Aespa rn.
Music video to me felt like it was shot just because in kpop, you cannot release an album without it. The lack of ae members, storyline, budget? It felt like the executives gave them minimal budget and just forced the editors to go crazy.
I love this project so much, but the lack of budget is really disappointing (I mean they shot the photobook pictures at the same sets as mv? A big company like SM is cheap like that?)
Overall I am just really grateful for all the editors, stylists and directors behind this mv cause they really created something out of nothing.
Overall a solid 8/10 comeback love it🤍🤍
@@riax2914 Pink Hoodie reminded me a lot of NCT at first! It’s hard to explain why but I really agree 😭
They did work with a big american mv director so the budget must've gone there. The mv is very creatively shot and the quality shows.
Even if the budget for the mv was not high it still looked good. The editing was so good and the mv suited the song.
I think that’s a super fair critique of the ep. The mv felt kinda empty to me I think especially after having supernova and especially Armageddon I was expecting a bit more. I was super happy with it though!
If we look closely, most of the aespa b sides now feel more like NCT after the departure of LSM. That's just what I feel @@choujimi
i was also a very BIG "Girls" defender and then everyone started calling it their worst and i was like...oh ! 🧍🏾♀️
i was baffled cause i loved girls on first listen
@Satellit3 me too, cause how can you not like "WE THEM GIRLS, WE THEM GIRLS, WE THEM GIRLSSSSSSSSS"
THIS, I was in the trenches fighting for people to give girls a chance because I swear everyone was roasting them in the comments
I really loved Girls and honestly prefer it over Supernova and Spicy.
Yeh, girls was a good song 😢
I need the SM culture universe videos back😭 from them… Kwangya was revolutionary and we could’ve gone places like Daft Punk bringing out a movie to their universe etc..😭
I think Whiplash would be 10/10 with a bigger final chorus but it's still very good. I'm a huge sucker for vocal fry and it really delivers.
I'm also glad that the Kwangya stuff is being dropped. I never minded it but I never got anything out of it. The vibe is more important for me.
I'm also a GIRLS lover and defender, and a kwangya lore/naevis/æs defender so you can image how sad i am of loosing the CLEAR version of the concept with smcu episodes and all to what is now just mere fan theories with no confirmation. Don't get me wrong i still love the songs and the mvs but i don't like this "vague approach" to the lore because i think such detailed lore is what set aespa above any other kpop group. I can understand dropping the smcu episodes because it's expensive and it takes time...but i don't like how they are not explaining or connecting anything at all anymore. We don't really know what is going on on drama...we don't know how they got the new super power of Supernova, we have zero lore in whiplash....the last thing i could connect was the strange phenomenon from spicy that was later mentioned in Armageddon too, saying it's the sign of the parallel universe. But it's not even clear if we are seeing different aespa each time.
And i don't like how they acted as if the æ-aespa never existed for four comeback...they redesigned them now and like you i was super happy ans then i was super disappointed because not even a cameo in whiplash? I feel like they fooled us and so i was a bit mad tbh.
And i feel like we will never see the girls with Naevis together ever again, they welcomed into the real world and never acknowledged her again after that.... which is sad cause i really wanted aespa to go all out on the lore and become popular outside kpop in fields like technology and videogames. aespa still have unique sound and style in kpop which is cool but i feel like it's too toned down instead of using the full potential of a concept related to metaverse.
Idk maybe because i'm a gamer and comics fan...the heavy lore was never strange for me, but rather it was cool.
Literally same! It's so confusing now and they're kinda just pretending like the first half of the lore didn't even happen almost w the way they aren't continuing it?
@@Terminallyposessed what's worse is that SM gives vague explanation for each comeback via articles instead of SHOWING it or letting the girls talking about it. (I noticed the girls don't mention the lore anymore at all and i wonder if they are embarassed by it.... cause many time i saw them cringe about kwangya, Naevis and the aes and it kinda makes me sad). Ningning even said they stopped saying be my æ cause they think it's awkward :(
@@Terminallyposessed Btw as i was saying they wrote "Spicy is them returning to the real world after defeating Black mamba". Okay...yes... why are they just partying and going to college? They don't look like the aespa se saw in the real world before in smcu.
Then "drama is about them fighting the trauma left from black mamba"
Ok....now they are dealing with the trauma? They were all happy having parties in Spicy! And why are they fighting each other???
Then: "Supernova is about the girls becoming superbeing"
How? Where do these powers come from? Why are they aliens? And here they are all having fun again?🤷🏻♀️
Then "Armageddon is about the parallel universes and them fighting their evil alter ego from another dimension" .... whatever. it's cool but how is this connected to Supernova?
In Armageddon the strange phenomenon from spicy is mentioned too, saying it's the sign of the other world.... but here aespa are again dark, serious and fighting while in spicy that were just having fun and pretending the strange phenomenon was nothing. 🥲
Then we cane to Whiplash.
Totally unrelated again.
SM said "it's about all the datas from the parallel universes forming the new ae-aespa"...and yet ae-aespa were not in the video and nothing like this was shown. Not even an explanation of that metallic sphere...
girls… GIRLS girls… “we dem girls” girls??? if it wasn’t for her i doubt i’d be listening to the group today. taste really is subjective keke 😗 thank you for another video 🖤
Girls was what got me into aespa idk how ppl can hate it 🥺💜
I'm not so sure on the SM culture universe, though I do think the ground work built in aespa's Black Mamba storyline era award them a lot of material and leniency in reference and depth when it comes to their new releases. They just can't milk it forever without giving fans something more substantial, if they keep it around.
For me though, it does say something that I only admitted to myself that I was a MY after they abandoned the Kwangya storytelling aspect of their concept. Also my reaction to the ae-member teaser images was initially negative, so I suppose I'm on the "moving on"- side of the argument. I'm not gonna stop being a MY if they go back deeper into Kwangya again, but still.
I fear Aespa’s creative direction needs to be handed over to Seulgi, she’s the only creative director left at SM (yes I know this is questionable given she hasn’t been in full control of a comeback/debut since 28 reasons, and gets the bare minimum in red velvets recent comebacks just so they can keep her in the creative team department) she is kinda the last person in the department that has worked extensively with Lee sooman, BoA, and Yoo Youngi. All 3 of which have left or are leaving and have done at least some work with Aespa. So I just gotta hope that seulgi has the OG Aespa files somewhere or knowledge of what the OG plans of were with Aespa
Also this is just based on public knowledge I’m sure there people behind the scenes that worked with them left
Wait...Seulgi is a creative director...since when?
@@lunam.9640 she was given the job 7 months before 28 Reasons, it’s why she was aloud to go solo because SM largely didn’t play a huge part in her solo debut. She did almost all the work behind it
@@lunam.9640 she’s been training under BoA and under creative directors since Be Natrual as she built a friendship and mentorship relationship with BoA when she was a trainee
@@CatNagTaylorsVersion Omg I didn't know that.. wow she did an incredible job as 28 reasons is a BOP and the MV is incredible
I don't think they were even meant to focus on kwangya and æs only. it was a part of their lore. after k wording black mamba and nævis's death, they came back to the real world and i believe they have lost contact with the æs because of nævis's death. if they ditched kwangya then idt sm would've made nævis "debut." they're focusing on multiverse. that siren like figure in armageddon is rumoured to be the next villain
flowers being one of the best songs i’ve ever heard they ate this album
THE INTROS ARE KILLING ME-
I love me some pop rock aespa, so Just Another Girl is definitely my favorite b side but the whole mini album is amazing. Can't wait to see them in Madrid. Here's hoping they'll include anything from Whiplash in the line up for the later legs of the world tour.
I was really dispointed with armageddon album but this one is one of my favorite releases of the year. Though you’re right it missed the ae at least in the mv.
Anyways love from France ❤
i miss complex lore and storylines in kpop :( like, we lost loona, and we lost aespa in that department...😭
I like how SM does not play with aespa's releases and treat them as their flagship girl group, since they really are. This year has been really big and successful for them, 1st full album did well, Supernova is running for SOTY on year end award ceremonies. Yet SM had to prove that 2024 is truly aespa's year and they came back with Whiplash.
Whiplash is very good song, very aespa coded. but now I want to talk about b-sides, Flights, Not Feelings and Flowers. I like those two songs, genres that you normally would not expect from aespa yet they experimented with new sound and delivered those tracks with touch of aespa. I think I like Flights, Not Feelings more than Flowers for myself.
yeah, speaking also as kwangya citizen, i also think it's fair to let go of the kwangya aspects in aespa at this point in their career. they have already proven time & time again that they can & will commit fully to any concept they are given & execute it to its best potential - i think it's fair we trust them with their artistic integrity. i think the inclusion of their solos in these two tours was a good step forward, too. while they didn't get to participate much in their past solos, they did for their new ones this year & it shows with how enthusiastic they are to perform them. look at karina topping the charts without a proper promo period or music video! they clearly don't need the smcu to attract attention & deliver an interesting performance. i was also super excited for the new look for their aes, but i'm gonna be so honest when i say i didn't even notice they weren't in the whiplash mv. it's already such a jam-packed video, with each shot being meticulous & purposeful, i don't think it would've even been a good idea to include anyways.
Just want to point out that someone on Reddit found a connection with the Back to the Future movie. The mv release date is the same one as the one that appeared in the movie (October 21, 2024) and the car that Karina drives is similar to a Dolorian. Also, on the first stage for Whiplash, M countdown played b-roll from Armageddon and it tied the camera concept with security cameras. Aespa’ concept now is infinite since they introduced the idea of multiple universes in the Armageddon lore narrative
Yeah I don’t know if I agree with this multiple universes idea that’s been going around. In my eyes Armageddon was more about them finally pulling the plug on everything - they had to destroy the virtual world (and maybe the real world too I’m not not sure) because of the way it had been bleeding into the real world. And Whiplash is the blank canvas after Armageddon, where they’re free to create a new universe in whatever form they desire. Like the Big Bang. ‘Beat drop with a big flash’. And that big bang gives us whiplash.
@@magpiejoneski139i mean they started teasing the possibility of parallel worlds in "girls" so i dont think its farfetched to believe that all the aespa's we see in their mv's exist in different realities
On the promotional posters for Armageddon, there’s grant picture of a car and mentions of parallel universes
I'm super skeptical of k-pop going lore heavy. While it's _possible_ that it could create more narrative depth, the most likely outcome is that it's unoriginal and bolted on. It reminds me of the TV series Lost where the early seasons built on mysterious phenomena and references which made lore seem extremely deep but when it came time for actually tying all these disparate narrative strings into a cohesive story in the later seasons, most fans were disappointed that the story wasn't as planned out as implied. The problem with lore is that not only do you have to create good music (which is hard) but you also have to keep lore continuity which is constraining on the art.
Fr girls was amazing idk why everyone hated that
It was prolly mostly korean fans and men since it has girls lyrics and yk korean men are ridiculous
So I'm on a still kind of a boycott type of thing on sm entertainment at the moment, although I have heard copied snippets of Whiplash on twitter and.. Why must they randomly release one of their best tracks ever just when I am on the verge of boycotting sm entertainment entirely? I have been in such pain. Literally everything for this comeback seems perfect 😭 The make-over of the aes was literal perfection. The photography was amazing. The title track was really strong and I was curious towards another b-side as well. Some rnb song. But yeah... I am super conflicted now. People said they would mass boycott all of sm entertainment until we got justice for Seunghan, but seeing how many people ended up streaming aespa made me feel like now I'm pointless for protesting seemingly almost on my own :(
@@soomi I’m avoiding streaming out of consideration for RIIZE as well, but after a year like 2024, I don’t have faith that a company-wide boycott is going to be at all effective concerning Seunghan. Boycotts need to be isolated and concentrated. If it extends to the entire company in an effort to cause them financial stress with reckless abandon, SM can almost safely rely on the movement fizzling out over time.
It’s hard to express that without people thinking it comes from a selfish place, but I think that’s the whole point. Unfortunately, asking kpop fans to stop being selfish is unreasonable. The HYBE boycotts and how fans were able to poke holes through it in order to be selfish has ruined my faith when it comes to organizing our community; broadening the scope of a boycott has the potential to radicalize people against it and cause it to backfire
@@soomi I’ve been boycotting SM to and I’ve only heard the TT from the MV Google drive link another creator posted here, it’s why I’m holding off judgements of the full quality of the song for now, but stay strong in the boycott bestie
@@choujimi Thank you so much for your response! Yeah you pretty much conveyed all the additional debates on the potential sm entertainment boycott that I've seen across stan twitter as well. Some people were way too extreme with their approach to the boycott, like saying ALL knetz are horrible. Which we know is nonsense. I haven't heard of a HYBE boycott yet, but I'm not surprised in the slightest.
About the effectiveness of the sm entertainment boycott.. you may be right indeed. They will just keep on going and honestly I don't think we should want Seunghan back per se. I personally just want sm to apologise to Seunghan and firmly support him as a soloist from now.
@@CatNagTaylorsVersion I'm really so/so on it so far. Everyone has already massively moved on it seems like and honestly I am with Choujimi where it feels like it ultimately doesn't truly affect companies like HYBE or SM to 'boycott' them as a foreign audience. Most people weren't true to their words and never have it in them to truly boycott. I'm not saying I will suddenly purchase the aespa or other SM entertainment group albums atm, but yeah.. Trust has been broken. It would take a whole lot for me to buy physical albums from here on from them. I'll maybe stream a few songs and talk about them, but I would definitely never endorse SM anymore from here on.
@@soomi I’m so/so on the boycott too the only fandoms really participating at this point are OT7 Briize, Blinks, Orbits, and Revuluvs. I feel that the Hybe boycotts going on at the same time where gonna be a shot in the foot, I don’t think people were ready to give up both companies groups. I’m holding out at this point because SM needs to learn a point
SAME OMG! Girls actually got me into aespa. Idk why everybody hated that song like it just has me convinced that people will hate anything just cuz somebody told them to. I'm actually also hearing a lot of mixed opinions on whiplash and it just baffles me like what else do you want them to do lol. Ik this opinion is not that popular among fans but I kinda don't want kwangya to come back in full force. I myself would let kwangya go any day if it means getting to experience something like Armageddon. Moreover, I believe aespa without kwangya are in a superior form. They embody what they have right now so well that atp kwangya just feels like an empty shell. From the members' own words, aespa essentially has an alien concept and that in and of itself could be so passionately explored with clever nods to kwangya here and there.
I was so confused about the missing æ members but at the end of the mv u can see the girls wearing the black renditions of the æ silver outfits so that has to mean something right…. Right?
I love how these puns in the intro are becoming your thing!😎
4:52 I fear this is me
I am and always will be a huge Girls defender. It’s still my favourite title track from them and I will die on that hill lol. I don’t understand why people hate it. Sonically the structure is super similar to Drama so Ive never been able to get why people hated it so much. I also think Girls conceptually was done really well even if the album it was released on is probably the weakest in their discography because half of it was already released before hand.
GIRLS PROTECTORS RISE🗣️🗣️
AESPA NEVER MISS
The comeback was great unfortunately i think this is my least favourite album from them musically
I was recently going through old reddit posts(in kpop subreddits) related to aespa from 2020 to 2022. And the amount of hate they were getting was insane. I love "girls" a lot. its my favourite aespa title track. And seeing how their old music was hated because of their concept was shocking to me at first becacuse i wasn't active in online kpop communities around that time.
Even if aespa moves on from their kwangya concept, i kinda wish that they do some sort of futristic concepts because it really suits them. Retro futurism or something.
Kwangya is now MYWORLD. Yes, they are still world building but it's just under new management literally. You have to pay attention to the lyrics on top of what the rest of SMCU is doing because they do leave easter eggs especially if you're chronically online. Like I said before SM has been leaving Easter eggs to connections like the world wide web creates a butterfly effect. Also they expanded on the Naevis storyline with an SMCU Origin Story which is still the same but has more details now.
I think that they even getting better with each comeback
I loved Girls when it came out. Every single part.
My theory is that in the Whiplash MV they are filming The Drama, which I think is about the events of Supernova-Armageddon: the car crash as a metaphor for world's colliding (I think cars in the aespa lore deserve their own video by you); the confusing 4th instruction that contradicts the previous ones, which I think is placed there by Giselle, as I see her as the villain in Armageddon; NingNing slashing the frame and Giselle showing through, which mirrors NingNing touching the rift in reality in Armageddon, allowing for an evil Giselle to come through (the only superbeing version of the members whose birth we don't see); the Drama album artwork which says "the beginning here shows the end (Armageddon); the Giants as a representation of the Superbeings.
The metal orb they keep trying to rebuild in Whiplash (and is destroyed by Winter) also remings me of Armageddon's album cover agroglyph, produced by Karina in Supernova. It's as if that shape has been doubled and traversed (like the aes are a double of the real world members and "go through" them).
I also like to think Spicy and Drama somehow mirror Supernova and Armageddon, but can't quite articulate how. It's as if the first two happen in Kwangya (borrowing from your theory of how they fit into the lore), or even in any digital/media "space", and the latter show what has actually happened.
Would love to know yours and everyone else's thoughts on this :)
I was so glad to see the AEs get a looks upgrade. I kinda thought that they would get new looks with each comeback, then they didn’t, and the designs started to feel very dissonant with Aespa’s increased maturity and concept change from cartoonish sci-fantasy to grittier sci-fi. I think I had to stop myself from screaming when their upgrade looked as good as it did for Whiplash. Couldn’t be more perfect tbh
Girls was great okay, it was bad choreo but has always been a great song and I'll defend that hills.
also flight not feeling and whiplash scratch something in my brain becomes it feels like I can listen it on loop
1:06 CHOUJIMI I *KNOW* YOU DID NOT SAY THIS WITHOUT MENTIONING ATEEZ APOLOGIZE FOR YOUR SINS 😭😭😭
no but in all honesty, aespa has always made me feel things... like if karina wangs me to go up yOU KNOW WE GOING UP AKSKSNAAN
WHIPLASH IS SUCH A BOP
I NEVER HATED ANY AESPA SONG! MY SINCE 17/11/2020
Girls is in my Top 3 Aespa title tracks and was my #1 till Drama. I will not back down from this.
the front lines of kwangya 😭
I will defend girls with my life omg
*couldn’t think of a pun this time*
Sir I think you got you got whiplash doing so many puns
Where is the Kwangyaneseeeee😪😪
jokes aside, they slay every. single. time
I personally think that it's time to accept the fact that the whole Kwangya/SYNK storyline will never be fully aespa main storyline like pre-Girls eras. And that's totally fine for me, Kwangya storyline is cool and creative, but I think it could somehow box aespa into a fixed concept that is kinda abstract and has many terms & details which might make some people confused (like me in the first time knowing about aespa). Also LSM and YYJ - souls & brains of Kwangya things left so I don't get the point of continuing the storyline. I like the aespa post-Girls, they're more diverse in the genres but still somehow integrate their core sound - metallic and hyper pop elements, the visual and creative direction are developed insanely!
I'm here for the visual and music, so at long as they still have the core metallic sounds, I'd still eatt. And also a great - solid - cohesive album like Savage manifesting, Whiplash is good tho.
people will keep hating on spicy and rudicule it BUT my world is still their best selling album🤭
Wait fr? You got a speeding ticket while listening to girls? :00000 I understand getting it while on the dance break portion but if it's anywhere else in that song, I'm shooked
lol I still can't get over the fact that one of the composers of Lucid Dreams is Hayley Kyoko...
I just don't like it because it reminds me of some other song... Maybe from Queendom album from Red Velvet, not sure, and my head just gets confused as it goes to a totally different direction than I am expecting...
Still hope that the "bow down my skill" Part was playing while u got that ticked😅
"as a property owner and tax payer citizen of Kwangya" bro what? 😂 I know you are yapper, but I was not expecting this.
I’m questioning where the dark lipstick went. It’s important for me.
in every comeback i go “how tf will they outdo this?” and then they just do it
i saw articles being sent out from sm saying that aespa is having the girls leave the group (not permanently) just one member is going to get switched out with an ‘ae’ version while the member does solo promotions for upcoming solo releases.
If it wasn’t for “Girls”, I wouldn’t be a K-pop Stan rn
The only thing I hate about Girls is how boring the mv was 😔 oh and their attempt to enter the western market with 2013-ass song life's too short. But "Girls" the song itself? Banger. To this day
re: album cohesion - i feel like a lot of kpop fans don't really know what they mean when they talk about album cohesion or even just discography cohesion in part due to how kpop groups tend to dip their toes into various different sounds so as to match an overarching concept / visual coding for the group (if that makes sense) . with the exceptions of girls and armageddon , aespa's honestly always been very good with track cohesion simply due to how strong their commitment to concept is , but people generally tend to see 'album cohesion' moreso as tracks sounding similar to one another rather than matching an overall image . a lot of the time people will complain about the 'tacked on ballad / rnb / other-genre' track(s) at the end of an album without really considering what those track bring to the album as a resolution , which is what lucid dream + flowers / just another girl bring to their respective works . we also find this in my world with i'm unhappy + til we meet again , and kinda in girls with icu but it's a lot less refined there . i would argue for armageddon but they kinda dropped the ball on that one LMAO ? regardless , album cohesion is , in my opinion , less about genre-matching , sonic similarities , etc. and moreso about how all the tracks work together to accomplish an overall listening experience . sawry i kind of just took this as an excuse to yap . anyway great job team everyone take 5
jimi release a review of the mini album and I’ll give you my soul
How can this be a review when you barely talked about the actual music? Anyways, I find their discography somewhat lacking, there is always missing something and Whiplash is the most obvious case yet to me. Their other songs, wether I liked them or not, were at least memorable, unlike Whiplash. Like, I could remember the MV and the girls singing, but the actual melody, beat, etc? No. It was so forgetable instead of the unforgetable they were going for. I seriously consider it their most boring release ever and paired with the poor remixes of Supernova that have been released recently, I seriously fear the musical quality of the group is going downhill which is weird because of how excellent their solos are. When it comes to the musical direction Winter's song is PERFECT for Aespa's concept. Spark seriously reminds me of VocaTrance, especially at the very beginning. Vocatrance, which to the uncultured of you- stands for Vocaloid Trance as EDM is a huge subgenre within the Vocaloid fandom. Vocatrance generally leans into melodious trance with dreamy vocals. It would be a perfect sound for Aespa and Winter's solo showcases they do have proper producers who can pull that sound of so why are we getting this dull beat instead? Like which person at SM thought it was a good idea to give the best melodies to the girls solo performances rather then for the group?
Also, Giselle's face in the MV looks a little off to me, and I am just praying its the makeup and they haven't made her go under the knife as I find Giselle's beauty so underrated. I hope people didn't make her feel like she's the ugliest member because she's gorgeous. Strangely enough, when I commented that under the MV my comment was removed which only further makes me suspicious as I'm clearly not hating on Giselle. She's my literal bias.
tbh since drama i started liking their comebacks more. the kwangya was okay but it was also shoved into other sm artists' songs desperately trying to make a connection. kinda meh
your intros are getting too creative lately.
i am also a HUGE girls defender, that song singlehandedly made me a my. i remember liking aespa very casually but once girls dropped i literally drove 25 miles from the middle of nowhere colorado to the nearest target to buy the album the week it came out (and i pulled my biases 🤭). then I heard people saying it was their weakest song and i was like??????????? are we listening to the same song, the instrumental is AMAZING, the prechorus is AMAZING, the dance break is AMAZING (the instrumental of it, the choreo itself is.....something!), KARINA HAS PURPLE HAIR HOW ARE WE NOT EXPERIENCING THE SAME SONG??????
did people actually have interest in the sm culture universe…?
well, yes!
what is sm culture universe? im new to this 😆