By this point in time, aespa have become a fairly global sensation musically based in K-Pop Music. Their songs are not only quite decent amongst many rather trashy K-Pop Musicians but the group are seemingly filling in the void left by the tragic dismantling of BTS. The group consists of four Korean ladies as singers and dancers: Giselle; Karina; Ning Ning and Winter. These four ladies are already icons, so it makes perfect sense for them to release their first real album in 2024, which is this album. Let’s take a listen to this short album that runs for just over 30 minutes, and hopefully, it will sound as good as it should do.

Supernova begins with some spacey sounds and vocals, launching into an excellent tune that is very much pseudo-EDM present. It sounds really fantastic and good fun to listen to, to be fair. The chorus is very futuristic and spacey sounding, with 4/4 beats. Following the chorus are some spacey and hypnotic textures and some of the best singing from the group so far. Indeed, the music is very pretty, enjoyable and magical. If aespa wants to take over the world of music in 2024, they may well achieve this goal. There is a breakdown with some alien-styled vocals and excellent textures before the group resumes into the chorus. A great piece of music that is worth hearing just before three minutes in length. Awesome.

Armageddon begins with some weird low-end sounds, and some more processed vocals and launches into a Korean equivalent of The Chemical Brothers musically, K-Pop style. After their last EP, aespa has really lifted their musical game and this song with its great digital sound and digital vocals is a real winner. This music is very good, and the layered and gorgeously detailed sounds throughout this song are really enjoyable and awesome. This digital ballad has much finesse and power throughout. Now that Girls’ Generation and BTS are gone, aespa may conquer the K-Pop world very soon. Nonetheless, a really awesome and fun piece of music to listen to from start to finish. The chanted lyrics at the end are weird but wonderful. Excellent.

Set The Tone sounds very weird from the start, with a bunch of processed sounds, before launching into a Rap-styled piece. This Rap approach does not suit aespa as well as their other songs do. Still, this is very listenable and this is a case of quality over quantity. It makes one wonder why more Westerners are not aware of the vast influence of K-Pop. In any case, the music here is very lively, bouncing and fun. A supercharged and awesome mixture of K-Pop and Rap, aespa sing very, very well on this tune. This sort of music will only really attract a niche audience in the English-speaking world, but it still sounds very amazing. The layers of textured instrumentation, samples and vocals sound very impressive. A very good listen from start to finish, and impressive.

Mine begins with some clanking metallic sounds, before launching into a typical K-Pop tune that again, sounds quite good. This is decent music for the genre of K-Pop, and to be fair, BTS was never as good as these songs in their own music, which says a lot. The hype surrounding these legendary ladies, therefore, is genuine. This tune is your typical digital K-Pop/Rap piece, and it sounds quite good for what it is. Interesting music listening nonetheless. To be fair, these songs despite being a good example of aespa’s music, do not stand as tall as their individual single releases. This sounds like a Korean Diva version of artists such as Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift and similar USA-based artists. Nothing overly revolutionary here, although this is quite good music for what it is. A powerful and thrilling listen regardless, but very difficult to take totally seriously. It ends after three minutes in length.

Licorice sounds quirky and interesting from the start. It has a Kid Rock-styled backing track along with some decent production values. This is good but probably not as amazing as one can find in the world of K-Pop. The music present is catchy for how naff it is, but enjoyably so. A really great tune to listen to and enjoy, this music is really fantastic and excellent in its own way. Towards the end, there is a pseudo-Rap Music section over the rather repetitive backing track. Nonetheless, a winner of a tune. More about production values and electronics than anything, although the guitars in the background indicate otherwise. Decent though.

BAHAMA begins with some muffled electronic drum beats and launches into a Korean singing piece that sounds like teenage Pop Music. Which is likely aimed at that audience. Regardless, this is a really effeminate song that sounds like good filler, if you desire that from K-Pop. There is some whistling before the second set of verses enters. This is not a great song, but it isn’t outright horrible either. It just sounds super cheesy overall, which is a good or bad thing, depending on your view. A really lovely listen, but very much loveable rubbish. In any case, this has many R&B and Rap influences throughout. It is a good song but definitely not as good as other aespa tunes earlier on this album. Weird, yet good. The outro is really sweet.

Long Chat (#❤) begins with a rather surreal introduction with singing, and finger clicks and launches into a rather awful-sounding tune that again, sounds very throwaway. The music here is okay, but it sounds very much like a here today, gone tomorrow sort of girl power song that will appeal to very few. Regardless, this does have some interesting and detailed textures throughout. This electronic ballad sounds like a great medley of sounds and textures but is lacking quality and consistency throughout. Then again, one can hardly imagine K-Pop artists making some truly great albums. Just take this song as it is, enjoyable but trashy music. In any case, aespa fans will dig this but many people in postmodern society will not. A good but lacking R&B tune.

Prologue begins with some upbeat harmonies and digital melodies, which quickly launches into some good Korean singing. Soon enough, handclaps and beats enter and this sounds like rather garbage music. By this point of the album, we can safely skip tracks or turn it off totally. The music present is very lacklustre, repetitive and unnecessary to hear. This piece of K-Pop/R&B/Rap/EDM is not that great, and aespa has done better than this in other areas beforehand. It is a good song, but nothing worth sitting through in all seriousness. The symphonic-styled production is rich but this is not music to take seriously. In any case, this rather naff and boring song concludes after three minutes in length. It’s not that good, to be fair.

Live My Life begins with some palm-muted electric guitar parts and pleasant singing by aespa. It launches into a very lovely and sweet-sounding song. Unfortunately, the chorus is rather horrible. It is clear that there is a lot of filler on this album, and that aespa is merely a K-Pop corporate identity with some of their lesser songs, rather than individual and artistic. It’s barely okay as a song, and the chorus is really awful. The melodies, playing and instrumentation are horrible. Thankfully, this song is less than three minutes long, but that does not mean that this trash should be on this album. Do skip this one if you can.

Melody begins with some Classical Music-styled piano and is the last song on this album. Soon enough, drumming enters and this song comes alive nicely. Again, this is K-Pop for a limited musical audience but is surprisingly good musically for what this is. The singing and performances throughout are really great, as are the piano, guitars and cut-up drumbeats. If you have a Korean partner, this might be some of the music that you listen to together. In any case, this song finishes off a mostly good album in a touching and sweet way. In any case, a very, very good listen throughout. This music is a good slice of aespa. It ends with just vocals and piano to conclude with. Very nice.

From the outset, this is not a perfect album for most fans, even K-Pop fans, to listen to on a regular basis. The material present on this album is very patchy. However, having said that, the great moments on this album (primarily the singles) are truly great but when the lesser tracks kick in, one is instantly disappointed. This is good for the music that it is overall. Should you listen to this album? Only if you dig K-Pop, otherwise there are better listens out there.

Good but lacking in artistry and consistent songs.

7/10