aespa is a phenomenal K-pop girl group that has notably made success after success with their own music. Named after the lead single of the EP, Whiplash came with a lot of hype and expectation from fans, including promotional streaming events and being released within days of being announced by SM Entertainment. It was another solid success and even charted in the UK as a result. This EP was released on 21 October 2024 by SM Entertainment and runs for just over 18 minutes. aespa are: Karina; Giselle; Winter and Ningning. Let’s take a listen to this EP and we shall hear if it is any good.

1. Whiplash begins as an EDM-styled piece of music with some memorable melodies and 4/4 beats. This is very good to listen to and actually sounds quite a lot like a danceable piece that your average DJ will play at a nightclub, regardless of whether you live in Korea or not. Nonetheless, this is a good listen. It is nicely produced and mixed and sounds extremely fun and interesting to listen to. No doubt that this is a bit of a crossover track, between East/West and K-Pop/Dance Music. Nonetheless, this is a very forward-thinking and amazing-sounding track, even though, yes, this is K-Pop. It sounds really awesome and amazing from start to finish. A good three-minute-long tune. Worth hearing in all its textured glory.

2. Kill It continues the robotic vibe and sounds, quite frankly, not that good compared to what has come before it. Bear in mind that this is 21st century postmodern K-Pop. It has some good elements to it but is far from perfect. It is music purely designed to sell records and make money, and nothing really else. In any case, this is okay but the array of sounds and wannabe Rap Music attitude sound really offputting. This is not as good as some of the group’s single tracks, which is largely disappointing. These ladies are the Korean Spice Girls of the 21st century: more about the image than the music itself. Sadly. This tune could have been scrapped entirely, it is quite forgettably awful. Skip ahead if you wish. It’s lacking.

3. Flights, Not Feelings begins with some interesting sounds that are highly digital and different. This continues a K-pop/Rap-styled feeling and continues a good listen, albeit a fairly formulaic and unoriginal one. Some of the sounds and textures throughout are truly amazing. Still, one cannot help but feel that aespa is out there to make Korean Won, not sense. This isn’t overly enjoyable, although the harp-styled electronic sounds are very nice. It seems the case that girl group K-Pop and Pop Music today in general (at the time of writing) all sound very much the same. Having said that, compared to the track before it, it sounds quite listenable. A good but not great listening experience throughout. Good in some ways, but not all ways. The sounds throughout are easily heard elsewhere.

4. Pink Hoodie is essentially more of the same, and continues a try hard Rap Music feel in Korean. Sadly, this music is, again, formulaic and designed to make money, not sense. This music is okay on some levels, but to be fair is fairly disappointing. Better efforts, both in K-pop and other styles of music, are out there. aespa can and should do much better than this nonsense. Sadly, it sounds like SM Entertainment is milking a cash cow out of these four young ladies. Seriously, they deserve much better than this music and treatment as such. This track is short, at least, under three minutes in length.

5. Flowers begins with static and some Fender Stratocaster guitar parts, launching into a different-sounding tune at hand. In any case, this is a bit of a different approach but one cannot help but have a sinking feeling that this music could be both a lot better and more original than this effort. Nothing really special here, sadly. aespa are seemingly just not in control of their own creative destiny, and the mood and vibe of these songs are definitely off. This is okay but one would never really listen to this music out of choice. Which is very disappointing. Girls Generation, at least, had some memorable songs in general. aespa’s efforts are much more of a letdown. This is not good enough overall. It’s overly fairly quickly, however. It ends with the looped guitar parts.

6. Just Another Girl is the final track and begins with some more clean electric guitars, and actually sounds semi-okay. This is, until, this is mixed in with some awful electronic sounds and showcases that these girls have had their best days behind them. Which is sad to see. This music is neither solid nor inspirational to hear. All the same, you have been warned. K-Pop has its hit-and-miss moments, and this EP is one of the latter. In any case, it’s barely okay and aespa is also going “down, down, down” here, too. If these ladies had some more freedom and originality musically, they would have much more success. Unfortunately, the chaebols are in control. A disappointing conclusion to an equally disappointing EP.

This is not a very good listening experience. As mentioned before, aespa is on music life support. After starting out so strongly early on in their career, they are falling apart by this stage. This is likely not their own fault, for the most part. The music and vibe are off-putting on this EP. Gone are the glory days of Black Mamba and Next Level. Instead, Whiplash is a needlessly rubbish EP that could be better. You probably should not listen to this, unless you are a fan of K-Pop, and even then, with a great deal of hesitation.

Bad for all the wrong reasons.

5/10

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