![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
glitteryvaespa is a 4-member girl group from SM Entertainment that debuted back in 2020. Let me be frank and say that I didn't like "Black Mamba" (their debut song) or "Next Level" (their breakthrough hit.) It didn't help that there were points where that song was EVERYWHERE. So I waved good-bye to aespa and moved on.
Fast forward to late spring this year. I'm listening to one of those daily Spotify playlists that change its tracklist daily. A song comes on and I go WHO IS THAT? Imagine how shocked I was when I saw it was aespa's "Welcome to MY World"! XD This was a full 180 departure (per what I knew of the group's discography) from anything I'd heard from them.
FWIW, I legit don't know what's going other that it continues the aespa KWANGYA (sp?) storyline thing. [Additional context: there's an overall concept of aespa being comprised of 4 human members and 4 computer avatars and some other stuff I legit never kept track of.] ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
MOVING ON.
This is my fave performance. Since the song has such a slow beat, I wasn't expecting choreo. Seeing all of the MYs (aespa fandom) waving the lightsticks was a neat touch, NGL.
After enjoying "Welcome to MY World", "Spicy", and "Better Things", I was v. curious abt aespa's upcoming cb for their new mini titled Drama
Trigger warnings: Car crash from 0:33 to 0:37 AND 3:30 to 3:33; people fighting with swords; implied people died by swordfighting; lots of light effects meant to mimic car lights; fast edits; from 2:11 to 2:18, someone is dropped from a building.
There isn't a single thing I don't like abt this song: the music production, the rapping (it's not great, but aespa's not known for rapping?), the fits and sets, the homages to v. popular movies, the singing. THE SINGING, Y'ALL!! If there's something that SM Entertainment is known for is HAVING SINGERS WHO SING FOR REALSIES. And, well, okay, I might be super wrong abt this, but I feel that this song REALLY showcases every member's singing talents equally. I'm also super charmed by the vocal fry that enhances the singling out of the last repetition of the word 'drama' in the chorus. OH, AND THERE'S A BRIDGE IN A K-POP SONG IN 2023? 🤯🤯🤯
If you want a sightly more technical review, let me include this video from the JG Channel.
FWIW, I do disagree with their criticisms abt aespa's rapping in this song. It legit wasn't bad (or maybe I've heard worse?). In any case, I do respect their insights as two dudes who work in the K-Pop business.
Let's say you're intrigued abt the "Drama" lore...If so, it's time to check out these two videos from one of my fave channels: Bookish Theories. They have a LOT of such kind of videos covering aespa, the entirety of BTS music videos, Red Velvet, TXT, etc.
Explanation of all 4 "Drama" teasers:
Explanation of the MV itself:
Dance Practice
Fave Performance 1
Trigger warnings: Flashing lights, pyrotechnics, Korean music show cameraworks (zooming in and out, some shaky-cam), the crowd is doing a loud fanchant.
Fave Performance 2
Trigger Warnings: Intense background graphics, extremely dynamic camerawork (tilting, zooming in/out, shaky-cam), v. bright lights. This one is an even more vibrant version of the performance. It might make some folks dizzy.
The funny thing is that, after liking this song so much, I went back and listened to all of aespa's discography. Only to discover that I only enjoy 2023 (and onwards, I guess) aespa. XD
Fast forward to late spring this year. I'm listening to one of those daily Spotify playlists that change its tracklist daily. A song comes on and I go WHO IS THAT? Imagine how shocked I was when I saw it was aespa's "Welcome to MY World"! XD This was a full 180 departure (per what I knew of the group's discography) from anything I'd heard from them.
FWIW, I legit don't know what's going other that it continues the aespa KWANGYA (sp?) storyline thing. [Additional context: there's an overall concept of aespa being comprised of 4 human members and 4 computer avatars and some other stuff I legit never kept track of.] ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
MOVING ON.
This is my fave performance. Since the song has such a slow beat, I wasn't expecting choreo. Seeing all of the MYs (aespa fandom) waving the lightsticks was a neat touch, NGL.
After enjoying "Welcome to MY World", "Spicy", and "Better Things", I was v. curious abt aespa's upcoming cb for their new mini titled Drama
Trigger warnings: Car crash from 0:33 to 0:37 AND 3:30 to 3:33; people fighting with swords; implied people died by swordfighting; lots of light effects meant to mimic car lights; fast edits; from 2:11 to 2:18, someone is dropped from a building.
There isn't a single thing I don't like abt this song: the music production, the rapping (it's not great, but aespa's not known for rapping?), the fits and sets, the homages to v. popular movies, the singing. THE SINGING, Y'ALL!! If there's something that SM Entertainment is known for is HAVING SINGERS WHO SING FOR REALSIES. And, well, okay, I might be super wrong abt this, but I feel that this song REALLY showcases every member's singing talents equally. I'm also super charmed by the vocal fry that enhances the singling out of the last repetition of the word 'drama' in the chorus. OH, AND THERE'S A BRIDGE IN A K-POP SONG IN 2023? 🤯🤯🤯
If you want a sightly more technical review, let me include this video from the JG Channel.
FWIW, I do disagree with their criticisms abt aespa's rapping in this song. It legit wasn't bad (or maybe I've heard worse?). In any case, I do respect their insights as two dudes who work in the K-Pop business.
Let's say you're intrigued abt the "Drama" lore...If so, it's time to check out these two videos from one of my fave channels: Bookish Theories. They have a LOT of such kind of videos covering aespa, the entirety of BTS music videos, Red Velvet, TXT, etc.
Explanation of all 4 "Drama" teasers:
Explanation of the MV itself:
Dance Practice
Fave Performance 1
Trigger warnings: Flashing lights, pyrotechnics, Korean music show cameraworks (zooming in and out, some shaky-cam), the crowd is doing a loud fanchant.
Fave Performance 2
Trigger Warnings: Intense background graphics, extremely dynamic camerawork (tilting, zooming in/out, shaky-cam), v. bright lights. This one is an even more vibrant version of the performance. It might make some folks dizzy.
The funny thing is that, after liking this song so much, I went back and listened to all of aespa's discography. Only to discover that I only enjoy 2023 (and onwards, I guess) aespa. XD
