aespa: Savage (album review)
The new EP shows why the group is the most exciting act in K-pop world
Failure was never an option for aespa. As expected of the brainchild of SM Entertainment, South Korea’s leading entertainment company, aespa was turning heads even before they made an official debut. And yet the group’s path to greatness has proved to be an unconventional one.
aespa was expected to follow the footsteps of SM Entertainment’s most successful female group, the nine-membered Girls’ Generation, both in numbers and concept. The widely spread rumours whispered about ten girls and an innocent, girlish image. aespa turned to be anything but that, with four members: Japanese-Korean Giselle, Chinese national NingNing and two Korean members, Karina and Winter, kicking ass from the get-go. But it wasn’t the only surprise. Every member of the quartet was to be joined by ae, an avatar akin to League of Legends’ KD/A group.
The reactions were mixed to say at least. The group’s first release, a single called “Black Mamba” was moderately popular, but not successful enough to quiet the grumblings addressed towards the aespa’s usage of AI. One would expect the new release to come soon, given the nature of K-pop, but despite aespa’s fans had to wait over six months for the new original song, “Next Level”.
aespa have clearly taken a note from K-pop’s top dog, Blackpink (who released sixteen songs in a span of five years) and keep on carefully dosing their musical output. Savage is the first non-single release from the group that is about to celebrate its first anniversary this year. The six-track EP joins Black Mamba, Forever and Next Level and bumps their tally to nine songs.
However, this is where the similarities end. Savage is a signal aespa isn’t here to imitate anyone; they’re carving their own path — the decision that has proven to be fruitful, with the group already recording over 400,000 pre-orders of their album and sweeping all domestic music charts.
Savage isn’t just another music release, it’s yet another instalment of SM Culture Universe (SMCU) — a fictional, sci-fi world with unique storylines, meant to encompass all groups under the company.
The idea of creating a Marvel-esque universe for a music act may look like a fever dream, but in the K-pop world, it seems like a natural progression. A decade ago, singers donning cheerleader costumes were seen as the peak of creativity; today they namedrop the likes of Carl Jung or Mozart as sources of inspiration. aespa’s company seniors, EXO had been initially promoted as a group superpower wielders; forcing the members to pretend to teleport or create wind — all to elicit amusement among variety show hosts. But despite this minor hiccup, storylines proved to be a great promotion tool. The most famous one, spearheaded by BTS to promote their 2015’s music series, Most Beautiful Moments in Life has been so successful it continues to this day, and their labelmates TXT has started one as well.
aespa’s universe is significant not only because it’s the first for a female group, but it’s also expressed in a unique way. Contrary to their male predecessors, who used primarily the visual medium: elaborate teasers or music videos, aespa wovens the SMCU’s storyline in their songs, leaving listeners with head-scratching words like “POS”, “SYNK” or “flat”. Thankfully, despite the convoluted vocabulary and lore getting its own Wikipedia page, aespa’s story can be summed in one sentence: girls come in contact with avatars, are transported to another world and fight against the villain Black Mamba (portrayed by supermodel Jang Yoon Ju).
Savage loosely follows the classical East-Asian story structure kishōtenketsu, which consists of four major parts: introduction, development (information, process, problem), turn and conclusion (result).
The release starts off with “aenergy”, the introduction part, that has the quarter bragging about their awesomeness and comparing themselves to “queen bee” and “predators”. It’s the cheesiest thing on the EP, with a big part of the song dedicated to naming girls’ superpowers, which include things like
“rocket puncher” and “xenoglassy” — whatever that may mean.
Song number two is the title track “Savage”. It’s clear SM Entertainment took note of “Next Level” success and applied the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” philosophy. “Savage” is “Next Level” on steroids. It has everything: Iggy Azalea’s “Black Widow” style pre-chorus which descends into anticlimatic chorus, an insane bridge made entirely of high notes and post-chorus instrumental that wouldn’t sound out of place on 100gecs’ album. The track’s weirdness is echoed in lyrics — in a span of four minutes goes from calling out the enemy to show itself — (“You’re still hiding and hallucinating”), to then switch to taking action (“I’m going to KWANGYA/Game in/Defeating a subtle alienation/And making me/Drift apart from my ae”), to finally, proclaim the victory in the bridge — (“My naevis we love U/My victory, one SYNK DIVE”).
The hyperpop-inspired, delightful weirdness is a difficult one to follow; “I’ll Make You Cry” pales in comparison. The song introduced by Karina, at EP’s showcase, as “a song about betray, overcoming pain and taking revenge” would be completely unremarkable if not for Winter piercing vocals.
The next track deviates from the battle imaginary — “Yeppi Yeppi” is centred around self-love. The topic might have gotten a little worn out in the K-pop world, but it doesn’t lessen the song’s appeal. The track described as a blend of deep house, trance, synth wave and trap is an instant earworm with a buoyant, joyful chorus, reminiscent of Icona Pop’s 2012’s summer hit “I Love It”, but with a bubblegum spin.
But after high comes another low, this time with “ICONIC”. The first listen earned it a memo, with nothing but “ugh” scribbled on it. It hasn’t been updated (despite several more listens). The biggest crime of “ICONIC” is the inclusion of clunky-sounding rap, which takes up most of the song.
The album closes with “Lucid Dream”, the only slow number on the tracklist. A wistful note to a past lover, it’s a work of Hayley Kiyoko and her frequent collaborators. Kiyoko’s touch is very apparent, with “Lucid Dream” melody resembling the singer’s latest release, “Chances”. The variety in aespa’s vocals colours does elevate the song above the usual dream-pop servings, but it’s a shame it does nothing to deviate from the well-established genre standards.
Savage is an uneven record. It’s not even close to SM Entertainment’s best offerings, suggesting the company is still trying to find its footing and the right sound for aespa. But for all its fault it’s impossible not to praise aespa for trying something new in a genre that has been getting progressively staler with every year. Savage, with its dabbling in the likes of hyperpop, shows an interesting perspective for K-pop: that it can act like a bridge between alternative pop and mainstream music.
