if we're reaching for hell anyway

personal ranking: welcome to my world > spicy = salty & sweet > thirsty = i'm unhappy > 'til we meet again

i like wtmw so much, like way more than i expected to but maybe that's because i didn't have any expectations to begin with. something about it sounds so dreamy majestic and almost cinematic. a bit jurassic world soundtrack-esque, also kind of like when a new planet debuts in star wars or something...coruscant intro theme song type beat. um spicy was good. To Me. i know everyone and their dog has been comparing it to itzy but it is actually fairly reminiscent of f(x)'s sound pre-4walls imo. like i can definitely see a bit of hot summer's dna in this song. it does get slightly repetitive, maybe they could've left a post-chorus out but honestly i don't mind it. it's not among the best of aespa's titles but it's definitely not the worst either (fwiw my tt ranking is: next level > illusion > savage > black mamba > spicy > girls. illusion is essentially a title TO ME... i still remain of the opinion they should've made it the title instead of girls). ok this ranking makes it seem like i don't even like it that much but i DO i just think their other titles are better. i think production on salty & sweet sounds a little hollow(?) and kind of low budget but in spite of that i still love the song... i love heavy synth and minor keys thats my fucking problem etc. also that bridge + the adlibs at the end...<3 thirsty and i'm unhappy are fine, 'til we meet again really had me hoping the music box intro would sustain throughout the song or at least re-appear periodically but it just gave way to Basic Ballad Acoustic Guitar Chords which made me kind of madge but it's fine ig. as established i am not one of god's ballad lovers. and that is okay. overall it was an okay mini, i think savage ep remains untouchable in their discography though.

> how much i personally enjoyed it: 8/10
> objectively how good i think it is: 7/10

personal ranking: unforgiven > eve = fire in the belly > everything else >> fearnot

i love noise music so i knew i would like unforgiven as soon as i heard the teasers. seriously obsessed with the vaguely latin-esque accent chaewon adopts in this song and antifragile, like it kind of reminds me of how winter sounded in savage lmfao. something about girls with blunt bangs and bobs + random foreign accents. i also really liked how punchy yunjin's first verse was. i wanted to like eve SO much. when i heard the teaser i was literally so excited bc i'm a sucker for that jersey club sound, but i feel like i definitely set my expectations too high...overall i think the verse instrumentals are kind of incongruous with the chorus & topline, and the boom boom lyrics were kind like ? What. but it's still among the more enjoyable songs on the album to me. i kind of have the same issue with fire in the belly, where the verses and chorus feel disjointed, but i love latin soccer anthem sounding songs so bad it's unreal... literally hashtag latinas do it better etc. as balladhater69 you already know but if there's one thing that instantly turns me off even more than being a ballad, it's a "dedicated to fandom" ballad, bonus negative(?) points if the fandom name is somewhere in the title or the lyrics. i know this is the opportunity for the more ambitious/songwriting-inclined members to flex their lyricism or whatever but it is seriously just soo snoozefest boring to me 90% of the time. i do realize im not the target audience though so umm well... i do be skipping this song every time without fail. (8/4 edit: i am so sick of eve... but i do have to admit the rina sawayama remix was good. like if i were not so tired of the song i would be streaming this remix nonstop)

extra ass tangent / rant kinda

this isn't commentary on the music itself but am i the only one who feels kind of cheated by hype/soumu trying to pass this off as a "full album"? 3 of the songs are re-recorded from their first ep, which i don't mind in concept—like ok their historical revisionism slay, but this in addition to having antifragile and impurities on there...with 5 already released songs on the tracklist, this is essentially a repack. mini album length even, considering that there are only like 6 new songs. AND ANOTHER THING--i kind of am not reallyy vibing with the heavy-handed imagery and symbolism in lsfm's mvs... like it almost teeters on the side of too corny/camp to me...sorry women. BUT they're all very hot and the visuals are visualling so mostly i can just turn off my critique brain to enjoy that. also intro/talking songs in general either end up on one side or the other of the cringe/camp divide To Me, like i enjoyed the hydra but couldn't take burn the bridge seriously at all.. every time i heard yunjin go "a door. and another door" i was mentally following it up with [lady gaga vc] "bus club another club another club another club plane next place no sleep" ultimately i appreciate the effort their a&r team is putting into connecting the overarching storyline and concepts but unfortunately it is just not hitting for me. i think unforgiven has the weakest b-sides in their entire discography so far, i think no celestial from antifragile and sour grapes/blue flame from fearless are still their best b-sides by far.

> how much i enjoyed it: 6/10
> how good objectively i think it is: 5/10

personal ranking: KNOCK (SOTY) > i don't wanna know > don't be a jerk > line by line >> like a star

knock seriously soty for me. like idk i think it's also in part thanks to the transcendent choreo (she's a dancer she dances!!) but it's just sooo perfect to me—the audiovisual experience from watching her stage performances is truly enjoyable on another level. guy who spent like 15 minutes of a call with beloved ash just watching chaeyeon - knock live performance videos on youtube together. "i don't wanna know" is literally the balenciaga runway phonk song that i've been waiting for in kpop all this time. ITS SO GOOD i love noise i love music that makes me feel kind of nervous. the instrumentals go on for quite a while, so much that i almost thought this was an entirely instrumental song.

> how much i enjoyed it: 9/10
> how good objectively i think it is: 9/10

personal ranking: hypnosis > lips = next page = blue blood > i am = kitsch = not your girl = cherish > heroine = mine >> shine with me

i love the vaguely arabic(?) influenced songs so much, hypnosis and blue blood are really at the top for me. but sometimes u feel like listening to cute light peppy songs so lips and next page satisfy that mood as well. and it's not that i dislike i am or kitsch, i just feel like their other titles/promotional b-sides are comparatively better. like eleven/take it + love dive/royal + after like/my satisfaction have all been perfect single/b-side combinations to me!! kitsch has grown on me but i also feel like it is somewhat of a conditioned sm-stan response to songs that have wildly disjointed chorus/verses. not your girl sounds sooo much like sistar. it works! SORRY I HATE BALLADS x834923... ik this is their vocal flexing moment but i do not care for it.. overall decent album with a lot of versatile, enjoyable NEW b-sides, the only miss with me was shine with me but again. that is my problem.

> how much i enjoyed it: 7/10
> how good i objectively think it is: 7/10

personal ranking: back to the city > giddy > everything else

as oomf in law put it, giddy is like if a really good song was mid. i don't know what it is about kep1er/their creative direction/agency/whatever because they do technically have all the basic components for a relatively decent gg (charismatic visual center sxt, decent vocalist(s)?, solid dancers) but uhhhh i have not been particularly impressed by anything they've come out with since last summer. their best release title-wise to me is still up! (2022) and b-side-wise, mvsk (2021). nothing they have done since has come even close to touching those; the summer beach pool party girls just wanna have fun vibes were immaculate, and mvsk was so good i almost wish it was the title instead of wa-da-da. but to be fair wa-da-da was an earworm eventually for me so i don't even dislike it. anyway i love the concept art for lovestruck! and back to the city is honestly a pretty good b-side. i feel like everything else is really whatever tho.

> how much i enjoyed it: 6/10
> how good i objectively think it is: 5/10

 

personal ranking: nevertheless = eunoia > lionheart > everything else

really solid mini tbh, i love the layering in nevertheless so much, really wish they did this as the promotional bside instead of enchanted night. eunoia is good, i like the light airy feeling it gives, almost whimsical/fairy-like. lionheart is also good! everything else was listenable but mildly forgettable. but overall i enjoyed it. i can usually trust billlie to deliver a decent crop of songs.

> how much i enjoyed it: 8/10
> how good i objectively think it is: 8/10

 

personal ranking: killshot > none of my business > psychic lover > bratty >>> cake

i'm not sure who in their a&r team they pissed off in the past 3 years but my god my poor girls. like i don't even think sneakers was that bad in retrospect, i feel like it was a combination of the lack of cohesive direction + maximalist concept poorly executed + clown lyrics that made it feel worse than it actually was. i mean it definitely wasn't good either but. you know. it wasn't as bad as everyone made it out to be. and i actually really enjoyed cheshire as a song, but i found that it almost had the opposite problem where the creative direction was a little too boring/toned down... like the song literally has alice in wonderland reference in the title for free but the fact that they didn't lean into that angle and instead had mostly neutrals/minimalist styling was like... why :( anyway, onto cake.................well it certainly was a song. at least ryujin looks reallllllly hot rn [weibo face holding back tears emoji]. i think i like the killshot stage itself with the symbolism and choreo slightly more than the actual song but overall it's good! guy who loves killer/killing/sos/danger concepts.... surprisingly i think none of my business is also up there depsite the mid-tempo-ness, though i do think it gets somewhat repetitive. psychic lover gives me crazy throwback pop-rock vibes.

> how much i enjoyed it: 6/10
> how good i think it objectively is: 5/10

personal ranking: do not touch > behind the curtain >> funny valentine > everything else > marshmallow > bouquet

do not touch is my fav song off the mini, it is soooo catchy and fun and i kept looping it otw to work this week. marshmallow is kind of exactly what i expected to hear from a misamo subunit, as well as bouquet which is essentially ummm slow-tempo ballad adjacent song without too much vocal exertion. funny valentine is quite cute.

> how much i enjoyed it: 7.5/10
> how good i think objectively is: 6.5/10