Release Date: July 2, 2024
Track Listing
- Hot Mess
- Sun and Moon
- ZOOM ZOOM
Review
aespa has been on a steady rise since their debut four years ago. They have gone from lore-heavy bangers about battling Black Mamba over the control over the link between the real and virtual world of Kwangya to releasing more conventional catchy pop tunes that have nothing to do with fighting deceased basketball players.
For those who took that last sentence seriously, I know Black Mamba is not the late Kobe Bryant in the context of the aespa universe. I only kid because of how ridiculous the Kwangya thing was.
Anyway, as they have progressed in their career, aespa has dodged the bullet of singing about planting trees, started dropping a lot of the lore, sent the avatars to the virtual retirement home, and found a good balance between dropping the hard-hitting tracks of their early days and more pop-friendly earworms that have emerged lately.
When the news of their Japanese debut came out, I wondered what side of aespa would be presented to the unaware masses who don’t listen to K-pop. After giving this single a good listen, I can safely say you get some of everything from them.
The single’s title track, Hot Mess, represents their in-your-face style of songs, complete with the trademark SM R&B breakdown for good measure. Thankfully, you don’t need to look up a wiki to follow the lyrics for this one as the content is pretty straightforward “I’m a badass” type of material.
Sun and Moon is a sugary, sweet mid-tempo R&B/Pop blend that is way better than the title track. This song is the most attractive on the single simply because its sound appeals to a broader group of listeners, and (for those who care about the actual language the song is in) it has the most Japanese in it. aespa fans who like Thirsty (from aespa’s third Korean EP), should immediately focus on this song.
The final song on this single is a straight-up dance track called ZOOM ZOOM. It feels like a mid-concert hype track similar to YOLO (from their 4th Korean EP).
Much like other K-pop crossovers into Japan, I kept my expectations low for aespa’s Japanese debut. I was pleasantly surprised that they released three original songs instead of re-releasing a past hit in Japanese.
Given that they were popular in Japan before this single was released (selling out Tokyo Dome and Osaka Jo Hall with little to no Japanese promotions is no small feat), it looks like aespa has no problems moving units as of this writing.
It will be more interesting to see if their fan base continues to grow further in Japan now that they have officially dipped their toes into the water.
