Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Those who were looking forward to aespa‘s title track taking a similar tack to recent releases “Hold On Tight” and “Welcome To MY World” won’t get what they were looking for from “Spicy“, as the sci-fi, futuristic, video game aesthetic evaporated in favor of going with the high-teen trend featuring an aggressive twist.
If that sounds a lot like ITZY and “Icy“, well it’s a bit of a booming version of that as well, but the far better comp is The Pussycat Dolls‘ “When I Grow Up“ with the bass pushed to the front. While there’s certainly a healthy market for that (it was a Top 10 hit), I preferred “Buttons” for the same reason I liked “Hold On Tight” more, which is that the melodies and hooks were better, whereas “Spicy” sort of loses its edge as the song unfortunately drones on with the same loop over repeat listens.
On the plus side, aespa rock this concept insanely well and the visuals are crazy as always. Quite frankly, that’s probably more relevant for its success anyway, as most things K-pop usually are, and the song will hit their target demo better than my hag ass anyway.
