Last week’s column was a long one, a big week where half the things I wanted to talk about I couldn’t even cover, so in that sense it’s a relief that this week is much lighter in comparison. The extra free time let me spruce up the blog itself a little. The blog has a cool little picture on it now! Look at that! Expect a little more sprucing up soon. No EPs to cover this time around, but I do have singles from one of my favorite k-pop groups and one of my favorite new emo bands to keep me excited this week, as well as a long-awaited k-pop full length. Let’s get to it!
Singles:
aespa - Hot Mess:
SM Entertainment weren’t content with resting on the heels of aespa’s first full-length album Armageddon for long, because just a month later comes their Japanese debut. Aespa is a group that I’ve loved for their arresting sci-fi visuals and concepts as well as their off-kilter take on electropop. Hot Mess gives me a lot of what I want out of an aespa single. The production and mixing sounds super clean. The blaring digital horns melting into the bubbling dark synths makes for an arresting instrumental that keeps morphing all throughout the runtime, turning in something not all that dissimilar to experiments coming from the NCT camp. The chorus is decent but mainly gets carried by the member’s insane charisma. B-side Sun and Moon has a much different tone, going for a laid-back R&B bop about the power of friendship perfect for summer mornings. These two songs together make for a good release that shows off both of aespa’s songwriting modes well, be it cool, dark and experimental sounds or lively, light pop with great vocal chops. If you’re someone who's already locked into what they’ve been doing for almost 4 years now, there’s not much to complain about here, but with the timing of its release it will sadly always be in the shadow of what came before it.
Equipment - Tequila Redbull:
Equipment’s Alt Account came out less than a year ago and it already feels important. The Ohio band have become one of the top rising stars of DIY emo, their mix of sticky power-pop punk riffs and relatable lyrics about relationships and navigating the world in your mid-20s being sharply refined with Alt Account. In a way it was a culmination of years of growing their fanbase and sound with touring, several EPs and a previous album already under their belt, but Alt Account also feels like a fresh start that the band could build on from here. Tequila Redbull is a natural extension of that album. It spins tales of the narrator indulging in nostalgia by calling their old home phone, reflecting on the fallout of a past relationship and tying it back to drinking as escapism. The song itself harkens back to early 00s Weezer and emo-pop bands in an effective way with a really strong chorus. I’m loving Equipment’s recent trajectory and this single is one more step on their road to dominating the scene.
Albums:
STAYC - Metamorphic:
It’s been a good year for 4th generation kpop groups getting their first full albums, between aespa’s Armageddon and now STAYC arriving with Metamorphic. It’s been almost a year since their last Korean release in TEENFRESH, but STAYC made the wait worth it by finally delivering an LP. At 14 songs and almost 40 minutes, it’s an oddity in an industry where any releases over 30 minutes or 8 songs become scarcer and scarcer. STAYC knows their way around choruses because this album is full of them. All the genres they piece together, from the steady drum-and-bass of Find to the fan-dedicated Avril Lavinge-style pop-rock of Stay WITH Me and optimistic breakup rap of Give It 2 Me, are linked together by endlessly catchy bars. Even the weaker links in the tracklist like the opening pair Twenty and Cheeky Icy Thang grabbed hold of me eventually with decent choruses. What keeps this album from feeling truly great are some of the production choices and writing around those catchy hooks. Going back to those opening songs, they have promise to them but the instrumentals aren’t much to write home about. Considering that these are right up front on the tracklist and are meant to sell you on everything else, it’s a shame that Metamorphic doesn’t put its best foot forward in that regard. Regardless, this is an album that pulls out so much at you that if you’re bound to like at least a couple songs if you’re into current k-pop. STAYC has had a soft spot in my heart ever since RUN2U provided me comfort during a miserable period of my life two years ago, and with projects like Metamorphic they’ll always be a safe space in my music library I can come back to when I need it.