Superstar and suspected immortal Cher once famously said ‘Mom, I am a rich man.’ That’s what the aespa girls are playing with for this comeback. They’re fully capable, successful, and they’re not shy about it in their titular song “Rich Man”: ‘I’m my own biggest fan / And I’m high in demand.’
Armageddon marked their shift from AI-themed (the pre-ChatGPT, neon robot fun kind) songs overlaid with electronica to something grungier. Dirty Work reinforced this; and Rich Man is the culmination of that shift. Blaring guitars set the backdrop for an introductory banger that gets better on every listen. Which is great, because it already starts off as a good song. The I am a rich man hook is repetitive, but when you sound like aespa, that’s all people want to hear. The music video is as flashy as you’d expect; when the girls are in a motorsport arena, it makes sense, and when they’re at a sunny farm, you’ll decide that makes sense too.
The second and third happenings on the tracklist are reminiscent of late 2010’s SM artists: lots of noise, lots of whistling – particularly in “Drift” – to the point where you might find the songs grating if it weren’t for the girls’ irresistibly sweet vocals. They could make a tune out of pots and pans sound pleasant.
“Count On Me” marks a warmer shift. As the safest song on the mini album, it’s obviously an easy listen. The R&B chords are overlaid with a nice, digestible beat, and more ear-tickling vocals. The heavenly octave jumps in “Angel #48” are a walk in the park for aespa’s vocalists: ‘Come and never let go.’ Their other lyrics, interestingly, touch on the unconventional topic of manifestation, sung beautifully of course by Ningning and Winter: ‘I’ve lost, I’ve learned / And it all happened for a reason / It got us here and now’.
“To The Girls” is the perfect closing power ballad. Aespa’s music has always felt like it catered more to women; the four are role models to their younger female fans after all, and have even been spotted having sweet interactions with such fans in public while on tour. “To The Girls” takes us back to their “Girls” era, which has been named in several instances as an empowering song for women. Amidst a culture which is still so against feminism, even the heartwarming (or cheesy, depending on who you are) sincerity of the mini album’s last song is a brave move.
aespa is on Instagram. You can listen to them on Spotify and all major streaming platforms.