aespa - Drama EP

Arguably the most exciting girl group of their generation, aespa have every right to be opening their fourth EP with the line "I'm the drama". It's another explosive title-track in the group's arsenal as they lead into the next phase of their ever-evolving story.

Where their other releases this year – spring EP 'MY World' and summer bop 'Better Things' – strayed slightly from aespa's signature sound, 'Drama' flings us right back into it with its twitchy electronic instrumental and girl power lyrics. 'Trick or Trick' follows suit, cheeky and playful; it's balanced out against a darker beat, the collective chanting chorus sounding similar to one of boy group NCTs.

Those two tracks are where the drama ends on this release, though, as aespa drift into lighter territory for the remainder of the EP. The songs previewed live on their major world tour that's taken up most of their 2023 appear here; 'Don't Blink', which retains their usual growling instrumental but combines it with a brighter guitar line and peppier vocals, and 'YOLO', which sounds built for live performances but actually comes across more dynamically in the studio version, is a big Europop banger twisted with a heavy guitar line.

Seemingly drawing from classic K-pop tropes for the other tracks here, 'Hot Air Balloon' has the energy of some of Red Velvet's brightest bops while adding the very aespa flourish of those video game soundbites in the intro. It'd be silly to not have a track to show off the girls' stunning vocals on the release, too, and they bring just that with closing ballad 'You'.

While aespa's versatility is undeniable, it feels like they'd benefit from a little more time between releases; their best ones, debut 'Savage' and this year's 'MY World', have come after an anticipated wait. 'Drama' falls slightly short in the ways second EP 'Girls' did; it feels less focused, losing its way (and some of the high concept aespa storyline) in the second half.