As SM Entertainment’s ascendant girl group, aespa have dipped their toes into a variety of musical endeavors. Infrequent Korean comebacks are interspersed with English and Japanese work, guided them on a global pathway to success. However, their sound has been all over the place, as if SM can’t decide whether they want them to be the next BLACKPINK or something closer to breezy, Westernized pop. New single Drama leans decisively toward the former, but I’d rather hear aespa just be aespa.
On the surface, there’s not much here for me. I’m pretty exhausted with endless “I’m so badass” catchphrasey songwriting and vocal fry posturing, and Drama is largely a lurching exercise in corporate world-building. I know some readers hate when I compare artists to other artists, but that’s the name of the game in an industry as insular as this. And, there’s no way you can listen to Drama and not hear the BLACKPINK influence. It’s tempered by SM’s penchant for weird, distorted production, and there are moments when this instrumental legitimately slaps. I just wish they’d found a better song to hitch it to.
If I take off my jaded ‘aging K-pop fan’ hat and ignore Drama‘s vacuous attempts at what passes for “empowering” lyrics, I think I can almost get into the campiness of its repeated incantation. The problem is, the song seems deadly serious. There’s not a tongue in cheek to be found, and that’s a shame. I love when K-pop goes larger than life, but this melodrama is at its best with a wink and a nod. Thankfully, Drama‘s explosive bridge reminds us just how well aespa can sing and its herky-jerky stomp manages to ignite some 2014-era f(x) sparks here and there. As is often the case, I just crave more than the same idol group boasts regurgitated over new production.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 9 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7.75 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
The insane production quality is the only thing preventing this song from dipping into the 6s for me.
The beat is strong and we get some hint of vocals here and there. Everything else is an absolute mess.
At least Spicy was fun, this is pure cringe.
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Why is it cringe? Is it mainly the lyrics?
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Personally as soon as I heard “Dra-ma-ma-ma-ma” I cringed like mad, and it sounds like something ITZY would do, not Aespa. Also, it’s a trick that has been used already wayyy too many times. It’s a bit like when someone goes “rum pum pum” or “ra ta ta”. Either you find a way to make it sound fresh, or it sounds like a parody of something that was a little fresh in 2016. To make it worse, Aespa have an entire Black Mamba going “mamamamamama” …. basically I find it very unimaginative and cringe at the same time. Production is amazing though…. reallllly top.
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it definetly sounds nothing like itzy would do in a title track expcept for mitm which was like once a while ago. Aespa has been doing these “cringey” choruses since black mamba as u mentioned…
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Yeah and I think both Black Mamba, MITM and Drama suffer from the same level of cringe, but Savage, Spicy, Illusion don’t. The cringe is just exponentially worse because we heard this ma-ma-ma-ma before, and with the same artist. I mean, Baby Shark is a global hit with children despite the cringe vocals, so I guess they can still find a demographic 🙂
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Why is it cringe? Is it mainly the lyrics?
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Duplicate comment, reply above.
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I liked it, it gave Sam Mith – Unholy vibes for some reason
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The difference between Unholy and Drama is that Unholy is filled with camp and tongue in cheek and it elevates the song. Drama could have been great if it leaned in to how silly it is to bring the dramamamamama
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I am a massive “Unholy” fan and I adore Aespa “Savage” but this song “Drama” made me cringe so bad I couldn’t go pass the chorus. “Unholy” is totally camp and has an incredible melody in the hook, whoever came up with that and thought about the choir is a genius to me. So it sounds really fresh. That song was not “about the beat”. Someone had the idea of a hyperpop production.. but “Unholy”‘s main dish is that chorus and that makes 80% of the song. “Savage”… I absolutely adored it as the production was super cool, and the hook was tongue in cheek with these tsu tsu tsu tsu (and it was a better hook than in “Drama” even without the tsu tsu tsu). Like… for real this song has been a disappointment to me. I didn’t adore “Spicy” but in its style it was OK. This one sounds like something that ITZY would do. We already have “Dramarama” by Monsta X using this word with the “ma ma ma ma” and we have “Black Mamba” with the same gimmick. I can’t stomach another “ma ma ma ma” in 2023 with an artist that aims at being edgy and interesting. Sorry.
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I thought “Drama” is a mixed bag so I agree with your rating. The bridge is my personal highlight of the song though.
On the other hand, what are your thoughts on their new mini? 👀
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I like it, the drama-ma-ma is weird but i find it enjoyable
Hot Air Balloon is the real winner for me tho
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Spicy was one of my favorite songs to come out this year so to go from that song to this song is jarring. I do enjoy parts of this song but im not 100% sold on it yet. Aespas songs always have a way of growing on me tho so hopefully this will too. Tbh I kinda enjoy the cringe lyrics. Its like their trademark and its fun to me at least.
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I feel the same way. I’ve always been indifferent with literally every aespa comeback at the time of their releases (other than the very few… non-comebacks I can count) but they always end up growing on me.
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Well this is the most boring aespa song. There isn’t even a lot to say about it, it’s repetitive and unimaginative, not uplifting nor moving. I was waiting for the moment the song would take off during 3 minutes that didn’t deliver.
The album is quite nice thought. Not as outlandish as the savage mini, very much pop, but good pop especially Hot air Ballon and the sadly named YOLO.
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Kpop is just so dull and predictable these days, says resident old person yelling at clouds. Hey! Clouds! Do Better than this shit! Oh, great, rap triplets, again. Girl power, as if.
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I wish the post chorus was not a repeat of Drama-ma-ma-ma , it’s felt draining for me to hear it again . it made the explosive chorus feel so dragged in an unnecessary and unmemorable way . And my girl Giselle deserve more , it was sad not see her that much in the second half of the song . Other than that , I liked it but it has not clicked with me yet . We will see what happens as time goes on .
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I actually liked it, A bit pitchy but the quality is amazing and the verses are very dynamic ALSO ending of the song MUAH
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Overall. IT WASN’T GOOD lol. (My opinion)
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It reminds me of “Baddie” which I don’t like much either. I’m sure it will grow on me a little…it is friggin’ AESPA after all. The other songs on the mini are much better.
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I’m surprised many of you here don’t like Drama, opposite to what I’ve seen from the general public. Personally, I love it. Probably one in their top 3 best title tracks.
Also, I can’t hear any influence of Blackpink, specially that the chorus is filled with lyrics and not a heavy instrumental (like what BP usually do). It do feels like an NCT song. The instrumental were almost bland, but still a banger. The song is very SM: a bridge that differs from the whole vibe of the song, a very interesting instrumental, heavy vocal layering, adlibs here and there and their famous “yeaahhhh”. I just really can’t imagine any company would produce this song beside SM. If Drama is not for aespa, then the only possible group to have this song is NCT 127.
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In my ears this song sounds like an ITZY track. Maybe not with the bridge, but it’s a style ITZY had proven to pull off with Mafia In The Morning.
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Next year better be a full-length album.
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as soon as i listened to this song i was like: Bad Girls by M.I.A. this song tries to recreate that vibe but it’s too filled with posturing and inconsistency to succeed. if u liked the production on this go give Bad Girls a listen!
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You’re bashing them too much ? Next blackpink? what… are u getting paid by someone?
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?
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I wish!
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‘Drama’ falls into their initial vibe, and at first listen it’s pleasant. However, it’s missing a distinctive bite or flavor. The girls can showcase their voices freely (especially that bridge, trademark SM). Outside of that, I can hear the BP influence in its pre-chorus and outro, and also… straightforwardly, ITZY, which has proven to excel in this style two years ago. It makes ‘Drama’ a little derivative compared to ‘Savage’ or ‘Spicy’.
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The B-sides are a mixed bag of amazing and terrible choices. While conceptually they’re promising, the execution is all over the place. From the anthemic arrangement but muddy mixing of ‘YOLO’, the vocal direction of ‘Hot Air Balloon’, the derivativity of ‘Trick or Trick’, or the totally out-of-concept choice to place ‘YOU’ in the tracklist. Is SM starting their JYP era now?
*little note, I found better aespa tracks on KISS OF LIFE’s new EP.
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I’m so sorry if my comment gets posted several times, it didn’t look like it was even being processed, let alone actually posting, and since I don’t understand yet how wordpress works with making comments on blogs…….well……
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Blackpink influence????? Did we hear the same song???? Do we know the same blackpink??? The last thing i thought of when i listened to drama was blackpink. There is nothing of blackpink in the concept, the song, the vibe or the execution. If i really have to find any similarity or influence is with nct 127. Blackpink songs are way more empty than drama, way less vocal heavy, they have a different structure and this wasn’t a girl crush concept like the ones bp continuously do. The rap style is also completely different from bp. And to be honest, personally, if this is inspired by blackpink (which really isn’t for me) it would have surpassed the original by far. I find it low-key absurd people in these comments are saying it’s itzy or blackpink inspired…..itzy???? Where?????? A track filled with adlibs, vocal layering, powerful and slightly contrasting bridge, high notes and stuff could never be itzy inspired. And it doesn’t even have a dance break. The chorus maybe? And what else? Because the rest is pretty far from both itzy and from blackpink. The song is very much sm entertainment to me. Nct is the closest thing i can think of. The mv too is more like an improved version of girls. Like girls mv if it had more personality hahahaha. I could never seen both bp and itzy releasing or delivering something like drama. Not in a million years. Personally drama is one of my favorite title tracks from aespa, i liked more or less everything about it, especially the bridge and the outro (which again…has nothing to do with bp as i read someone else say in the comment). The chorus is a grower, i had my doubts after the teaser but it fits the song well. the lyrics are not as bad as people say. It’s not like in kpop having a couple of cringe lyrics is unusual anyway. Like I don’t find them to be nearly as bad as other kpop songs. You all were okay with queencard but draw the line at stuff like “I’m a stunner”??? Idk, i don’t mind the lyrics at all.
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Yeah I’m not even an Aespa fan and i can tell these comments are just pulling stuff out their asses lmao
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My 2 cents, but it’s like they tried to replicate “Savage” and failed. It’s very much in line with Savage: hyperpop production, rap chorus that turns to a sung chorus, highly dynamic bridge; but it’s like the Shein tacky version of “Savage” – lacks the quality in the writing (and also partially in the production) 🥴
I might be utterly biased by the fact that Savage is my favourite title track by them and I think it’s pure perfection. This one sounds like ITZY is trying to do Savage to me. The chorus makes me cringe in a bad way. It’s not just the lyrics; NewJeans got “ra ta ta” in Ditto but it doesn’t bother me cause they make it sound fresh, how they sing it; even Savage has pretty simple lyrics, but Savage has a tongue in cheek character in the “tsu tsu tsu tsu” that this one lacks. Maybe it’s a grower, we’ll see in the next weeks. Sometimes songs grow on me massively after a few days.
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What’s going on with sm producers lately, all of them are giving us mid songs
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