A K-pop act’s title track isn’t always the best song on their album, even if it’s the one most people will hear. Sometimes, b-sides deserve recognition too. In the singles-oriented world of K-pop, I want to spotlight some of these buried treasures and give them the props they deserve.
Much of K-pop — and especially HYBE — has been attempting to create the perfect two-minute, hyperpop-adjacent dance track. This is more difficult than it sounds. You don’t have much runtime to play around with, so you’ve got to calibrate your hooks just right. And since those hooks tend to be ultra-repetitive, they must be both instantly catchy and durable enough to withstand multiple go-rounds. Very few of these tracks get it right and even fewer get it perfect, but LE SSERAFIM’s AEIOU comes pretty darn close.
This is going to be a very obscure reference (one of this blog’s specialties!) but for some reason the layered chorus of AEIOU reminds me of the 80s italo-disco hit Challenger by Baby’s Gang. I don’t know why this comparison popped into my head, but it happened almost instantly. Challenger happens to be a personal favorite because it’s very awesome and deeply weird. AEIOU is slightly awesome and slightly weird, but I’ll take “slightly” over “not at all” any day — especially this year. I have no idea how the song will hold up, but the hook absolutely bangs and I much prefer this to all the Whiplashes and Lemonades and the many copycats that came in their wake. For me, it’s easily LE SSERAFIM’s most successful track since Spaghetti.
| Hooks | 9 |
| Production | 9 |
| Longevity | 7 |
| Bias | 9 |
| RATING | 8.5 |
Grade: B
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Undoubtedly this was more influenced by ABCDEFU and other such spelling exercises. It’s fine.
My mind went to this one from my early youth. … so here is the funny thing, I had to google it to find THE song I remembered, and it seems there were multiple from the 80’s spelling out the alphabet. Oh look it has a keytar (like object). If the music didn’t already, the keytar dates it to a very specific time. Oh man, this video is awesome. I don’t remember ever seeing it on MTV. The boom box. The dance.
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What a fun video ! I’d never seen or heard this one. It stokes my jealousy that I only got to to live through two years of the 1980’s (and as a stupid baby!)
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The post-chorus did play a good pingback to their own Spaghetti.
While the whole song is obviously intense in terms of production, and more lean towards the hyperpop side, but somehow it remind me of 90’s Euro-Jpop. The instant comparison popped in my head is actually TRF – EZ DO DANCE, which they quite share the similar song structure, but EZ DO DANCE absolutely have a stronger arrangement and melody.
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candy pink magic hole flip phone absolutely solos this im so sorry
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have to agree on this being a buried treasure!! i was much more excited on this track’s more breakneck beat and fun chorus over made my night. that postchorus is an absolute blast
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