Song Review – Spicy by aespa

Admittedly, I was very underwhelmed by ‘Spicy’ at first listen. There was barely anything that got stuck in my head. None of the vocal melodies truly made me feel eager to keep listening. This was a shame, because I was a huge fan of their recent Tetrist OST, ‘Hold On Tight’, which also coincidentally had one of the strongest and gripping melodies I’ve heard from any song this year.

However, even at first listen, it was clear that its production is a different sort of beast altogether. It is stuffed to the brim, experimental, noisy, and nostalgic- especially for 2nd generation stans. Spicy feels like a modern and reinvented version of their sister group f(x)’s ‘Hot Summer’, especially production-wise, and the sort of melodies the latter employed especially in its verses. This is a huge compliment, and in fact, I am actually a bigger fan of ‘Spicy’s production than ‘Hot Summer’, which is more experimental, bombastic, and generally more exciting. It is easily one of the best songs I’ve heard in K-pop in the pure production aspect.

With time, the song’s melodies have really grown on me, yet in spite of this, I cannot ignore the feeling that there could still be stronger melodies over this beautiful instrumental. There are moments of absolute brilliance, like second half of the chorus that has many fawning over, where the catchiness of the melodies reaches its peak and the production explodes in a frenzy of pure catharsis. However, it would be a lie to say that I don’t wish for some parts to be more memorable.

What manages to supplement the lack of an absolute strength in the song’s hooks is that the girls go all out in selling the song. I’m blown away by their vocal and rap (talk-chanting in the song’s context) here. It really helps mend the wounds a little.

Overall, Spicy is easily one of the year’s best K-pop songs so far, and would have benefited from just some stronger song writing.

Hooks – 8
Production – 10
Vocal Delivery – 9
Rap Delivery – 9
Overall – 9