Listening to ‘Supernova’ over the past few days, I’m confident to say that it is a strong contender for my personal 2024 K-pop song of the year. Parts which I initially believed to be not catchy ended up stuck in my head anyway. Everything about it really just perfection. Hence, I had extremely high hopes for the follow-up title track ‘Armageddon’– hopes which weren’t fully met.
To be honest, my first listen left me slightly underwhelmed and disappointed. Right of the bat, what is apparent is its incredible production; be it rich and complex vocal harmonies, the choice of instrumentals (THAT BASS!), clever vocal direction that showcased the members’ individuality, compelling dynamics, smooth transitions between sections, a stellar bridge, among others. Unlike most aespa songs, the tempo of ‘Armageddon’ takes a slight backseat, making it slower than the average K-pop song. This is particularly obvious in the chorus, where it employs and extended sung hook layered with some nice harmonies. The track rides into this chill pace, and delivers it convincingly. There are many things that the song really gets right.
Unfortunately, the song’s verses are quite noticeably weaker than the chorus. This led me to remember very little about the song’s melodies after the initial listen. Several listens later, the song’s hooks, especially the chorus has really sunk into my head- but certain parts of the verses really hold it back. Particularly, I don’t think the verses were written with the same focus as the pre-chorus, chorus, bridge, and the instrumental sections in between were. The melodies somewhat wonder around in a way that doesn’t stick. I hope that time will prove me wrong, just like ‘Supernova’ did, but in retrospect, I think the construction of Supernova’s verses were much better poised to have good longevity compared to ‘Armageddon’. This was mainly because the rhythm commands your attention, even if the melodies themselves weren’t immediately catchy. I will have to wait and see.
As of present, I can describe Armageddon to be a the type of song that will attack you with sheer sensory assault, which can be a good or a bad thing for your listening experience depending on whether one likes the type of sensory assault the intense production that it does provide. I think the kind of sensory attack ‘Supernova’ does is much more generally digestible. As for me, I think I am leaning more to Armageddon’s sensory assault being ‘a good thing’, especially because these days, there aren’t too many K-pop songs who employ production of the same intensity. In this sense, it is a great success. The traditional notion of ‘K-pop’ has been always about the outlandish and over-the-top. aespa, as of current, represent it perfectly.
The track makes much better use of the group’s vocalists compared to ‘Supernova’, and this is something that I am quite happy about. The girls have rarely sounded as good. The rap sections are just quite solid. I have nothing to complain about it, delivery-wise. They have come a long way from ‘Next Level’.
Overall, ‘Armageddon’ is eclipsed by ‘Supernova’, but I am still glad that it exists. I can still see the possibility of ‘Armageddon’ growing stronger with time. With ‘Supernova’ and ‘Armageddon’, aespa have effectively established themselves as a force to be reckoned with as one of the top representatives of the innovation K-pop can bring- be it musically or conceptually.
Hooks – 8
Production – 9
Vocal Delivery – 10
Rap Delivery – 10
Overall – 9.25
K-pop Evaluated 
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