Next Level
aespa
"Next Level" is the song that turned aespa from a curiosity into a phenomenon, and its genius is structural rather than melodic: it is essentially four different songs stitched together, and the seams are the point. Reworked from a track in the Fast & Furious franchise, it opens with a menacing half-time trap groove and an infamously deadpan hook, then swerves into a chanted bridge, a sudden tempo shift, and a chaotic, almost dissonant outro that sounds like a system malfunctioning. The production is dry and cavernous at once, with heavy sub-bass and a near-total absence of conventional pop warmth. Vocally the members alternate between flat, affectless declamation and sharp attacking phrases, treating their voices as textural elements rather than vessels for emotion. The lyrics are pure lore — navigating to KWANGYA, warning of the black mamba, meeting one's æ self — and their impenetrability became a national joke and then a national meme, with "Next Level" phrases entering everyday Korean speech. It was inescapable in Korea in 2021, blasting from every store and variety show. Best experienced loud in a crowd, or as the moment a playlist decides to stop being polite.
fast
2020s
dry, cavernous, chaotic
South Korea
K-Pop, Trap. experimental trap-pop. Chaotic, Defiant. lurches through four distinct sections, escalating into a dissonant, malfunctioning outro. energy 9. fast. danceability 6. valence 4. vocals: flat deadpan declamation, chanted, attacking, affectless. production: menacing half-time trap groove, dry heavy sub-bass, sudden tempo shifts. texture: dry, cavernous, chaotic. acousticness 1. era: 2020s. South Korea. loud in a crowd, or the moment a playlist decides to stop being polite