LETS GOOOOOO!!!!!

Please stand for the Aespa national anthem.



How cool is this? Perfect thumbnail, by the way. (It was the intro track to their first EP.) Also makes it easy to remember their powers...

Karina: rocket-puncher!
Winter: armamenter!
Giselle got xenoglossy!
Ningning: e.d. hacker! (e.d. meaning extra-dimensional, of course)



Currently obsessed with Savage. It kinda has everything. The verse at 1:28 is a pure sugar rush. Giselle is so good! Let her and Karina rap battle in every song.

I don't think there's a track that more perfectly epitomizes Aespa. Next Level edges it out as a better song for me, but Savage is really special. Speaking of which, I might as well do some rankings.

Members:

1. Karina
2. Winter
3. Giselle
4. Ningning

Ningning is great, don't get me wrong—in fact, she might be their most technically-skilled singer. I just find her less interesting. And arguably Winter's talents overlap with hers quite a bit.

Karina should be self-explanatory here. She has the star power and big personality that you need in a group like this, the same thing Yunjin brings to Le Sserafim. Karina's unique timbre brings a certain intrigue and dark color to the group's sound. It's funny, she's not the group's best singer or rapper, but her idiosyncrasies make her essential. (This includes applying megaton doses of vocal fry in a way that's never annoying.)

When Winter hits those high notes, it's like the clouds part and a beam of light blasts through from the heavens. I would confidently submit that she's probably one of the best singers in the world. And it's not just her range, it's all the subtleties, inflections, and artistic choices. Her section at 2:50 in Savage is unreal, her verse at 2:18 in Next Level is legendary, and her bit in Armageddon at 1:18 is literally what got me hooked on the group. (These are all MV times.)

Giselle is underrated even among fans, I think. She's the best rapper by a comfortable margin. Besides the aforementioned Savage example, she really shines in Next Level. (Fans are obsessed with the way she says "I see the NU EVO.") She really deserves more of those showcase opportunities. I don't think people realize that Giselle is sort of the secret ingredient of Aespa—she provides a sense of humor and playfulness that would simply not be present without her. Giselle's "everybody look at me" verse in Savage is so funny. She's also the designated fluent English speaker, which lets her tackle certain English sections where you might want a less-accented delivery.

The songs:

1. Next Level
2. Savage
3. Armageddon
4. UP (Karina Solo)
5. Black Mamba
6. Drama
7. Whiplash

Just a top 7 for now, before I go through their catalogue a bit more patiently.

"UP" is genuinely one of the best pop songs in a while. Karina is a boss, and the whole thing is very reminiscent of Britney Spears. The chunky synth bass is doing so much work here.

This is what people mean when they say Le Sserafim are next-level dancers. Their naturalistic execution of extremely difficult (and unrelentingly athletic) choreography is such a joy to witness.

They're all great dancers, but I would rank Yunjin and Chaewon side-by-side at the top. Yunjin for expressiveness and Chaewon for precision. (I would say the same of their vocals, by the way.)

In the second video, starting around 1:13, Chaewon pulls off 8 moves in the space of 4 seconds. It's so seamless and perfect that you have to watch at 0.25 speed to see everything she's doing.

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You better believe it

There's no way...

Quote from: WorldForgot on May 03, 2025, 03:21:51 PMI see...

The other reason is I think that maybe people are more likely to click on a thread with a band name without the stigma of Kpop.

I see...

Quote from: WorldForgot on May 03, 2025, 09:09:00 AMHahaha how come you didn't just make a 'K-Pop' thread?

Cause I thought no group can possibly top LSF, then I thought no group can possibly top aespa...