Over six tracks, K-pop’s queens of hyperpop hooks continue their reign

Five months after the release of their first studio album Armageddon, which included the megahit “Supernova”, aespa returned with Whiplash. The six-track EP is the girl group’s fifth mini album since their explosive debut on the K-pop scene in 2020, and it continues their reign as the queens of hyperpop hooks. “One look, give ’em whiplash/Beat drop with a big flash,” cool girls Giselle, Karina, Ningning and Winter express on the title track, an EDM-driven dance track about aespa’s ability to make everyone look twice.

Elsewhere on the album, the intentionally abrasive hip-hop dance song “Kill It” is simultaneously a declaration of K-pop dominance and a warning to any haters in the audience (“I’ma shine as I watch the bodies drop”), while the R&B track “Flights, Not Feelings” slows things down to confess a commitment to letting go of negative feelings (“I'm not tryna hurt myself, tryna burn myself”).

“Pink Hoodie” hopes to tap into some of that NCT U “Baggy Jeans” magic with a midtempo hip-hop track about feeling comfortable in one’s skin—and clothes (“Instead of a suffocating dress/Pink hoodie, ey-oh”), while the pop track “Flowers” hypnotises with a lulling guitar riff and a dreamy description of intimacy (“Slowly look at me reflected in your eyes/A fantasy that spreads clearly/My only one/My dazzling flower/Keep calling me”). Album closer “Just Another Girl” layers the members’ vocals for a naughts-esque pop-rock song that matter-of-factly decimates a cheating lover (“Just remember/In the end, you are a loser/You'll regret it”). Altogether, Whiplash is simultaneously aespa’s most cohesive project yet and a showcase of just how many different genres the members of this meticulously produced girl group can nail in one EP. As aespa explain on “Whiplash”: “I deliver, I can promise/I’m the coldest.”