aespa - DRAMA

Drama, the title track of aespa's 4th mini album, highlights the unique artistry of aespa which is not found elsewhere in k-pop. While maintaining their signature hyperpop music style, Drama presents a fresh new vibe for the group. Some may consider Drama to be a turning point in aespa's discography towards a more refined while simultaneously abstract theme.

It holds first place for total streams on aespa's discography by 64 million ahead of Next Level. It's expected that Supernova, a title track in aespa's latest album Armageddon, will eventually hold the first place title. Within it's first week after being released, Drama sold 1.1 million album copies.

There were many stage performances that featured Drama, but the most viewed and notable stage for this era of aespa would have been on 2023 Melon Music Awards. This remix of Drama implements heavy rock instrumentals which compliment the overall powerful nature of this song nicely. aespa displays the ability to adapt to different genres and nuances of music with this remix.

The title track was received well by the k-pop community, (I don't know how to make those fancy Reddit links yet where you can see the comment before clicking);

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K-pop and modern pop as a whole is plagued with repetitive lyrics, and Drama is no exception. Some other aespa songs, especially their b-sides, have thoughtful and not-too-repetitive lyrics (as far as modern pop goes ), so it's a shame that title tracks seem to have this cancer.

• Final remarks

Beats

We can notice an enjoyable mix of hip-hop and hyperpop in Drama. Winter and Ningning's vocal talents are strategically used to provide a dramatic peak which brings Drama to the Next Level . Ad-libbing is used throughout the song to enhance depth.

Visuals

The music video for Drama was directed by Sam Son, and was intended to be similar to an action movie featuring motorcycles and katana sword fights, all set in a futuristic city. Without explicitly stating it, Drama clearly follows the unique lore of aespa- where the real and "fake" world seems to be blending together.

K-pop music videos tend to be a slideshow of the members in cute outfits lip-syncing the lyrics with no real visual story, so it's refreshing to see aespa break this mold.

Styling

Although the MV styling suits Drama's grunge motorcycle vibe, some of the outfits seemed a little awkward.

Drama's stages seem to be where the stylists got it right.

Concept

This is an area where aespa shines, with their captivating videos and unique concepts. Drama shows us another side of Kwangya, although it isn't referenced obviously like in their earlier songs, where we see "reality" breaking and switching between universes. Discerning viewers might notice that Drama switches between being in a real futuristic city and a movie set. The concept of an alternate reality is frequently used in aespa videos.

This switch between reality and the "alternate world" might be metaphorically portrayed by this scene;