aespa’s back-to-back run of ‘Supernova’, ‘Armageddon’ and ‘Whiplash’ in 2024 – each a ubiquitous hit in its own right – elevated the already popular girl group to the next level. But K-pop’s spotlight can be unforgiving, and lacklustre follow-ups ‘Rich Man’ and ‘Dirty Work’ have dimmed the quartet’s shine. The pressure heading into aespa’s second album ‘Lemonade’, then, comes from a version of themselves that had previously put them in a league of their own.
Album opener ‘WDA (Whole Different Animal)’ doesn’t waste time with preamble. Featuring K-pop royalty G-Dragon, the track does more than just set the tone for the album with overflowing confidence, it also establishes the terms of their “new era”: “Embrace the danger, kiss, kiss the pressure”, Ningning declares moments into the hip-hop dance number that’s anchored by a synth-heavy bassline.
Across ‘Lemonade’, the idea of resilience under pressure bubbles up in different forms. They coolly deflect criticism on the rock-drenched ‘Can’t Help Myself’, a standout moment that wholly embraces the genre with distorted guitars and a showcase of vocal prowess that had felt conspicuously absent on their recent releases. Then, they “switch it up” on the dangerously magnetic ‘Switchblade’ – the weapon a metaphor for being adaptable in the face of pressure – with deliberate, restrained vocals against an explosive electronic production.
But the purest form of the album’s core theme arrives on the album’s namesake. When life gives you lemons, the saying goes, the four K-pop stars cheekily sing, “ain’t got no ETA-TA-TA, I’ll make it lemonade”, serving up whatever life may throw at them on their own terms. While the title track’s electronic dance sound lands in well-worn territory, it’s contrasted by an infectious, bubbly attitude not unlike aespa’s very own 2023 single ‘Spicy’, a moment that some fans mark as the real dawn of the girl group’s dominance.
For all its conviction, ‘Lemonade’ isn’t without its sour notes – and here’s where the album starts to crumble under the pressure. The most frustrating is ‘Camouflage’, a hyperpop cut draped in dreampop synths that quickly loses its nerve, promising two sounds but fully committing to neither. Lower still sits the overambitious ‘Roll’, with its misguided hook that interpolates the classic ‘Row, Row, Row Your Boat’ nursery rhyme. ‘My Plan’ fares better, competently highlighting their vocal versatility as they cruise along its smooth R&B soundscape, but these songs are album filler all the same.
When ‘Lemonade’ works, it does so with the kind of self-assurance that reminds you why aespa became such superstars in the first place. That recipe of confidence, ability and gumption is clearly still in them, yet the album’s stumbles constantly leave you wondering if they are truly adding to their impressive legacy – or just coasting on it.
