Kevin: OH!
[Rossini - Semiramide Overture playing]
Umu: You are now reacting to the 4 member girl group æspa
and their title track 'Spicy' off of their 2023 album 'My World'.
This music video takes place in the real world
where a strange phenomenon happens.
But æspa decide to ignore it and party anyways,
this songs lyrics are supposed to represent and capture
æspa's charismatic and free-spirited charms.
This music video portrays them
as a group of popular high school students
with scenes that switch between them, like,
ready to throw this wild party in a lavish mansion
and æspa taking the opportunity to explore the city
when the clock strikes midnight...
Basically:
Strange sh*t starts to happen and they're like,
"Woah, whatever."
Rachel: Me.
Rachel: Got problems? Ignore them!
Liam: Don't need that.
Rachel: Distraction!
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The song is composed by JINBYJIN, Kim Yeonseo, Cazzi Opeia, and the producing duo Moonshine.
Umu: Are you ready to experience 'Spicy'?
Sean: I'm ready.
Umu: Shall we, cheers! Sean: Yes.
*Future Umu suffering sounds*
Umu: 3, 2, 1, Spicy!
Sean: Yeah, there is that Moonshine bass.
Stephanie: Okay, yeah, spicy, yup.
Leon: Yup.
They're really spicy.
Ali: Oh...
Jason: Really odd like Moog bass kinda going on. Brian: This would definitely, like, shake the windows of my car.
Umu: A little modal mixture.
Rachel: Yeah it's like marching band. Liam: Marching percussion.
Jason: Lots of percussion sounds going on, panned left and right.
Jason: What the fµcĸing f#%k?
Sorry!
That was so crazy!
*Kevin scream*
Liam: ♯4, or ♭5.
That is spicy.
Rachel: It is.
Kevin: I like this more than 'Next Level'...
OH!
Owen: Going to A?
Kevin: That feels classic!
Rachel: Oh, major, I thought it was gonna go back, oh wow! Liam: Aah, major♭VII - I, Yes!
Stephanie: ♪Spicy♪
Umu: Nice, ending that with a whisper to bring it down to a lower dynamic level.
Ali: I like the deep bass.
Jason: *Singing line*
Little chromatic lines.
Liam: Chromatic descend.
Liam: Oh, I like that swoop. Rachel: Oh, that sway up.
Jason: Oh, the marching snare.
Liam: You don't hear people using the rims of marching snare very often, right? (Rachel: Yeah)
Liam: That sounded kinda cool.
Umu: The ending on the leading tone.
Sean: It's the ♯4.
Umu: Woah!
So not the typical leading tone, the leading 7. (Sean: Yeah)
Leon: Ooooooh~ Kevin: I wasn't ready!
Stephanie: Oooooh~
Jason: Wow, there is a lot happening.
Sean: Nice little triplet in the drums to emphasize the voice.
Umu: Wow...
Liam: Oooh. A'ight.
I was expecting a modulation, but they didn't.
They just added in...
...a higher vocal.
Kevin: OH!
It's somehow nostalgic.
When that IV kicks in, I'm just like, ugh~
UGH!
WWWOAH!
Jory: It's cool.
Kevin: OH IT'S NOT DONE!
Oh, thank you!
Liam: I love her voice, the one in green.
Stephanie: "For youuuu~"
For you~
Stephanie & Umu: ~For you~ Leon: Oh my god!
Umu: AAaAaaAAaAaAAaAAAaAAAaAaaAAHhhhHHhH!!!!!!!
Sean: I assume we are allowed to drink water?
Umu: MILK!
My, look, my tongue is actually in pain.
Sean: Mine was burning a bit.
It also gave me hiccups, I think those are gone now.
Kevin: I think that's my favorite æspa, like,
title track so far. (Umu: Whaat? Wow!)
Kevin: Yeah, like all the other ones, you know,
they might be more interesting, they might be more radical, but...
It's almost like they are settling a little bit,
instead of like doing the style changes every time
they are staying with the same style,
but with this song they call back to their 'Next Level',
there is definitely callbacks, musically and lyrically, to 'Next Level',
but I think this is like 'Next Level 2.0'
Nothing that happens in this song is like,
like, reinvents music for me,
but I feel like everything is in the right spot
in a way that I just think, "Oh yeah, it's supposed to be there"
and I welcome it.
Yeah, there's just not, not as, there's not that much to say,
but to quote Radiohead, Everything In Its Right Place.
Rachel: Yeah, it was very, like, playful,
but also really harsh and like in your face...
obviously, like the f#%king, like the *mimics bass*,
Rachel: like right at the beginning. Liam: Literally gravelly.
Sean: Yeah, and I think having a really,
like, a bass with a lot of texture to it is nice,
like that was something that made a really strong start with 'Black Mamba',
the original *plays 'Black Mamba' bass*
I really like all the weird sound design in 'Savage'
but it does have - it's a little bit thinner on some of the basses
and I like the big, textured bass in this
that's a little less just like a sine or very minimally fattened sine understuff,
so I think that's a really nice part of æspa to bring back.
Owen: The bass sound was like...
Somehow, have you ever gone by a fence
and you're running by it and you hit your hand to the side
and, yeah, or you have something like that,
somehow they managed to have the feeling of that sound
meshed with like a super growly bass, and I loved it.
I don't know how they made that sound, but it was great.
Leon: What's that tool that you use to cut grass?
Umu: Mawn mow- Lawn mower?
mOw lAwNeR??
Lawn mower?
Stephanie: Lawn mower. Yup. Leon: I don't know the English-
Umu: Yeah, lawn mower.
Leon: Yeah, and then maybe you're stuck on one grass or stuck on one object and it's like,
*mimics sound*
Brian: And I really liked the ostinato they used with it too
and I think, like, the way that it persisted through the whole song
and it kept coming back even at the end
really made it feel, like, stubborn,
which, I feel like that's what makes the best ostinato
because it needs to be like:
"Oh my gosh, like, it's still going, like we-"
Like, it needs to feel like you're being dragged along.
That was the vibe of the song.
(Jason: I get that) Brian: It was, "I'm too much, I'm spicy, I'm not like the other gurls"
I... am...
a baddie bad.
Umu: Right, and just as the song ended you said that you were tired,
was it because like
Umu: you've been just like blasted with a certain sound the entire time? Jory: Yeah, okay, so that's the other thing,
Jory: That synth, whatever they were using for the, like the meat of it, the bass kind of thing too,
it's exhausting.
Like, it's really fatiguing.
There was no letup and it was like, "Okay, stop."
Like, I imagine it would be cool live, for a little bit.
But if you didn't have earplugs you're fuuuucĸed.
Umu: I feel like when it comes to an æspa comeback
you can always expect an awesome sounding bass line,
(Sean: Yeah) like the texture of the synth,
that was definitely something that I loved listening to,
and I thought I would get tired of it if it kept going on throughout the entire track
but I felt like they varied it up enough rhythmically
and sonically with like, depending on the amount of layers going on that accompany it,
(Sean: Yeah) So I didn't get tired of it.
Sean: Yeah, and also, like, it changes the line sometimes.
I feel like this was a danger -
you should probably not have that open on there
That was a danger with 'Next Level', it's like,
it's so much of *main synth riff*
so much the time,
where this one, it feels like it's a more varied line,
even if it's a lot of kind of similar synths.
Brian: I do like when they kind of took a break from the ostinato, like,
because that, they kind of make you,
you almost like crave it a little bit, you're like, "Where did it go, where did she go?"
"I've become acquainted with her, I've become acquainted with her presence and she's gone now."
"This is triggering my abandonment issues!"
Just kidding.
But that's what it's kind of like,
and I think that's also what makes it good, cuz if like,
it kind of goes away for a little bit, like, at 2... what is this?
Like 2:17, but then, like the last like, at like 3 minutes they bring it back,
that ripping, deep, heavy metal bass line ostinato
that they took a break from for a little bit
and you're kind of like almost relieved a little bit
even though it sounds kind of
[!!!HEADPHONE USERS WARNING!!!]
LOUD AND CRUSTY
you're like, "Oh, okay, we know her, she's back, she's okay."
Jason: She's a little loud and crusty.
Brian: Well, she's a little loud and crusty. Jason: That's so funny.
Jason: No, you know what? I totally understand what you are saying.
Based on the energy of this song, I do get it,
that the ostinato, you actually want to hear it again because it's empowering.
Brian: Yeah.
Jason: I get it now. Yeah.
Rachel: Oh yeah, the frickin' marching snare stuff was really cool.
I agree, like, you never hear like the rims,
so, yeah, in it you can hear them using...
um, like, well, this doesn't have a rim, but like, you can...
(Liam: It's kind of close.) Close enough, yeah, close enough,
It's like, you can hear them hitting the rim of the drum
which does happen a lot in marching,
like marching snare drum there is a lot of, a lot of times there is like rim things that you play
and you can hear it, and you can also hear like stick clicks
and like a bunch of other really cool sounds,
just so it makes it a little bit less in your face and like...
Umu: Demonstrate closer for the camera?
Umu: Wow~
Rachel: Wow~
Wow, Liam.
Brian: I like this like little like, it sounds like it's almost doing a trash can drum routine in the background.
Jason: It's a marching snare, yeah.
Brian: It reminds me of, I just imagine somebody banging on a trash can.
Jason: Yeah.
And there's a lot of like *bsss*, like drill sounds too.
So I think some of the instrumentation going on
highlights that there is a phenomenon happening outside in the world
and they're kind of like ignoring some of those like drill sounds
and like just still going with their thing,
cuz there is a lot of like real world sound things going on in it,
so it's just kind of giving me this vibe of like,
there is something trying to push in but it's,
they're not allowing it to push in on their world.
*Rachel playing chorus melody*
Liam: Yeahhhh.
That's a, that tritone is spicy.
Leon: Yeah, that kind of caught me off guard too.
Stephanie: Yeah.
Umu: A good or a bad caught off guard?
Leon: I will say, a good.
Stephanie: Yeah, I thought it was really interesting.
Leon: Yeah.
Stephanie: That's definitely the number one thing that comes to mind about this song.
Leon: Cuz they resolved.
*Umu singing line*
Leon: Yeah.
♪ E and A♯ ♪ [tritone]
♪ B ♪
Liam: Yeah. ♪ E ♪
Rachel: Oooh, ooh, spicy!
Okay.
Jory: That like post-chorus wasn't bad at all.
That like, when the chords changed.
We got a little more harmonic action.
That was cool.
And the melody, when it goes back into it a second time, it was like, "Ooh, okay, nice!"
Umu: But yeah, so we go from:
Sean: So,
♫ playing around E minor ♫
Sean: Like, a lot of E minor with that occasional ♯4, and then:
♪ A major ♪ [IV]
(feat. Sean trying to remember the melody)
♪ A major ♪ [IV]
Sean: I think.
♪ C major ♪ [♭VI]
♪ E major ♪ [ I ]
♪ Dsus2 ♪ [♭VII(sus2)]
♪ A major ♪ [IV]
Umu: Because of that color change it finally feels like we've landed in a summer song.
Sean: Yeah, that's true.
Sean: Yeah, this is true, like this is, this is like... (Umu: It warms up, it brightens up.)
Sean: ...æspa's first, like, explicitly summery song.
Like, even just moving to the major IV is like a very much a turn- a-
Wow, "much a turn"...
A turn towards a much brighter tonal area.
Ju Young: It's such a minor song, and then:
Ali: wHaT?
Ju Young: It's such a minor song
and then all of the sudden you have like a melodic or like harmonic mixture.
Jory: Like, I feel like that doesn't happen as much in western pop.
Will: No.
Jory: You know like, that's like, all that modal mixture is super K-poppy
Kevin: Yeah, that A major chord is so intentional that it's like,
they knew exactly the type of effect that it was going to have
and I would not have expected it to like, just...
brighten my day so much, but it truly did.
Owen: I don't know what æspa is doing with their major chords
Owen: but they all make me happy. Kevin: Yeah!
Owen: But it's not like meant to be happy as in jolly and fun and carefree (Kevin: Of course, yes)
But it just, it's got this perfect mesh that buzzes in a very nice way
that minor chords don't quite do.
I mean, minor is great and we love our minor, our great minor tunes,
but something about just a beautiful in tune major chord...
...is fantastic.
And I loved it.
Leon: I like the leap, the jump is like really...
Umu: Spi⤴cy!!
Leon: No, not that part, it's like at...
That, this part.
Stephanie: Oh, same same same! Leon: So good!
Stephanie: Yeah, why is that so catchy?
Leon: Yeah, cuz I feel like, I feel like all major leaps are all catchy,
like you can remember them.
Especially that they repeat it again.
Umu: But they change the note, right?
Leon: Yeah, yeah!
Stephanie: Yeah.
Leon: Yeah, it's like a minor 6th to major 6th, beautiful
Stephanie: Mmm~ Leon: Yeah.
Kevin: Every time they bring up the word "spicy" they actually do something spicy with the music,
like even the major modal mixture, which I don't consider a spicy thing,
I actually consider it a slightly generic thing,
but in this case it somehow works,
it's like a bright, sweet,
sweet spicy.
It's like a, it's like a...
Owen: It was perfect. Kevin: It's like a sweet chili.
Rachel: All the harmonies are really open and kind of empty sounding.
Like this, for example.
It's cuz there's no-
Liam: No third. It's in the bass, the minor third,
Liam: But in the vocal arrangement it's fairly empty. Rachel: But it's, but like, but how it sounds is:
Rachel: Like, the voicing makes it sound kind of empty
Rachel: because there is so much space in between. Liam: It is a kind of aloof texture.
Rachel: I don't mind it, actually, I think it kind of works with the vibe. (Liam: It's like empty.)
Liam: Cold, unfeeling, trying to ignore whatever the f#%k is going on.
Liam: Yeah.
Ali: I think the sparseness of it enhanced the effect of when the harmonies came in.
Ali: Especially like the vocal harmonies.
Umu: If we're ranking this song...
on the Scoville scale of spiciness.
Ju Young: Wait- Ali: What is the Scoville scale?
Ali: I know it's how spicy it is, but what are the units?
Does it start at 1000, or 0?
Umu: Iiiit... Ali: It starts with 0.
Ju Young: I don't know what this means.
Ali: What's the hottest?
Umu: The hottest is 1.4 M SHU, Carolina Reaper.
Ali: Oh.
Oh, so why don't we just name a pepper?
Like...
Ju Young: Like a bell pepper?
Umu: That's 0, not spicy at all?! Ju Young: Oh, really? Oh.
Jory: It wasn't that spicy though, like it was...
Umu: You're more like 1000 SHU? Will: I didn't say a million Scoville.
Jory: That was pretty tame. Will: Yeah, honestly, yeah, 1000 Scoville.
Umu: But it does have like a little bit of a zing, I feel.
Ju Young: There is. Ali: Like a banana pepper.
Ali: Banana peppers aren't spicy, but they can be to some people.
Ju Young: It's like sweet but zesty, this song.
Owen: It's not spicy.
Kevin: Oh, it's quite.
Owen: It's...
Kevin: It's smooth, it's smooth spicy, it's like, you know- Owen: It's like ginger tea, it's not spicy.
Kevin: No, it's like the Cadejo in the most recent line up of hot ones.
Rachel: It wasn't like "I'm dying" spice, but it was like, Mm.
Mmm~
You know, like when you eat some wings and you're like, mmm~
But it's not like "I need milk", it's like, "I can take it."
Umu: Yeah yeah yeah, you can take it. Liam: Yeah, you can fight through this.
It's like a Serrano chili versus Habanero, which is like...
Rachel: Ghost pepper.
Liam: That would be 'Savage', I'd say. Umu: Wait that's funny,
Umu: Because when I reacted to this song I had a Serrano chili, and like, I died.
*Distant Umu suffering sounds*
Stephanie: It's like a real unique spiciness.
Leon: Yeah.
Cuz the chorus repeats so many times and then that little interval repeats so many times too.
Umu: And that makes it spicy?
Leon: Yeah.
Umu: Oh~
Leon: Cuz that's like the first thing in the chorus.
Really spicy.
Umu: ...strange phenonimonimanon??
happening?
phenonimon?
[do doo dododo]
monimanon?
[do dodo do]