Aespa ft. G-Dragon – WDA (Whole Different Animal)

So… not a dragon, then?

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[5.14]Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: Not nearly incoherent enough to be a good Aespa single. The conceit is, at least theoretically, interesting, but the execution makes the perils of embracing the Mamba Mentality (in its emphasis on self-mythologization and aura-seeking above all else) in any realm other than the iso-ball era clear. If they’re supposed to be avant-garde hyperpop disciples why does this sound so boring? They can’t even get G-Dragon to say something ridiculous or charming; he’s going through the motions as much as anyone else here.
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Iain Mew: For any sense of continuity and momentum it basically hinges entirely on G-Dragon sneering the title. Luckily he’s great at that.
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Andrew Karpan: Evoking the feeling of a car crashing into a wall of glitter (crash, crash, crash), I found something uncanny about the way G-Dragon’s dexterously punchy voice somehow manages to pull the record back down to earth. If not a remarkable outing for anyone involved, it at least reflected the shattered sounds of the current moment, a decade seemingly dragging itself to an anticlimactic end.
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Claire Davidson: It’s remarkable how little bombast “WDA (Whole Different Animal)” manages to cultivate in spite of its lyrical posturing. The song has all the trappings of K-pop at its most combustible, drenched in foreboding buzzsaw synths that set the stage for a track that’s ultimately far less kinetic than it strives to be. For one thing, the programmed percussion is somehow both too blocky and not nearly robust enough in its resonance, robbing the track of the thunderous clamor it would need to truly foster some tension. The song threatens to become interesting during the chorus, where some harsher, more manic synth tones emerge in the background, but the void that would typically be occupied by a drop is instead filled by G-Dragon’s flat iteration of the title. Not that he’s much more impressive on his rap verse, either — he delivers his bars with a nasality that almost sounds condescending in its snottiness, as if he’s a teenage boy whose only real pleasure in life is mocking his little sisters. All of this results in a track that’s essentially a non-starter, one whose animal instincts sound thoroughly domesticated.
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Nortey Dowuona: (Marshawn Lynch voice) I’m just here so Dem Joints won’t get fined. But once the G-Dragon verse turned up, I tuned out.
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Julian Axelrod: At this point I’m mostly rating K-pop on a scale of “How many cool new sounds does it lodge into my grey matter?” Aespa’s spidery synth ripples make for a solid contribution, but G-Dragon?? Now that’s a guy who sounds really fucking cool.
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Alfred Soto: Despite the smoke and gunpowder, “WDA” doesn’t blow up even with Aespa coaxing out cool synth sounds.
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