Armageddon (Aespa album)

Armageddon is the first studio album by South Korean girl group Aespa. It was released by SM Entertainment on May 27, 2024, and contains ten tracks including two singles, "Supernova" and "Armageddon".
On April 22, 2024, SM Entertainment announced that Aespa would be releasing their first studio album titled Armageddon. It was also announced that the album would feature two singles: "Supernova" and "Armageddon", with the former releasing on May 13 and the latter, along with the album, on May 27. On May 2, the promotional schedule was revealed in a trailer titled "Launch Code". Eight days later, the track listing was revealed alongside a highlight medley teaser video. On May 12, the music video teaser for "Supernova" was released. "Supernova" was released along with its music video on May 13. The teaser videos for "Long Chat", "Licorice", and "Live My Life", were released from May 15 to 17. A CDP version of Armageddon that includes a CD player will be released on July 19.
Featuring ten tracks, Armageddon, is a pop effort that incorporates various genres of hip hop, dance and ballads. The first track, "Supernova", is a "glittering cosmic" dance and hyper-pop song characterized by "heavy kick and bass", "catchy top line", and "synth melody" with lyrics about "Aespa's expanded world view by comparing the beginning of an event that opens a door to another dimension to a supernova, expressing the beginning of a big explosion". The second track, "Armageddon", is a hip hop and dance song described as "old-school yet trendy track" with a "fluid R&B bridge" and lyrics containing the message that "I can only define myself". The "thumping" tune, "Set the Tone", is a hip-hop track with "exhilarating punches of synthesizers". The fourth song, "Mine", sees the group "reflecting on growing up with fear and feeling like the 'fake portrait' that was their reflection in a 'broken mirror' was 'going to swallow me up'", but ultimately "standing tall" despite their worries.
The fifth track, "Licorice", is a dance song featuring "an addictive churning rock-pop hook" and "vintage electric guitar sound, and strong trap beat". Lyrically, it "compares a person with a strange charm to licorice and wittily expresses the feeling of being drawn to it". The "breezy" mid-tempo pop track, "Bahama", features "sleepy, swooning summer chorus" and "details taking a friend on a trip to the titular island" over "handclaps and sunkissed, sparkling melodies". The seventh track, "Long Chat", is a dance song with lyrics "containing friendly conversations that continue throughout the night". The upbeat pop song, "Prologue", finds the group "address[ing] the difficulties and messiness of growing up, admitting to anxiety, disappointments, and loss of passion". The ninth track, "Live My Life", is a "cheerful guitar-based" pop-punk song containing a message of "living an independent life confidently" with lyrics about "breaking away from the existing framework as there is no right answer in life". The closing track, "Melody", is a piano "fan anthem" dedicated to the group's fans.
Armageddon generally received positive reviews by the music critics, Rhian Daly of NME praised the album for falling "into the former camp and reinforces what we already knew – that when Aespa are allowed to run free in the sounds and sonics they've made their trademark, they're nothing short of exquisite". Writing for The Forty-Five, Jenessa Williams appreciated the group's "willingness to experiment with both hard and soft [sounds]", and noted that Aespa "really thrive when they stick to the edgier end of their USP". She furthermore stated that the group's "badass alchemy and attitude might just save the musical world". Rolling Stone India's publisher, Debashree Dutta praised Aespa's "vivid story" and the album's "poetic landscapes" which she described as "a varied and profound auditory experience" filled with "sentiments, moods, and instances woven into each song". Jeff Benjamin of Billboard described the album as "an artistic evolution in Aespa's" discography "by taking their narrative into an expansive multiverse to blur the boundaries between reality and virtual realms".
In a mixed review from The Guardian giving two out of five stars, from Alexis Petridis described it "all intriguing, and, it has to be said, very well done – Aespa's videos are charming and made to an extraordinarily high standard – yet it can't help but rouse the suspicion that their music might constitute something of an afterthought, a theory not dispelled by actually listening to it."
On May 27, 2024, it was reported that Armageddon has sold over 1.02 million copies in pre-orders sales. In China, the album reached number one on the QQ Music digital album sales chart, and was certified as "a double platinum album" within 3 hours of release.
Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.
Studio
Personnel