‘Dirty Work’ / ‘Girls’ – Song Review(s)

When you mention ‘hated K-pop songs’, there are a few obvious picks that come to mind for anyone who’s been a fan for a while – the likes of ‘Wolf’, ‘Sticker’ and ‘Sneakers’. I opted not to discuss any of these; my aim was to take a slightly different approach. When it comes to songs like the BTS English trilogy, the discourse well has long run dry. I just don’t think I have any points to make that haven’t already been made. You don’t need me to tell you ‘Permission To Dance’ is corporate and saccharine. That would be like writing an opinion piece about Taylor Swift’s new album having bad lyrics: it’s true, but it’s been stated so many times that repeating it just feels like beating a dead horse.

Instead, I am going to talk about two different songs, both released by the same group. It is a group I hold in high esteem, and I believe one of the songs is completely undeserving of its negative reputation. However, I understand and agree with all the criticism directed at the other. I hope you enjoy reading.

‘Dirty Work’

Aespa are one of my favourite K-pop groups, and I’m not just saying that in an attempt to soften the blow of any criticism I may be about to give them. Spotify was my go-to music listening method up until the second half of this year, and my streaming data tells me they are among my top five artists of all time. What’s more, they are my fourth most listened-to K-pop act, behind the holy trinity of Stray Kids, Twice and Red Velvet. I would confidently say they are the greatest K-pop group to debut this decade, and the last five years have given them a lot of competition. Aespa have consistently proven themselves to be one of the most exciting groups around, blending forceful electronic sounds with captivating melodies and richly layered vocals. Though there has been no shortage of excellent material since, their debut EP Savage remains their strongest project. Its blend of hard-hitting beats, shimmering pop hooks and dreamlike, futuristic production cemented both their versatility and capability as hitmakers.

Brilliant as Aespa may be, they are also deeply inconsistent. Out of their six EPs, two are superb (Savage and My World), one is pretty good (Whiplash) and three are wildly hit-or-miss (Girls, Drama and Rich Man). It should be said that even their weakest projects have standout songs Rich Man is probably their worst to date, but it has ‘Angel #48’, which I really like. Their first full-length album, Armageddon, was also disappointing. It suffered from the same issue as Drama, lacking in cohesion and making for a very muddled listen. ‘Supernova’ and the title track were incredibly strong singles, but Armageddon as a whole failed to live up to them. There are individual songs I enjoy, such as ‘Mine’ and ‘Bahama’, but they don’t work well together as part of an album.

This all brings us to ‘Dirty Work’, Aespa’s single from June 2025. ‘Dirty Work’ was met with mixed reactions, and it failed to reach commercial success comparable to their previous work. Many saw it as the end of a hot streak of singles that began with 2023’s ‘Spicy’ and lasted until ‘Whiplash’. I’m inclined to side with the angry mob on this one: ‘Dirty Work’ is easily the weakest of this crop of songs. It’s the least interesting, with no strong melodic hooks or interesting production moments. ‘Armageddon’ is probably the most similar, as both songs are rooted in hip-hop, but that song is so much better that it almost feels like an insult to compare the two. Next to maximalist, dazzling hits like ‘Spicy’ and ‘Supernova’, ‘Dirty Work’ feels limp and underwhelming.

The lyrics are easily the worst part of ‘Dirty Work’. K-pop lifts a multitude of elements from hip-hop, to varying degrees of success, but when it imitates the tough, streetwise lyrics of rap it always falls flat on its proverbial face. Aespa have sung a lot of goofy, even nonsensical lines over the years – the first verse of ‘Drama’, one of their biggest hits, opens with, ‘Ziggy-ziggy-zag, I’m new / ‘Cause I go biggie-biggie bad, it’s true.’ However, none of them are quite as cringeworthy as Giselle rapping about her connections to organised crime. There is also Aespa’s try-hard pronunciation of ‘business’ as ‘bidness’, further solidifying the song as a superficial imitation of black American music, but even that isn’t as bad as the ‘mafia ties’ line. I think it is unforgivably lame.

Initially, I had a far more favourable view of ‘Dirty Work’ than the average K-pop listener. My second most listened-to Aespa song is the much-maligned ‘Girls’ (behind ‘Hold On Tight’ from the Tetris soundtrack), so I’ve long accepted that my opinions on their music will often differ from the majority. I was prepared to go into this review guns ablazin’, defending ‘Dirty Work’ with all my might. However, upon further listening, I find myself liking it less and less, especially in comparison to their other work. With that said, I don’t think it’s all bad. ‘Dirty Work’ may be a lyrical nadir for Aespa, but I think the song is otherwise pretty decent. It’s fairly catchy, and I like the bridge and the ‘work, work, work’ refrain. Even so, it’s Aespa’s weakest single in a good while, and I look forward to them releasing something much better.

‘Girls’

Now we enter the ‘guns ablazin’’ portion of the review. ‘Girls’ is a great song and a discography highlight; it’s a shame it’s mostly forgotten when talking about Aespa today. For many people, ‘Spicy’ was seen as a return to form after the disappointing ‘Girls’, but I don’t look at it that way. ‘Spicy’ was certainly a change in direction, and I don’t think they would have become the giants they are without easing off on the kooky Kwangya lore. With that said, I don’t think ‘Girls’ was a letdown at all. It may be seen by a lot of fans as an unfortunate misstep in Aespa’s journey to greatness, but in my opinion, it’s just as good as the beloved singles that followed it, if not better.

‘Girls’ was released in July 2022, when the two-minute armada hadn’t yet reached K-pop’s shores. Ultra-short songs may not have been commonplace then, but neither were four-minute singles, especially for a relatively new group. Releasing such a long song (by modern K-pop’s standards) was a gutsy move, but I’m glad they took the risk. If any of ‘Girls’ was trimmed, it wouldn’t have worked nearly as well. Up until the end of the second chorus, the song gradually climbs, becoming more urgent and dramatic. The bridge is a moment of relative calm, building anticipation, before the song descends into an intense techno breakdown. After the breakdown leaves you breathless, the vocally demanding final pre-chorus and chorus provide an extremely satisfying payoff. ‘Girls’ takes you on a journey in a way most shorter songs are simply unable to.

The lyrics are pretty wacky, in typical early Aespa fashion, but they don’t bother me. ‘Girls’ is already heavy on spectacle, so it makes sense that the lyrics would be similarly fantastical and over-the-top. They effectively serve as the conclusion to Aespa’s battle with the Black Mamba, showing the girls coming together to defeat it (with the power of friendship!). Once they have bested the Black Mamba, their goal is to leave Kwangya so they can meet nævis in the real world. To any new fans staring helplessly at their screens, don’t worry about it too much. It was an excellent business decision for Aespa to step away from their virtual shtick: the animated avatars were unappealing, it was hard to take the lyrics seriously and all the dense lore scared off casual fans. I was never invested in all the worldbuilding and quirky lingo, but I don’t find it too off-putting in ‘Girls’. The sense of narrative in the lyrics helps to build even more momentum, making the song feel like a four-minute action flick.

There’s a pretty infamous clip of the Aespa members dancing woefully out of sync during a performance of ‘Girls’. Perhaps the backlash surrounding their live performances clouded people’s judgement and played a part in the song’s negative reception. I have heard some fans describe the treatment Aespa received during this period as a ‘hate train’: other notable recent examples of idols subjected to ‘hate trains’ include Le Sserafim after their Coachella performance, Illit before they had released a note of music (for some reason) and Ive’s Wonyoung for a myriad of trifling reasons. The very concept leaves me amazed at how pathetic and cruel online fandom culture can be. In a way, it makes sense that this nastiness surrounding this song would make people eager to forget about it.

‘Girls’ is one of Aespa’s only songs to feel truly epic. ‘Armageddon’ is probably the next best thing, but that’s less because of the song itself and more the awe-inspiring visuals that accompany it. The rock-tinged instrumentals, powerful vocals and tantalising ascension to the climax make the song feel exciting and grand. Even after three years of frequently great releases from Aespa, it still holds up as one of their best. Yes, I like it better than ‘Illusion’. I enjoy that song a whole lot, but the theatrics and energy of ‘Girls’ place it ahead for me. It’s the best single of Aespa’s Kwangya era (as much as I appreciate ‘Savage’) and if they returned to that sound for a future release, I wouldn’t be mad at all.

Originally published on Quora, 22/12/25.