"Spicy" is a song recorded by South Korean girl group Aespa for their third extended play '' My World''. It was released as the EP's lead single by

SM Entertainment SM Entertainment Co., Ltd. () is a South Korean multinational entertainment agency. It is one of South Korea's largest entertainment companies where it was established in 1995 by record executive and record producer Lee Soo-man. The company ha ...

on May 8, 2023.

Background and release

On February 16, 2023, Lee Sung-soo released a 30-minute video stating: " Lee Soo-man was the reason why Aespa's music has been delayed" and that the group was supposed to release new music on February 20. Moreover, he added that Soo-man wanted to start "injecting environmentalist motifs of tree-planting and sustainability into songs" which were eventually later scrapped as they "did not fit the world of Aespa" and made the group "upset". On March 16, SM Entertainment announced that Aespa would be releasing a record in early May. On April 17, it was announced that the group's third extended play titled ''My World'', and containing six tracks, would be released on May 8. On April 24, the track listing was released via their official website with "Spicy" announced as the lead single. On May 6, the music video teaser was released. The song was released alongside the EP and its music video on May 8. On September 15, a remix version by Nitepunk was released.

Composition

"Spicy" was written by Bang Hye-hyun (

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), composed and arranged by Ludvig Evers (Moonshine), and Jonatan Gusmark (Moonshine), with Emily Yeonseo Kim, and Moa "Cazzi Opeia" Carlebecker participating in the composition, and Jinbyjin participating in the arrangement. It was described as an " experimental"

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

, and

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s ...

song characterized by "intense synth-bass sound nddynamic beat rhythm". "Spicy" was composed in the

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

B minor B minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative major is D major and its parallel major is B major. The B natural minor scale is: : Changes neede ...

, with a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

of 115 beats per minute.

Music video

The music video directed by 725 of SL8 Visual Lab was released alongside the song by SM Entertainment on May 8. The music video portrays Aespa "as a group of popular high school students" with scenes that switches between "Aespa getting ready to throw a wild party in their lavish mansion" and "Aespa taking the opportunity to explore the city when the clock strikes midnight when the time stops".

Commercial performance

"Spicy" debuted at number six on South Korea's Circle Digital Chart in the chart issue dated May 7–13, 2023; on its component charts, the song debuted at number three on the Circle Download Chart, number eight on the Circle Streaming Chart, and number 33 on the Circle BGM Chart. It ascended to number two on the Circle Digital Chart, and number three on the Circle Streaming Chart, in the chart issue dated May 21–27, 2023. In Japan, the song debuted at number 71 on the ''

Billboard Japan ''Billboard Japan'' is a sister organization of the U.S.-based music magazine ''Billboard''. It is operated by the Japanese Osaka-based company Hanshin Contents Link (a subsidiary of Hanshin Electric Railway), holding an exclusive licence from ''Bi ...

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

in the chart issue dated May 17, 2023; on its component charts, the song debuted at number 70 on the Top Download Songs, and number 82 on the Top Streaming Songs. It ascended to number 64 on the ''Billboard Japan'' Hot 100, and number 56 on the Top Streaming Songs. On the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...

Streaming Chart, it debuted at number 48 in the chart issue dated May 22, 2023, ascending to number 43 in the following week. In Singapore, the song debuted at number 22 on the RIAS Top Streaming Chart in the chart issue dated May 12–18, 2023. It also debuted at number 17 on the RIAS Top Regional Chart in the chart issue dated May 5–11, 2023. In Vietnam, the song debuted at number 27 on the ''

Billboard Vietnam ''Billboard Việt Nam'' is an online Vietnamese music magazine, owned by Purpose Media Company Limited in partnership with ''Billboard''. The magazine made its first public appearance as an organizer of the New Year's Countdown Lights 2018 in H ...

in the chart issue dated May 18, 2023. In Hong Kong, the song debuted at number 24 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hong Kong Songs The Hong Kong Songs is a record chart that ranks the best-performing songs in Hong Kong since February 2022. Published by Billboard magazine, the data are compiled by MRC Data based collectively on each single's weekly digital streaming and downl ...

in the chart issue dated May 27, 2023. In Taiwan, the song debuted number 14 on the ''Billboard'' Taiwan Songs in the chart issue dated May 27, 2023. In the United States, the song debuted at number six on the ''

'' World Digital Song Sales in the chart issue dated August 26, 2023. In New Zealand, the song debuted at number 34 on the RMNZ Hot Singles in the chart issue dated May 15, 2023. Globally, the song debuted at number 160 on the ''Billboard'' Global 200, and number 77 on the ''Billboard'' Global Excl. U.S in the chart issue dated May 20, 2023. It ascended to number 70 on the ''Billboard'' Global 200, and number 42 on the ''Billboard'' Global Excl. U.S in the following week.

Promotion

Prior to the release of ''My World'', on May 8, 2023, Aespa held a live event called "Aespa 'My World' Countdown Live" on

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, and IdolPlus to introduce the album and its song, including "Spicy", and to communicate with their fans. The group subsequently performed on four music programs in the first week:

Mnet M-Net (an abbreviation of Electronic Media Network) is a South African pay television channel established by Naspers in 1986. The channel broadcasts both local and international programming, including general entertainment, children's series, ...

's ''

M Countdown ''M Countdown'' () is a South Korean music program broadcast by Mnet. The show features appearances by popular music artists who also perform live on stage. It is broadcast from CJ E&M Center Studio in Sangam-dong, Mapo District, Seoul. Bro ...

'' on May 11, KBS's '' Music Bank'' on May 12, MBC's ''

Show! Music Core ''Show! Music Core'' (), or simply ''Music Core'' is a South Korean music television program broadcast by MBC. It airs live every Saturday at 15:30 (KST). The show features some of the latest and most popular artists who perform live on stage. ...

'' on May 13, and SBS's ''

Inkigayo ''Inkigayo'' ( ko, 인기가요; English title: ''The Music Trend'', previously ''Popular Song'') is a South Korean music program broadcast by SBS. It airs live every Sunday. The show features some of the latest and most popular artists who p ...

'' on May 14. On the second and final week of promotion, they performed four music programs: ''M Countdown'' on May 18, ''Music Bank'' on May 19, ''Show! Music Core'' on May 20, and ''Inkigayo'' on May 21, where they won the first place for all appearances.

Track listing

* Digital download / streaming – Original # "Spicy" – 3:17 * Digital download / streaming – Remixes # "Spicy" (Nitepunk remix) – 3:10

Accolades

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

'' included "Spicy" in their list of the 15 K-Pop Songs That Took 2023 By Storm.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from EP's liner notes. Studio * SM Big Shot Studio – recording,

digital editing Digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operate in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital media can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on a digital ...

* SM Starlight Studio – recording, digital editing * SM Blue Ocean Studio – mixing * 821 Sound – mastering Personnel *

–

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

* Aespa – vocals, background vocals * Bang Hye-hyun – lyrics * Jonatan Gusmark (Moonshine) – composition,

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

, programming * Ludvig Evers (Moonshine) – composition, arrangement, synthesizer, programming * Moa "Cazzi Opeia" Carlebecker – composition, background vocals * Emily Yeonseo Kim – composition, vocal directing, background vocals * Jinbyjin – arrangement,

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

, synthesizer, programming * Lee Min-kyu – recording, digital editing * Jeong Yu-ra – recording, digital editing * Kim Cheol-sun – mixing * Kwon Nam-woo – mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Aespa Aespa songs 2023 songs 2023 singles Songs in Korean SM Entertainment singles Songs written by Cazzi Opeia South Korean synth-pop songs South Korean pop songs Dance music songs