Song Review:: aespa: LEMONADE- WDA (Whole Different Animal) (feat. G-Dragon) {Pre-Release}

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  • Release date: 2026 May 29
  • Album tracklist: WDA (Whole Different Animal) (feat. G-Dragon), LEMONADE, SHAKIN', Can't Help Myself, Camouflage, Bite, Switchblade (feat. Ty Dolla $ign), Roll, My Plan, 'Til We Die, LEMONADE (feat. Becky G)
  • Album runtime: 33 minutes

 I know he isn't actually at YG anymore, but a YG artist featured on an SM artist's track? Fascinating. It feels a little like a Universal movie monster (like Bela Lugosi's Dracula) showing up in Singin' in the Rain. Not going to lie. Not that I think of G-Dragon as a Universal movie monster, but that's an iconic staple of Universal Studios and Singin' in the Rain is one of MGM's more iconic musicals. Two heavyweights in their respective divisions, so to speak.

Underneath that skittering beat is a very grindy sound that turns a bit neon cyberpunk. I know I've been a bit lukewarm about aespa's recent songs, but I honestly like the layering in the instrumental that's going on here because it's easy to only hear that skittering beat, but there's a bit of a melody happening underneath it and there's regularly at least one other instrument going on in addition to those two. 

I wish we could have gotten a bit more of a texture line to make the at least some of the times we get the line "whole different animal" repeated a bit texturally different. The little bit of a growl that G-Dragon has does well to help with that, but it's repeated too often without variation by both aespa and G-Dragon to fix that, which is a shame. I also have to say that the end of the song is incredibly satisfying because of the amount of things that are going at one, which compensates for the "I'm so cool" mumbling rapping at the lower end of their registers. Not completely because I'm a little bit frustrated with it, but there are enough different parts going on to provide different textures that I'm not very frustrated. A little frustrated is fine. 

This is a weird music video. I love that for it. I think I may be very pleased by the choreography as well which is delightful.



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