[Review] Rich Man – aespa

The last two reviews are for releases from the start of the previous week. I now skip forward to the end of the week to review aespa’s new title track, Rich Man, which serves as the title track of the group’s 6th mini-album of the same name. This is the group’s first release since June’s Dirty Work.

Production-wise, Rich Man is a fantastic song. I love the hard rock influence the group goes for in Rich Man. The guitar work has a grungy quality that lends the song character, and it pairs well with the synths chosen for the song. The resultant instrumental piece is very energetic and dynamic, yet different from aespa’s usual output (which has been more synth-based). However, the disappointing thing about Rich Man is that it uses a lot of the same hook. While the members sound nice delivering the line “I’m a rich man” over and over again, the repetitiveness loosens Rich Man‘s power that has been building up throughout the song. It also doesn’t help that another side of Rich Man‘s hook is the “La La La“. After hearing something that channels power, the softer and delicate “La La La” hook just doesn’t feel like the logical follow-through to really push the song further. From the first presence of this hook, Rich Man has to rebuild itself, which just doesn’t deliver the same result as before the hook. Overall, Rich Man is a strongly instrumented track with weakening material.

The music video shows the members being independent and not needing a ‘rich man’ as they continuously iterate throughout the song. We see the members driving a race car, playing American football against a dog (unsure if this is a real-life occurrence) and alongside an actual team, fixing and supporting a vehicle without a lift, and taking on other typical male professions (this video chose a camera operator to showcase this). Later in the video, we see the members on a farm, demonstrating self-sufficiency (whilst the city in the background burns down). Out of all these locations and sub-concepts, I think everything that revolved around the race track and football was more fitting with the music, compared to the farm scenes.

On stage for Rich Man, their confidence and charisma, as well as their robust and (sometimes) complex dance moves, make for a performance that is worthwhile to check out. If that isn’t enough for you, their performance is also full of a sassy attitude that the song allows for and makes this performance even better.

Song – 7/10
Music Video – 9/10
Performance – 8/10
Overall Rating – 7.8/10