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| From left, Ningning, Winter, Karina and Giselle, the members of K-pop girl group aespa, pose for photos during an online press conference, Monday. Courtesy of SM Entertainment |
By Dong Sun-hwa
Rookie K-pop girl group aespa has been the talk of the town since its debut last year, largely thanks to its never-before-seen concept involving virtual avatars. The SM Entertainment group consists of four human members ― Karina, Winter, Giselle and Ningning ― and their avatars ― ae-Karina, ae-Winter, ae-Giselle and ae-Ningning ― which are known as the quartet's alter egos.
This new concept puzzled people at first, with many of them raising identity questions about the group. But during aespa's first-ever online press conference held on Monday, leader Karina clarified the point.
"We are an eight-piece group," she said during the event, referring the digital entities as part of aespa. "We took lessons for a long time to fully understand our concept and universe. Now, we know who we are. As the avatars were created based on the personal data of each member, all of us can easily keep in step with our digital selves."
Giselle added, "We are planning to showcase diverse content with our avatars."
During the session, the members also talked about their upcoming single "Next Level," which will hit multiple streaming charts at 6 p.m., Monday (KST). "Next Level," a remake of a song featured in the soundtrack of 2019 action film "Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw," is a hip-hop dance song with groovy rap and catchy bass riffs.
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| A teaser image for aespa's new single "Next Level." Courtesy of SM Entertainment |
"We tried to make our voices sound more powerful," Karina said. "SM's founder-producer Lee Soo-man helped us a lot to add our own distinctive color to the song. In the case of choreography, we wanted to make it look more chic and relaxed."
Winter elaborated, "The outfits for our performances look futuristic as well and they match well with the mood of Next Level."
Chinese member Ningning explained that "Next Level" is a follow-up song to aespa's debut single "Black Mamba," which was unleashed last November. In "Black Mamba," the members learn that an evil force in the form of a snake poses a threat to the world and will attempt to disconnect them from their avatars.
"In Next Level, we head for Kwangya to hunt down Black Mamba that estranged us from our avatars," Ningning said. Kwangya is a Korean term meaning "a wide plain," but in aespa's world, it is the place where the avatars live.
Winter added she loves the group's concept and universe, which distinguish aespa from other K-pop acts.
Aespa is SM's first girl group since the debut of Red Velvet in 2016. The music video of "Black Mamba" hit 100 million views on YouTube only 51 days after its release, becoming the first debut music video by a K-pop act to accomplish the feat. The band also clinched several Rookie of the Year Awards in 2020.
"I was bewildered and happy to hear all the good news," Karina said. "We will strive to showcase a better version of us for our fans."
So far, aespa has not yet released any album ― it only put out two singles, "Black Mamba" and "Forever." When asked about its plan for an album, Ningning hinted that it will come out soon.
"We have been enthusiastically gearing up for an album to offer diverse songs to our followers," she said.
Wrapping up the event, Giselle disclosed the group's goal.
"Being a rookie group, we want to continue to show our improvements," she said.
