Aespa ( ; , commonly stylized in all lowercase or æspa) is a South Korean girl group formed by SM Entertainment. The group consists of four members: Karina, Giselle, Winter, and Ningning. Having popularized the metaverse concept and hyperpop music in K-pop, Aespa is one of the most successful South Korean girl groups domestically and internationally.
Aespa debuted on November 17, 2020, with the single "Black Mamba". The song's music video achieved the highest number of views for a K-pop group's debut video in 24 hours, with 21.4 million views. Their second single, "Next Level", was released in May 2021 to widespread commercial success, peaking at number two on the Circle Digital Chart and K-pop Hot 100. It earned multiple accolades and Daesang awards, including Song of the Year at the 19th Korean Music Awards and 2021 Melon Music Awards. In October 2021, Aespa released their first extended play (EP) Savage and its lead single of the same name. The EP sold 787,600 copies and became the best-selling debut album by an SM Entertainment act at the time; the latter marked Aespa's second top-five song in South Korea and their first top-40 entry on the Billboard Global 200. In July 2022, they released their second EP Girls, which sold 1,850,993 copies and debuted at number three on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. Their third EP, My World was released in May 2023, achieving 2.1 million sales and becoming the second best-selling album by a K-pop girl group.
Name
The group's name, Aespa, combines the English initials for "avatar" and "experience" (Avatar X Experience) with the English word "aspect", meaning "two sides", to symbolize the idea of "meeting another self and experiencing the new world".
Career
2016–2019: Pre-debut activities
Ningning was introduced as a member of pre-debut training team SM Rookies on September 19, 2016. As part of the team, she appeared on the Rookies Princess: Who's the Best? segment of the program My SMT that year and recorded several covers for the Korean animated TV program Shining Star in 2017.
Karina appeared in labelmate Taemin's music video for the song "Want" in February 2019 and performed with him on several music programs in the following weeks. Karina also appeared alongside labelmate Kai for a performance in Hyundai and SM Entertainment's collaboration virtual showcase — The All-New Tucson, Beyond DRIVE.
Aespa's logo was also teased at the end of SuperM's "One (Monster & Infinity)" music video.
2020–2021: Introduction, debut, "Next Level", and Savage
On October 26, 2020, SM Entertainment announced that it would debut a new girl group, its first since Red Velvet in 2014 and its first overall idol group since NCT in 2016. The group's name and members were revealed individually starting on October 27 (in order: Winter, Karina, Ningning, and Giselle). SM Entertainment founder Lee Soo-man explained the group's concept at the 2020 World Cultural Industry Forum on October 28. A video trailer featuring all four members was revealed on November 2, alongside the announcement of the release of Aespa's debut single, "Black Mamba", on November 17. The group made their broadcast debut on KBS2's Music Bank on November 20 to perform "Black Mamba", and earned their first music show win on SBS's Inkigayo on January 17, 2021.
On January 29, 2021, SM Entertainment announced Aespa would release a remake of "Forever", the single originally by Yoo Young-jin for SM Entertainment's 2000 holiday album Winter Vacation in SMTOWN.com. Aespa's version of the song, a "mid-tempo ballad characterized by acoustic guitar sound" with "warm lyrics about promising forever to a loved one", was released on February 5.
On May 4, SM Entertainment announced Aespa would release a new single titled "Next Level", a dance and hip-hop track with a "groovy" rap, "energetic" bass, and "powerful vocals". It was released on May 17. It debuted at number nine on the Gaon Digital Chart and peaked at number two, becoming their first top five hit in South Korea. "Next Level" became Aespa's third song to chart on the Billboard World Digital Song Sales chart, peaking at number three. On July 22, it was announced that Aespa had signed with Creative Artists Agency for their future activities in the United States. On September 10, it was announced that remix versions of "Next Level" will be released on September 14, along with a music video and a visualizer video for "Next Level (IMLAY Remix)".