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Let’s Talk About Aespa

Aespa Debut Review

By ShinxPublished 2 years ago 9 min read
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Finally Aespa is here!

It was a rollercoaster to get to their debut. So much speculation and a lot of negativity towards this group. From the timing to the concept to the members, Aespa kept receiving so many mean comments and people were so critical about them when they haven’t debuted yet. Like all over my twitter and instagram, all I saw was negativity to Aespa, and it’s like damn let the girls breathe! But now Aespa has released “Black Mamba” and I feel like talking about my opinions on Aespa. From the concept to the members to the timing to the song to rumors, I just want to express all my thoughts about Aespa now that they have debuted. So let’s begin I guess.

Let’s start with the concept, because everyone already stated their thoughts on it and I just want to get it out of the way. So basically Aespa has this AI concept and each member has their own avatar. It’s a bit similar to K/DA I guess with having virtual members but real people singing, and the main difference is that the real members are the focal point of Aespa while the avatars are the focal point of K/DA. Aespa’s avatars are kind of like counterparts of the members in a way? My opinion on this avatar concept is that it’s weird. It kind of feels like SM are treating Aespa more like products than actual artists, but we just have to see how this concept plays out in the future.

Besides the AI concept, Aespa in my opinion is SM’s futuristic version of a girl crush group. From the electronic dance sound to the styling of the girls to the hard hitting choreography, it feels like Aespa leans more to the Girl Crush style. They are kind of like a mix of Everglow and Itzy, with their colorful styling and confidence splashed in with their coolness and bad ass attitude. With SM other girl groups, SNSD, F(X), and Red Velvet, their has been times when they played around with the girl crush style, but with Aespa I feel like they are trying to go full force into it. Aespa is truly SM’s first attempt to debut their own girl crush group.

Now let’s talk about the members, and holy shit people are so damn critical. Like y’all couldn’t let the girls breathe, like at all! I feel like this massive attack? Is that the right word to use? But yeah this massive attack started with Giselle. Firstly, people were saying Giselle is ugly and netizens were like “She can’t be from SM, I mean look at her!” and dumb shit like that, and I bet the people who said that aren’t that good looking themselves! Plus people in Kpop are always like “Focus on the music, it’s not about the visuals” but then go attack Giselle’s looks and it’s like?? Make it make sense, is it about music or not to you? Giselle is beautiful so those comments were just irritating.

Since we are on the topic of Giselle, let’s talk about her introduction video of her rapping. In my opinion, I liked it but also didn’t like it lmao. Let me explain. I liked it because in my opinion SM isn’t known for their rappers. Especially their female rappers, SM lacks in the rap department, and to me Giselle is their best female rapper. Giselle was such a pleasant surprise because out of all the female rappers in SM girl groups, she has the best cadence and sounds quite confident. Giselle showcases how SM is trying to improve in their rapping department and I appreciate it.

Now the thing I didn’t like about Giselle rap introduction, although I just said she’s the best female rapper in SM, she’s still weak. She was a bit off beat and the rapping was an average Kpop rap. It was catchy but overall ok to me. This leads into the dumpster fire that Twitter was when Giselle rap video went up. Everyone and their mom was attacking her, saying like she’s the worst rapper ever and that’s she’s terrible and just not good. When I saw all these comments I was hella confused, because a majority of Kpop idols who are rappers rap like Giselle. Like I would say 88% of Kpop idol rappers rap like Giselle. Giselle is your average Kpop idol rapper, and I don’t understand why all of a sudden when Giselle shows her rap skills everyone is angry and attacking this girl. I mean if you’re calling out Giselle’s rapping then call out on the majority of Kpop rappers in the industry. Giselle raps like your average idol rapper, and plus she’s a rookie. She still has time to grow so let her breathe and hope she will improve.

Now the next member I want to talk about is Ningning. She’s the main vocalist of Aespa and I saw people saying she shouldn’t be the main vocalist and that she’s not good for a SM vocalist. I even saw comments like “She’s no main vocalist like Wendy” and they are correct about that, because Ningning is Ningning and Wendy is Wendy.

Wendy and Ningning are two different people with different vocal colors, and plus Wendy has been in the industry for 6 years now while Ningning just arrived. Let her breathe! I personally like her voice and think it’s quite beautiful, and people need to give her a chance to shine in the future.

Next member is Winter. Some comments I saw “Oh she’s just a visual” and kind of degrading her because her introduction video didn’t showcase her talents, but it’s just an introduction. Again I’m repeating, but Winter just debuted, can y’all relax? Winter is an essential member to Aespa just like the rest of the members.

Another thing is that people were saying she shouldn’t be the visual and commenting on her looks, even though I bet those people look like rotten tomatoes compared to Winter. Winter is beautiful and is an important member to Aespa, just like the rest of the girls.

Now last but not least we have Karina. The leader, main dancer, and face of Aespa. Everyone was stepping on Karina. Like the last time I seen people so bothered by a new rookie was when Jennie from Blackpink debuted. Karina was attacked for her visuals, for her dancing, and for her voice. Everyone was attacking her, but that’s what happens when you’re Korea’s next IT girl haha!

Alright but on a serious note, Karina seems very talented and I like her dancing, and of course there’s room for improvement but she has so much potential to be a big star on the stage. Also all of a sudden y’all are dance experts when it comes to Karina, like I keep saying let the girl breathe!

For Aespa I see so much potential in this group and they are really good for a rookie group. I just think people are overly critical about Aespa and rookie groups in general. There’s so much pressure on rookie groups nowadays and we don’t allow them to grow and improve. For Aespa, I think they will grow into such talented stars and I can’t wait to see how they grow.

Now let’s get into the main course, which is Aespa’s debut with “Black Mamba”

I mentioned this a bit previously, but “Black Mamba” leans into the electronic dance music and is girl crush focus. All the girls really stood out to me, even though in the MV the main focus was on Karina, I felt all the girls got their time to shine. Particularly Winter and Ningning stood out to me. I really like their voices on this track, and I like Ningning high note near the end. I also like that there is a two part chorus. It makes the song more colorful to me. The song as a whole was nice and a bit vivid, but it left me wanting more. I felt the verses were quite lackluster and I was expecting Giselle to rap on this track. I mean I’ve said in my other reviews how not every Kpop song needs a rap portion, but for “Black Mamba” I felt like it would’ve added a lot to the song. A rap portion would’ve added a bit more flavor to the track. Also I felt like the chorus was underwhelming a bit and I was expecting a grander end, but it was a stagnant song. It stayed in one place, and didn’t change a lot. It made it a bit boring. My favorite part was probably the bridge because of the vocals and how it’s a bit different from the rest of the song. I do enjoy this song, but there’s something missing. I wanted more, and I hope they give us more in the future.

Black Mamba - 7.5/10

Now don’t get it twisted, I enjoyed this debut. It’s a fine debut that showcased the girls well, and since “Black Mamba” made me want more, it makes me anticipate their first comeback. I know I’m already thinking about their comeback, but I am curious of what direction they are going to take with their music and concept.

Ok I want to talk about another thing. I know this article is long ass hell, if you made it this far thank you haha, but another thing I want to discuss is the timing of the debut and rumors I heard.

So their debut came around when Irene from Red Velvet got into a scandal about being rude to a stylist. Then Chanyeol from EXO had cheating accusations against him. Then NCT U with “Make A Wish” and talks about cultural appropriation. Now honestly I can’t really speak on any of that, but it was clear SM was having a lot of ‘scandals’ and issues in October, and people thought that Aespa debut was a sort of distraction from everything going on at SM.

I don’t really think Aespa debut is a distraction or anything, I mean their debut seemed to be planned out really well and doesn’t seem rushed. Then rumors started coming out that SM are going to add new members to Aespa in the future. And it’s like, ok if the group has more members and isn’t complete yet, why debut now? I just don’t understand why debut a group now if there are more members, it doesn’t make sense, and it kind of adds to the other rumor that Aespa was a distraction from SM of everything going on in the company. Still I don’t believe they are a distraction, and I believe that this debut time was planned out a long time ago.

But if it is true there are more members, why not wait to debut all of them? Like it doesn’t make sense so I hope the rumor isn’t true they are adding members. It’s not like I’m an anti to the SM trainees, it’s just that why couldn’t SM wait a little longer to debut them all at once? I don’t know, but it’s just weird haha.

Overall, from all the malicious comments to the long wait, Aespa finally arrived and I’m quite excited to see how they evolve. They have so much potential, and I can’t wait to watch them grow, but for now I’m gonna rewatch the “Black Mamba” MV.

Thank you for reading. This was way longer than I anticipated, but thank you for reaching the end. I appreciate every read and tip I receive, and if you like this check out my other stuff like Løren “Empty Trash” review.

I hope you’re having a good day, and if not I hope it becomes a better one.

Bye-Bye!

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About the Creator

Shinx

I write what I want to write

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