aespa, a combination of “ae”, which stands for “Avatar and Experience” and “aspect” meaning “two-sidedness”, symbolizes “meeting of another self and experiencing a new world” and consists of four real members KARINA, WINTER, GISELLE, and NINGNING along with avatar members of each.
The group made their highly-anticipated debut in November 2020 with the single ‘Black Mamba’. It charted across music charts in 95 countries and entered the Billboard Global Chart (excluding U.S.) at No. 100 within just 3 days of being accounted for, marking the highest ranking of any K-pop artist’s debut song. ‘Black Mamba’ also became the fastest debut music video to surpass 100 million views in the history of K-pop.
In May 2021, aespa scored another hit single ‘Next Level’ with its music video surpassing 50 million views in just 3 days. In October 2021, aespa released their first EP ‘Savage’, charting on ten Billboard charts with No. 20 on Billboard 200 and Artist 100, the highest debut ranking ever for a K-pop girl group on the US album chart, As to prove their immediate popularity, the group entered US airplay with their first English single ‘Life’s Too Short’ from their second EP ‘Girls’ released in July 2022, breaking their own record with a No. 3 on both Billboard 200 and Artist 100, and album sales surpassing 1.6 million copies.