Part 1:
What do you think about Aespa, the upcoming K-pop girl group in SM Entertainment?
By Annie Yejin Lee
I have mixed thoughts about it, in all honesty.
First, of, I don’t get, why exactly SM pushes the promotions of this group to SuperM’s and NCT’s work - of course, it is a great idea how to gain fans if you tease this group’s debut in the work of your huge boy groups, which already have established influential fandoms that can spread it even further - but this is SM Entertainment, not a small company.
➵ Only the fact that this group is from a company that produced the big names in the industry is enough of a promotion. This move seems too desperate for attention like SM would be scared that there won’t be enough hype for the debut next month, especially when NCT and SuperM have nothing to do with Aespa (or at least no one think they will, other than the connection of technology) and yet Kai had to say in the reaction video, that the logo which appeared on the phone screen is a big spoiler.
Honestly, I really see no reason for this move, other than desperate attention-seeking from SM, if Aespa won’t collaborate on a deeper level with these two groups in the future.
THE CONCEPT
This is the reason for my mixed reaction and concerns - I understand that SM is a sucker for “weird”/”innovative” concepts, that make the audience question their thinking (EXO’s superpowers, NCT’s unlimited members' concept, and now AESPA’s virtual members) but out of everything they ever created or could think of, this concept is the creepiest, riskiest and most alarming I have ever seen in K-pop.
I know that SM is flexin’ with their technology - just go look at their building in Seoul and you will understand what I mean -, but certain things are just too much even for such a crazy industry like this one. And in fact, they are not even the first ones who came up with the concept = whole KDA with Soyeon and Miyeon of G-Idle, Madison Beer and Jaira Burns exists for two years already.
My first problem is - how the hell is this thing going to work? There is no way you can satisfy fans with an online concert where the animated virtual selves of the members are going to be performing, nor you can make them happy if, at the fan meeting, they will once again be met with the virtual member, not the real one, even though it will have the voice of the actual member.
Fans listen to K-pop because they want the interaction with the idols - the people - not virtual, computer-made characters, which, no matter how great are they going to be programmed, are never going to replace the real member. The fans can go play games if they want to meet with this image.
If I were to be an idol, I would want to be the one interacting with my fans, not sending my virtual self to do that instead of me. The point of fan meet and concerts are to see your idol with your own eyes and bond with them more through this experience - you can’t bond with a virtual character.
➵ I understand that the virtual idol will never get tired, break the rules, do mistakes out of exhaustion, say something inappropriate, and will always have the perfect bright idol image, but that’s not why people love K-pop - seeing idols doing mistakes, struggling and many more makes us care about them, be genuinely interested in them, help them and rely on them.
The second problem I have is the whole virtual hotel thing happening in SM’s building - from what I have understood (not sure if this is real, but there are many speculations for it) = people are going to be able to spend a certain amount of time for the money in some room with the virtual members. I don’t want to be dramatic, but this really sounds like some adult business thing (and you all know what I mean, even though this won’t include the sexual activities)
It will feed the already crazy imagination of obsessive fans, sasaengs, and creepy people in the fandoms, who will feel like they got even more power and influence over the members’ lives than they ever got before with some group and these fans are already crazy enough. Yes, we still don’t know how it will be working in reality when they debut, but Lee Soo Man’s explanation isn’t helping to calm the situation and my doubting feelings at all.
Especially when all of the members are under 21 years old and they have such a virtual self walking next to them on the teaser videos (the heels, the clothes, the body proportions of anime character...).
Not going to mention that I don’t see this concept actually working beside other groups and artists within the industry, especially when they will soon be compared to the BigHit’s new girl group and most likely even Itzy - there is no doubt, there will be major fan wars between these fandoms about who is the best group of 4th generation/the next big girl group thing. Stepping up the game in such a crazy way game in such a crazy way is not always a good idea and Aespa may not get rid of the hate for this concept ever in their careers, unlike EXO and NCT did.
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Answer (1 of 29): I don’t think Aespa will be “successful”. To put it simply, Aespa’s concept isn’t just daring, it’s a bit too daring. A bit disappointing to SM fans too. 1. Rumours and hate Despite just debuting, Aespa members are already bombarded with rumors and criticism. It is said that K...
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wholeheartedly
