Aespa (에스파; e-seupa); stylized as æspa, is a girl group since Red Velvet's debut in 2014 and the agency’s first new group overall since NCT's debut in 2016.[1] They debuted in November 17, 2020, with the single, Black Mamba.[2]
According to Lee Soo-man, “The members who reside in the real world and the avatar members who reside in the virtual world meet up in a middle world, the digital world, where they communicate, empathize, and grow together. aespa is a new group where the members of the real world and the avatar members of the virtual world coexist, supporting and assisting one another, and they are able to promote together with a revolutionary identity. The real-life members and the avatar members are separate organisms, and the avatar members have AI brains that allow for them to converse and to support the real members, even befriending them, sharing information, as well as going back and forth from one world to another.”[3]
