After a 6 year drought since Red Velvet in 2014, we finally see the long-awaited debut of SM Entertainment's new 4-member girl group, aespa. With a unique concept revolving around members having their own virtual avatars (known as ae- versions), the group has generated both pre-debut hype and hate. Having had their previous girl groups debut with either innocent or brighter concepts, SM has released their latest project into the idol ring with a darker concept and sound. With Lee Soo-man (SM's founder) himself marketing aespa as the first project of the SM Culture Universe (SMCU, which has some strong shared universe vibes), it's no wonder they've been hinted at in seniors' SuperM and NCT U's recent MVs. Without further ado, let's get around to their debut single Black Mamba.
Meaning: You might think this song's title is an allegory to something. No, Black Mamba is literally about a black mamba, which even appears in the MV (more on that later). The song is primarily about aespa trying to get in touch with their ae- avatars in the virtual realm of KWANGYA (which is mentioned in the lyrics), as a giant black mamba tries to stop them. I guess in some ways the mamba could be a representation of the haters who are trying to bring down the group's unique concept of integrating avatars but I feel like Black Mamba is more just a powerful title track that has a strong dark sound. Since they're considered the SMCU's start, we'll probably get a far deeper insight into the song's meaning later on, especially since they're definitely going to be weaved deeper into a new universe's lore.
MV: Being one of the "big 3" South Korean entertainment companies, SM has put out an expensive MV and I didn't expect anything less. The MV is split into two areas, the real world and KWANGYA. The sets for the latter are stunning, bright, colourful and definitely not set in reality, which is a big part of aespa's concept. KWANGYA is very inhuman, with the clearly human girls melding together with animations of butterflies and alien plants. The mamba that slithers around in the virtual realm is also obviously fake and its size really adds to the unreal-ness of everything. Naturally, the girls have their individual shots as well as group shots, set in both worlds. The song's main theme stands as the girls are trying to contact their ae- selves while the mamba deters them.
Surprisingly, we don't actually get a lot of scenes with the ae- members, in fact we only see very brief shots of ae-Karina and ae-Winter, with Giselle and Ningning's avatars being absent. This is probably world-building on SM's part and we'll probably see them appearing more often in future MVs or live stages. I will say, the avatars generated quite a bit of hate because of over-sexualisation of the members, who range from 18 to 20 (international) years old, so I think it's a good move on SM's part to downplay the avatars at least for aespa's debut MV.
Being the start of the SMCU, there's bound to be lots of shared universe mumbo-jumbo and this is nothing new to K-Pop, with WJSN's former dreamer concept as well as the ongoing LOONAverse. I mentioned atop that NCT U and SuperM both teased aespa's debut, and we continue this trend, with Black Mamba's MV ending with a shot of soloist BoA, who stands in a grassy field as a glowing pink butterfly flutters towards her. With her comeback set for 1 December, I have no doubt that BoA will somehow play into the SMCU. Apart from this teaser for their senior's upcoming comeback, we get a shot of a strange digital entity rising from the black residue left behind by the mamba and it morphs into various logos shown earlier on Ningning's computer in her individual shots. I sense a story being written but we have to wait and see.
Styling: I really like the outfits they've been given here, especially because they're mostly bright, shiny outfits, which really correspond with the inhuman nature of KWANGYA, with the exception of some outfits that are darker, fitting with the darker sound of the song. It's quite hard for me to pick a favourite style here because they're all pretty good but I think I'll settle for the green and black outfits the girls wear in their train dance sequence. They look great in those and I think that's the most flattering look on them. Their styling really adds to their ethereal visual, in line with Black Mamba's theme as well as the group's concept, however, I feel that Ningning looked far better with her greyish-purple hair that she has in some shots as compared to her (maybe natural) brown hair. It accentuates her look far better. I do want to put emphasis on Karina's visual because my god, I was seriously blown away, especially when there were close ups and I thought I was looking at Taeyeon. Insane visual.
Song: Black Mamba adopts a far darker sound than most SM girl groups' debut tracks and I think it's a breath of fresh air for those who have been waiting for aespa's debut. While the girls had lots of charisma in their MV, I personally feel that main rapper Giselle fit this concept the best and her parts in the song came off the fiercest, even if she had the fewest (more on that later). I'm also a little surprised that Ningning is main vocal, especially since she's Chinese and as far as SM's groups go, we don't really have too many non-Korean main vocals. She quashed any worries I had though because man, her voice is powerful, especially when she hits that note before the last chorus. Unfortunately, the chorus comes off a little shouty to me and it takes me out of the song, whereas the verses were pretty interesting to listen to. Generally I'm also not super into dark concepts when it comes to girl groups but I appreciate them for trying this out.
Line distribution: With only 4-members, aespa's line distribution is pretty fair. Main vocal Ningning understandably got the most lines (about 32%) and she killed them, with lead vocal Winter not far behind at slightly less than 28%. Karina got a good portion of lines too and for good reason, as many consider her the face of the group and since having more lines = more screentime, giving her more lines will attract more fans. Like I mentioned before, Giselle has the fewest lines but that's ok because her fierceness and charisma are off the charts. Seriously, her expressions are insane and she really slayed her parts.
aespa has a pretty strong debut, with a fairly unique concept and lots of incoming world-building. I fully understand the hate that they've received due to their avatars' over-sexualisation as well as how some people compare them to the massively popular K/DA, who comprise of League of Legends characters voiced by various artists. To me, K/DA's concept is really not about the avatars, those were just for show, whereas aespa will probably revolve around the avatar concept a lot more. None of these are the girls' fault and they've already received hate in other forms, with member Karina having been part of a minor scandal that has since been proven false. Heck, even Giselle was hated on for supposedly having plastic surgery. I just think that we should all go in with open minds and focus on their music. After so long, we're finally getting another SM girl group, so let's enjoy aespa's debut and continue to support them moving on.
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