K-pop's game-changing girl group AESPA has released a mysterious teaser for their upcoming single, "Next Level."
The SM Entertainment quartet - composed of members Karina, Giselle, Winter, and NingNing - managed to raise the excitement of their fans with a ten-second video revealing the title logo showing only the words "Next Level" against a pitch-black background.
"Next Level" is set to release on May 17, 6:00 PM KST/ 2:00 PM PST on various music sites - Flo, Melon, Genie, iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, QQ Music, Kugou Music and Kuwo Music.
The upcoming track follows their successful single "Forever," a remake version of a Yoo Young-jin original single from the 2000 SM Entertainment holiday album "Winter Vacation in SMTown.com."
The song was first released as a digital single last February 4, soon earning praises from local and international critics, including NME's Ruby C, who praised the addition of a "feminine touch" to the song, and YaEun Kim, writing for Hypebae, describing the track as a "fresh, love-themed track" that illustrates a "completely different side of the virtual hybrid K-pop group."
Watch the teaser for "Next Level" below:
About Aespa
Aespa first debuted on November 17, 2020, with the single, "Black Mamba," also written and composed by their labelmate Yoo Young-jin together with other composers and songwriters. Upon the release of its accompanying music video, Aespa and "Black Mamba" achieved the most views for a K-pop debut music video - garnering 21.4 million views within its first 24 hours.
Additionally, their debut single managed to chart in at least five countries, including the fifth spot on the US Billboard World Digital Songs sales charts. Despite its debut set near the end of the year, it managed to attract attention from both local and international music critics, with "Black Mamba" being cited as one of the best releases in the year.
The group's name, "Aespa," is a combination of "ae" - taken from the first letters of Avatar and Experience," plus the word "Aspect" that means "two sides." Their name is meant to describe how the group seamlessly moves between our reality and virtual reality, with each member having a virtual avatar as their counterparts.
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