is a South Korean girl group formed by SM Entertainment. The group consists of four members: Karina, Giselle, Winter, and Ningning. The group is known for popularizing the metaverse concept and hyperpop music in K-pop.
Aespa debuted on November 17, 2020, with the single "Black Mamba". The song's music video achieved the highest number of views for a K-pop group's debut video in 24 hours, with 21.4 million views. Their second single, "Next Level", was released in May 2021 to widespread commercial success, peaking at number two on the Circle Digital Chart and K-pop Hot 100. It earned multiple accolades and Daesang[a] awards, including Song of the Year at the 19th Korean Music Awards and 2021 Melon Music Awards. In October 2021, Aespa released their first extended play (EP) Savage and its lead single of the same name. The EP sold 787,600 copies and became the best-selling debut album by an SM Entertainment act at the time; the latter marked Aespa's second top-five song in South Korea and their first top-40 entry on the Billboard Global 200. In July 2022, they released their second EP Girls, which sold 1,850,993 copies and debuted at number three on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. Their third EP, My World was released in May 2023, achieving 2.1 million sales and becoming the second best-selling album by a K-pop girl group.
The group's name, Aespa, combines the English initials for "avatar" and "experience" (Avatar X Experience) with the English word "aspect", meaning "two sides", to symbolize the idea of "meeting another self and experiencing the new world".