Aespa recently released their first and long-awaited full-length studio album, Armageddon, on May 27. With two title tracks — “Supernova” and “Armageddon” — the 10-track album has been anticipated by fans for a long time, since the K-Pop group went for over three years without a full album.
And of course, they haven’t disappointed! With their unique sound and captivating music videos, aespa’s new releases have been getting somewhat split reactions from some, but overall the reception seems to be a positive one. It feels like the group is at the peak of their career so far, and they’ve been doing wonderfully with their live vocals during performances, especially during a time when other artists are getting so heavily criticized for theirs.
Because of this success, it’s hard to believe that some members of the group appear to be getting “kicked out”. Yet that’s exactly what some fans have been discussing recently.
If you haven’t guessed it yet, the “members” in question are the avatars of the members.
One of the major concepts for aespa that was advertised during their pre-debut and early years was the use of these “ae” members in their lore and music videos. And they were used in some of the group’s early music videos, though admittedly it was never as much as some fans expected.
And for the last couple of comebacks for aespa, including their most recent one, the avatars have been nowhere to be seen.
Because of this, many people suspect that the ae members have been “kicked out” of aespa, possibly due to all the changes in management that SM Entertainment has been going through recently. It’s no secret that the changes being made at the company have led to a lot of creative endeavors seemingly being scrapped or changed, and it’s possible that they’ve just dropped the avatar concept for aespa, especially since they’re already successful on their own.
There is still some hope that the “ae-aespa” will reappear, perhaps with the solo debut of AI character Naevis, but only time will tell.
Here’s what people are saying regarding the situation involving aespa and their “OT8” member line-up potentially changing to “OT4”. Some are genuinely invested in the situation, while others are making jokes about it!
How do you feel about the situation?
