Lee Soo Man Joked That He Also Wants An aespa Avatar—So Korean Netizens Fulfilled His Wish
SM Entertainment recently held the SM Congress 2021 with founder Lee Soo Man, NCT, and monster rookies aespa.
They covered a variety of topics ranging from aespa’s achievements to the filming of “Black Mamba.” While they were at it, the unique characteristic of the girl group was brought up—their avatars. They are the first K-Pop and vocaloid group with avatars mirroring the members: ae-Karina, ae-Winter, ae-Giselle, and ae-Ningning.
Lee Soo Man himself was the one who revealed the AI concept to the public at the 2020 WCIF (World Cultural Industry Forum).
Within aespa, there are real-world members and virtual-world members. The members of the real and virtual works don’t ask one another to do something specific, but they are able to interact and communicate as [the virtual members] have AI brains.
— Lee Soo Man
Fast forward to the SM Congress 2021, he revisited the topic and joked that he would like to have one as well.
You each have an ‘ae’ . I should make an ae-Soo Man too. I’d like to have my own ‘ae.’
— Lee Soo Man
Unsurprisingly, Korean netizens couldn’t leave the joke alone and they took it upon themselves to fulfill his wish! With the help of simulation video game Sims 4, a Lee Soo Man look-alike was made. He even danced to the point choreography of aespa’s latest hit “Next Level.”
The video went viral as it garnered over two hundred thousand views in just a few hours.
He’s now part of the team!
Check out the video for yourself below.
