“They can express things that we in real life can’t, or haven’t yet,” Giselle tells Apple Music. Debuting in 2020 with the sinister synth-pop single “Black Mamba,” the Seoul-based K-pop quartet of Karina, Giselle, Winter, and Ningning emerged with four distinct alter egos: their ae avatars, formed in the fantastical parallel universe of KWANGYA and brought together by the mysterious AI leader Naevis. Aespa don’t just sing about a techno-utopian future-they’re living in one.
