SM Entertainment’s latest girl group Aespa has officially debuted! On November 17, Aespa released their debut single Black Mamba and its music video. The single was composed by Omega, Ella Isaacson, Gabriela Geneva, Jordan Reyes, Shaun Lopez, Scott Chesak and Yoo Young Jin. The song is a powerful dance song with a signature synth sound, a strong bass, and a catch hook like the chanting of a spell.
Black Mamba was written by Yoo Young Jin. The lyrics introduce the unique world of Aespa in a storyline where the Black Mamba is a villain threatening the world and blocking the connection between the aespa members and their “æ” avatars.
The group consists of Korean members Winter and Karina, Chinese member Ningning, and Japanese member Giselle. The name Aespa is a combination of the character æ, which represents the phrase “avatar x experience,” and the English word “aspect.”
It has been reported that the group will be adding more members in the near future. The current line up consists of four members. An anonymous source said that SM Entertainment plans on adding three more members, making it a seven-member group. The online post by this source first appeared in October.
Netizens responded to this claim, saying that it was baseless. With the launch of aespa’s Black Mamba MV teaser, the post gained renewed attention.
The insider claimed back on October 29,
“This song is similar to K/DA‘s ‘Popstar‘ but a little heavier, and in the beginning it starts with the electric guitar before they shout ‘Hey’ and then Karina starts off in the center of the formation. However many times I listen to the song, it’s just a plain, generic hip-girl song. Part 1. Karina, 2. Ningning, 3. Winter, 4 Aeri. The debut is only 4 members and Winter and Ningning have the most parts. The dance during the highlight part is similar to Girls’ Generation‘s ‘Girls bring the’ part…”
Many netizens are now surprised to find that many of claims made in the post above were true. This source also made the claim that three new members would be added some time after SME revealed aespa’s official logo, by writing the names of the debuting members first:
Yoo Ji Min (Karina)
Ningning
Aeri (Giselle)
Kim Min Jung (Winter)
And then adding the names of the alleged new members:
Initial R/L, Initial N
Initial (Could be A, Y, W, etc), Initial J
Initial H, Initial R/L
Of the initials of the alleged new members mentioned, many netizens recognised the one with “Initial H, Initial R/L” as belonging to an already well-known SM trainee named Helen an Australian-American born in 2003.