SM Entertainment’s new girl group Aespa is debuting their single Black Mamba on November 17th at 6PM KST. Aespa is SM Entertainment’s first new group since NCT in 2016 and its first girl group since Red Velvet in 2014.
Three trainees are expected to debut in SM Entertainment’s upcoming girl group, Aespa. SM Entertainment explained that the group name is taken from the phrase “Avatar X Experience” and combines it into “æ” while the ending of the name comes from the word “aspect”. The meaning of the name means one’s other self meeting with an avatar while experiencing a new world along the way.
On October 26, fans have been speculating about the members who will be joining the girl group after news broke earlier today. It was reported that many promising trainees under SM’s pre-debut project SM Rookies had either exited or hinted at leaving. These include Herin, Yiyang, Koeun, Lami, and Hina.
With that in mind, here are the only three confirmed and notable female trainees left at the agency who are expected to be part of Aespa.
Yoo Jimin
Birthday: April 11 2000 (Age 20)
Jimin joined SM Entertainment as a trainee around 2016 or 2017. Before this she went viral for her good looks. She previously served as a back-up dancer for SHINee’s Taemin during his performance for his song Want last year. Fans are speculating that Jimin will be the group’s dancer if she debuts.
Helen (Lee Hyejin)
Birth date: November/December 2003 (Age 17)
Born in South Korea, Helen moved to Brisbane, Australia when she was four. Later on, she moved back to Seoul to pursue her dreams of becoming a K-pop idol. Before auditioning for SM Entertainment, she trained at SL Studio Academy. She joined SM Entertainment in December 2019. Helen showed off her dancing skills in Pocket TV’s YouTube video titled “How to Pass a K-Pop Audition Part 2” three months earlier.
Ning Yizhuo (Ningning)
Birth date: October 23 2002 (Age 18)
Ningning participated in the Zhejiang TV programme called Let’s Sing Kids before joining SM in 2016. She was born in Harbin, China and she is the only known non-Korean trainee currently at the company. Ningning is expected to be the group’s main vocalist if she makes her debut.
It has been reported that a fourth member has joined the group. The names of the members include Karina (Yoo Ji Min), Giselle (Aeri Uchinaga), Winter (Kim Min Jeong) and Ning Ning (Ning Yizhuo).