Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard of aespa—the latest girl group to debut under SM Entertainment since Red Velvet came on the scene six years ago.

Giselle, Karina, Ningning, and Winter’s first single “Black Mamba” was an instant hit. Described by some as a dance-pop and electropop track with a bass-heavy hook, signature synth sound, and sweeping bridge, it peaked at No. 5 on the US Billboard World Digital Songs chart.

The quartet made a comeback last January with “Forever,” a remake of Yoo Young-jin’s 2000 single. It allowed them to show a softer side to the public, because it was a mid-tempo acoustic ballad. However, their latest single “Next Level”—a reimagined version of a song from the soundtrack of the American sci-fi action movie Hobbs Shaw—is a return to form for the group in more ways than one.

Not only is “Next Level” is a dance/hip-hop song with an energetic bass riff that calls to mind the debut single, but its official music video picks up where the one for “Black Mamba” left off. When taken together, both songs tell an exciting story. Recently, SM Entertainment released an epic 10-minute video that delves deeper into that story.

Basically, each of the four members have an æ-aespa, or a digital version of themselves created from data they uploaded to a virtual realm called the FLAT. That’s where the æs live, and they can only SYNK or hang out with the members when an AI called NÆVIS opens a Port of Soul (POS), which allows them to travel to the real world. Unfortunately, an evil being called the Black Mamba wants to keep aespa and their æs apart. In the music video for “Next Level,” the members visit a virtual realm known as KWANGYA. There, they go up against the Black Mamba and reunite with their æs.

If you’re new to aespa and their music, the story may seem unnecessarily complex to you. But if you take the time to understand it as the members did, you’ll realize just how marvelous it really is. In fact, Winter has said she finds it quite thrilling.

“We have our own worldview, and it gives us a unique color and style. We were all really pleased and excited for our future when it was explained to us for the first time,” she says.

At the moment, aespa has only three songs to their name. Even so, their music has been breaking records left and right. They became so popular that the French luxury fashion and perfume house Givenchy tapped them to be its 2021 ambassador. aespa is the first-ever K-pop group to receive such an honor.

Giselle says the secret to their success is the members’ closeness with each other. “From the moment the debut lineup for aespa was finalized, we’ve always had great teamwork. We communicate really well with each other. We became close because we always have heart-to-heart talks. I think that when you’re in a group, it’s important to be open to talking to your members about your feelings, or what’s on your mind.”

Aside from their dancing and singing abilities, all four members of aespa bring something very important to the table—their love for music. Karina shares that she got her love of classical and jazz music from her mother, while her grandmother fed her a steady diet of older Korean songs when she was a kid. Giselle’s favorite artists include Ariana Grande, Blink-182, and Stevie Wonder, while Ningning’s playlist is heavy on Beyoncé. Winter, for her part, grew up listening to and loving guitar-driven music because her older brother played in a band.

It was that love that got the girls through the worst of the coronavirus pandemic. Since they debuted in November 2020, they’ve been unable to meet their fans in person or perform in front of an audience. Any other artist would’ve crumbled in the face of such a depressing situation, but the girls’ passion for their craft helped them hold on. Instead of giving up, they made the most of the pandemic by using social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube to connect with fans from all over the world.

In the second half of 2021, the girls will be coming back with more new material aimed at strengthening that connection. During the recent SM Congress, an online event hosted by their agency’s founder Lee Soo Man, Giselle, Karina, Ningning, and Winter talked about their future plans.

Lee Soo Man and aespa discussed CAWMAN (an acronym that stands for Cartoon, Animation, Webtoon, Motion graphic, Avatar, and Novel), a new genre that will encompass all the upcoming content produced by aespa’s agency for the group.

“We’ll be creating episodes centered around the aespa universe through CAWMAN, and we’re also exploring the possibility of turning the group’s story into a Hollywood film,” shares Lee Soo Man.

If that Hollywood film will be anything like the short film they released, it’ll be thrilling in more ways than one. Unfortunately, since their agency is still in talks with different American film outfits, it might take a while before that film sees the light of day.

Until it does, Giselle, Karina, Ningning, and Winter—not to mention their æ-aespa—have a lot of other things up their sleeves. Their fans are sure to be bowled over by what they have in store.

Karina says, “We've only revealed one episode of our story so far. People are curious about whether aespa will be going on various adventures with our æ-aespa in KWANGYA, and if we’ll face off against the Black Mamba again. As of now, we’re preparing to tell the remaining story of season 1, so please look forward to it.

“I’m sure that the lyrics of our songs will only get more interesting as they tell a story of our adventures in that world, adding on to the fun in uncovering the full story with each new release,” she adds.