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K-Pop Superstars aespa on Their Future: ‘There May Be Moments Where The Fans Don’t See The Avatars’
aespa: The K-pop girl group (and Billboard Women in Music's Group of the Year) talk AI avatars, their dream collaborators and more.
High-pitched giggles reverberate through the studio as Winter, Karina, Ningning and Giselle tickle one another’s sides, talk in silly voices and play with the straps on their leathery stage outfits. The SM Entertainment group debuted in 2020 with K-pop’s first lineup to feature both human and virtual members, pairing each girl with an artificial intelligence (AI) avatar as part of a cyberpunk musical metaverse marked by dark, 808-laced hyperpop and edgy-chic outfits. But going forward, 2025’s Billboard Women in Music Group of the Year also wants to focus on something potentially even more subversive: showing that beneath the personas, its members are just those real-life girls blowing off steam between camera flashes.
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