Over the course of the MV, the world is taken over by a dark force personified through a black mamba snake, presumably the antithesis to Aespa’s sweeter and more feminine protagonist roles. Like many companies, SM are investing heavily in the idea of world-building and fictional storytelling through K-pop, and for Aespa it seems they are sowing the seeds of these stories as early as possible. The MV is also filled with cryptic, surreal imagery, including a teaser for BoA’s upcoming comeback, which hints at untold secrets and fantastical backstories. How Aespa’s virtual characters will interact with their real-life counterparts remains unclear, however, and within the MV they make only very brief appearances as mirrored reflections. The concept seems heavily inspired by K/DA, another virtual four-member girl group created by Riot Games, which features the voices of (G)I-dle’s Soyeon and Miyeon, and promotes the game League of Legends through K-pop-style songs and MVs. Capitalising on current (and in anticipation of future) digital technology developments, the four members, Karina, Winter, Ningning and Giselle, come with virtual alter-egos, who appear in concept photos as illustrated counterparts and in videos as 3D-animated characters.

SM hasn’t let us down in the concept and visuals department, however, and Aespa come with as striking a concept and MV as you would expect from the team that brought us NCT’s limitless expansion and Exo’s supernatural powers.

Black mamba song