Aespa Swept Up In A Tide of Highs & Lows with Debut ‘Black Mamba’
Just this week, the K-Pop machine whirred, spun and recently popped out a brand new girl-group: Aespa. Owned by S.M Entertainment and comprising of four members, Karina, Giselle, Winter and Ningning – the girls just made their explosive landing with the debut single, ‘Black Mamba’.
Boasting of a groovy bassline, a funky electronic mix and an infectious hook – ‘Black Mamba’ leaves you hooked from start to finish. The track also sees Aespa dabble with the idea of alter-egos and a comic-book like storyline featuring the familiar trope of a monster wrecking havoc. Penned down by Yoo Young Jin, the lyrics immerse you into Aespa’s action-packed fantasy world-
I’m ejected, good is not enough to break your greatness
I’m exhausted, your existence has grown swallowing all of the greed
I’m the aespa, there can’t be two
Monochrome to colors
This is evo, evolution
Now, the music video for ‘Black Mamba’ sees a vibrant kaleidoscope of colours. The girls are seen busting out some sultry dance routines, accompanied by a crowd of leather-clad backup dancers. The sets for this track are also, quite literally out of this world. From blooming, vegetated subway trains to glitching screens and smoky rooms – Aespa have truly set the bar high for debut projects. Not to mention the constant presence of a gigantic black mamba, slithering its way through each set.
Quite the visual treat, isn’t it? Well, it was all sunshine and daisies until the storm hit. Aespa were recently slammed with plagiarism charges, the two most prominent ones being the similarities between virtual group K/DA’s ‘Popstar’ music video. And the second one arrives from the German visual artist, Timo Helgert, who claimed that the band copied his work, which also sees vegetated gardens, rainforests and well, a big black snake slithering through a subway. How S.M Entertainment chooses to navigate these plagiarism charges, only time will tell.
But on a happier note, Aespa have already set a new YouTube record with the music video for ‘Black Mamba’. The tune raked in a whopping 21 million views, notching a new high for a K-Pop girl-group’s debut music video.
And so, without further ado, have your first taste of Aespa with ‘Black Mamba’-
By: Nina Karun
