The new song ‘Next Level’ of AESPA, becomes the play culture of Generation Z.
Tops Melon’s ’24 Hits’ 8 Months After Debut.
SM’s projection of K-pop’s future and worldview.
“I’m on the next level, yeah / I follow the absolute rules / don’t let go of my hand, unity is my weapon / I walk to KWANGYA” (from AESPA’s ‘Next Level’)
The momentum of the fourth-generation K-pop group AESPA, ‘eight months since its debut,’ is unusual. The new song ‘Next Level’ topped the Melon ’24 Hits’ chart, the largest music site in Korea. It remains on the top spot from June 21st to June 29th. However, it fell to second place, losing first place to ‘Foolish Love’ by MSG Wannabe. But still, AESPA’s record surprised the music industry.
It is because it’s the first time that a rookie who debuted only 8 months ago topped this chart. Particularly, Melon’s ’24 Hits’ chart ranks on a 24-hour cumulative basis. Only one user listens to it once per 24 hours. So, idols with strong fandom rarely reach the top. In this case, AESPA even beat BTS.
Also, the music video for ‘Next Level’ quickly increased the number of views. It surpassed 100 million views on YouTube within 32 days of its release. It broke the record of its previous work, ‘Black Mamba’ on Wednesday. Earlier, in January, the music video for ‘Black Mamba’ reached 100 million views in 51 days and 12 hours. It is the shortest time for a debut song by a K-pop group as well as a rookie, worldwide.
‘Next Level,’ released on June 17th, was a remake of the hip-hop song and OST of the movie Fast and Furious: Hobbs & Shaw. Hitmaker Youngjin Yoo, director of SM Entertainment, produces the song.
‘Next Level’ became a hot topic with the announcement of the unusual song composition. It seemed to combine the lyrics that clearly show AESPA’s avatar worldview and a completely different song. Thanks to this, the song became a play culture for Generation Z as soon as it appeared. The interpretation of the song of ‘Next Level’ continued mainly on the Internet. It became the driving force for AESPA to dominate the charts after 8 months of their debut.
Particularly, Gen Z K-pop fans continued to argue over where the ‘wilderness,’ which appears from AESPA’s debut song ‘Black Mamba’ to the lyrics of ‘Next Level,’ is. Even ‘wilderness’ is a word that appears in NCT U’s ’90’s Love’ (lyrics ‘Come closer beyond the wilderness’). Also, among K-pop fans, music analysis of the so-called ‘Next Level’ and ‘SMP (SM Music Performance: a style that optimally mixes the songs and choreography of SM artists)’ continued. This is because AESPA’s ‘Next Level’ has gathered many voices saying that it is the ‘crystal of SMP’ that has been going on for the past 20 years.
In fact, ‘Next Level’ is a song that shows the direction of AESPA and the future of K-pop that SM is visioning. AESPA debuted with the title of the world’s first ‘avatar group.’
AESPA’s team name is also a combination of ‘æ,’ which expresses ‘Avatar X Experience,’ and the English word ‘aspect,’ which means both sides. Based on the worldview of ‘meet the avatar, who is another self, and experience a new world,’ the group boldly cast their votes.
‘The ‘Wilderness,’ which appears in the songs of SM singers, including AESPA, also establishes a connection with this. Sungsu Lee, SM Entertainment’s co-representative, said, “‘The Wilderness’ is a metaverse envisioned by SM Culture Universe (SMCU). It is a huge world that invites all fans around the world. Every music and story in the wilderness will meet more fans.”
In addition, AESPA’s worldview will seem to turn into a movie. At the recently held ‘SM Congress 2021,’ AESPA appeared as the main character and introduced ‘CAWMAN.’
‘CAWMAN’ is a new mixed video content genre that compresses the ‘SMCU’ worldview. It is a word combining C for Cartoon, A for Animation, W for Webtoon, M for Motion graphic, A for Avatar, and N for Novel.
SM said, “There is an ongoing discussion of making an episode in the genre called ‘CAWMAN.’ We are planning to make it a movie in Hollywood.”
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