walking upstream…
aespa
sourcesWikipedia2 · Rolling Stone · Koreaboo
aespa debuted in November 2020 as SM Entertainment's answer to a K-pop industry hungry for a new flagship girl group, built around a science-fiction conceit: each member — Karina, Giselle, Winter, and Ningning — is paired with an AI 'avatar' twin living in a parallel digital universe called the Kwangya. The concept doubled as a sound: 'Black Mamba' and 'Next Level' fused maximalist trap-pop, glitching synth stabs, and abrupt tempo swerves into a controlled-chaos style critics read as a natural extension of SM's house 'SMP' formula. Global breakthroughs followed fast — Coachella sets, a public friendship with Grimes, English-language crossovers like 'Better Things' — while the group kept extending its avatar mythology across 'Girls,' 'Drama,' and 'Whiplash.'
the sound in question
2021
Next Levelaespa
walk the tributaries ↓
S.E.S.1990s · K-pop / Dance-pop / R&B
In December 2021, aespa's fourth SM Station single was a remake of S.E.S.'s 1998 ballad 'Dreams Come True' — SM folding its first-generation girl group directly into its newest one as part of a remastering push tied to the label's back catalogue, with the arrangement modernized but the song's plainspoken, harmony-built hopefulness kept intact. BoA, S.E.S.'s labelmate a generation later, produced the remake and directed its choreography and visuals.
listen: upstream & here
1998
Dreams Come TrueS.E.S.
2021
Dreams Come Trueaespa
listen forPlay S.E.S.'s original 'Dreams Come True' against aespa's 2021 version back to back — the layered three-part harmonies and the plain, hopeful chorus melody survive almost untouched underneath aespa's glossier production, a rare case of a K-pop lineage stated outright rather than merely implied.
BoA2000s · K-pop / J-pop / Dance-pop / R&B
BoA produced and choreographed aespa's 'Dreams Come True' remake and has mentored the group informally since; asked about her by Rolling Stone in 2024, aespa's members said she's 'not just famous — she's a legend' and singled out how 'she never loses her passion, and people see that.' As SM's original teenage triple-threat — singer, dancer, multilingual export act — she set the template of the all-around, label-groomed idol that aespa's members are still measured against.
listen: upstream & here
2002
No.1BoA
2021
Next Levelaespa
listen forCompare the blunt, high-impact chorus hook and hard-hitting choreography break in BoA's 2002 breakout 'No.1' with aespa's 2021 arrival single 'Next Level' — both are built as showcase moments meant to introduce a fully-formed idol persona inside a single dance break.
Girls' Generation2000s–2010s · K-pop / Dance-pop / Pop
Karina has named Girls' Generation among her role models, and has said watching them perform 'Into the New World' on television as a child was what first made her want to become an idol — an origin story SM later underlined by pairing Karina and Winter alongside Girls' Generation's Taeyeon and Hyoyeon in the label's 'GOT the Beat' supergroup project.
listen: upstream & heresource: Billboard ↗
2007
Into the New WorldGirls' Generation
2023
Better Thingsaespa
listen forSet Girls' Generation's 2007 debut 'Into the New World' beside aespa's English-language single 'Better Things' — both use a plain, insistent chorus about pushing through hardship toward something better as a girl-group rallying cry, one generation apart.