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Touted as the "monster rookie" group quickly after their debut, aespa has hardly been seen on TV since the start of 2022. One fan raised concerns regarding the same on the South Korean platform theqoo on November 16. The post has already amassed 64K views and over 600 comments.
The anonymous user made the post a day before the Next Level group were to celebrate their second debut anniversary. This year — aside from some global ambassadorships and Coachella performances in terms of music — the group pre-released some songs and later launched an album titled Girls in July.
The major point of the debate was that the group promoted the album on only four music shows. The quintet’s activities have been low compared to the rookie groups who debuted this year.
Fans have mixed reactions to aespa’s promotions in 2022
The blog post on theqoo had fans discussing the reasons behind SM Entertainment giving their fourth-generation superstars comparatively fewer activities. Their latest album was Girls, released in July. Its pre-releases generated some buzz around them in June. As theqoo user pointed out, the four-member group only performed on four music shows to promote the album.
Music shows in Korea are a crucial activity where K-pop idols advertise their releases to gain exposure in the over-saturated market. Every launch is followed by an average of two weeks of promotions via music shows. However, aespa’s four live shows seem too few to fans in hindsight.
Some netizens wondered if giving aespa fewer promotions was a marketing tactic, such as providing the group with a mysterious label and, therefore, generating more curiosity.
A few mentioned that since the Next Level girl group continues to present incredible sales numbers, the lack of promotions doesn’t seem to be hindering the business. Moreover, the quintet is yet to be announced as a performing artist in any of the coveted year-end award shows, which raises more suspicion.
Others commented that the majority of SM Entertainment artists seemed to be releasing albums and promoting the launches as one might expect, but not the quintet. SHINee’s KEY and ONEW, NCT DREAM, NCT 127, TAEYEON, were some of the names who released songs and participated in music shows as well as variety shows.
In other news, SM Entertainment recently revealed 2023 Season’s Greetings for all their artists, including the Savage singers. Apart from the quintet, other names whose Greetings merch have been announced include TVXQ, EXO, Red Velvet, SHINee, NCT 127, NCT DREAM, and WayV.
On three major e-commerce sites, Ktown4u, Aladin, and Yes 24, aespa’s merchandise saw incredible sales, ranking among the highest. As per data from November 17, the Next Level singers’ Season’s Greetings ranked first, second, and third on the list of the highest number of merch sold.
Although Season’s Greetings are usually bought by hardcore fans, the numbers showcase an undying interest in aespa, despite the group seeing below-average promotions and exposure.
SM Entertainment’s monster rookie girl group aespa took over South Korea and international markets with viral hits Savage and Next Level after debuting in November 2020. They broke multiple female group records, achieved over one million sales in the first week of Girls' release, and much more.
