Aespa Reacts To Grimes’ Perspective On The Polarized Nature Of K-Pop Fandoms

SM Entertainment‘s fourth-generation girl group aespa debuted with an intriguing metaverse concept, which caught the eye of fellow artist, Canadian singer-songwriter Grimes.

(From left:) aespa’s Grimes, NingNing, Giselle, Karina, and Winter | @rollingstone/Instagram

Grimes has been a longtime fan of aespa, having told fans in 2021 that she loves them and “literally [emails] their manager all the time” after being asked if she had heard of the top fourth-gen group.

Having created an AI-girl group herself, Grimes was naturally drawn to aespa, who has their own virtual “æ” counterparts.

aespa with their “æ” counterparts | SM Entertainment

aespa revealed they’ve also been longtime fans of Grimes, with Giselle pointing out that NingNing was especially fond of the Canadian musician.

Other than their shared experiences with the metaverse, aespa and Grimes realized they had quite a bit in common during their Musicians On Musicians interview with Rolling Stone.

Giselle told Grimes that she really liked her song “Easily,” to which Grimes hilariously replied that it’s her “most hated” song.

Giselle added that she tends to like songs like Grimes’ “Easily” and “California” and wondered how she came up with the “vibe” for them.

Grimes | @grimes/Instagram

Grimes replied that she was doing a “Taylor Swift cosplay” when she recorded “California,” and it “vaguely portrayed” the media’s obsession with portraying artists as “troubled souls or something.”

The Canadian singer asked if aespa felt the media portrayed them in the same way, and Giselle admitted they “definitely did,” adding, with input her fellow members, that the media, at times, had tried to portray them in a negative light with “scandals and things like that.”

(From left:) aespa’s Giselle, Karina, Winter, and NingNing | @aespa_official/Twitter

Grimes, having been a K-Pop fan for over a decade, shared that she feels “some of K-Pop media is so savage sometimes.” She added that K-Pop fandoms “can be so amazing,” but noted that people can also be “aggressive” in expecting “so much” of K-Pop artists.”

Giselle agreed, saying that the K-Pop fandom can be “so great,” while acknowledging there are also “scary people out there.”

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During their interview, they also bonded over tattoos, with NingNing seemingly revealing SM Entertainment has guidelines for body art.

Check out more on that in the article below!

Aespa’s NingNing Seemingly Gives SM Entertainment’s Stance On Tattoos