Aespa’s New Album Revealed To Have Over A Dozen Types, Reignites Conversation About Excessive Album Versions

On April 22, aespa revealed that their first upcoming full-length studio album, set to release on May 27, is called Armageddon.

aespa 에스파 The 1st Album 〖Armageddon〗

Pre-order
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핫트랙스➫ https://t.co/douKXZqp9D

US/CAN/EU/LATAM pre-order with exclusive versions coming soon!#aespa #æspa… pic.twitter.com/WwhVJeyVia

— aespa (@aespa_official) April 22, 2024

The girl group’s first full-length album has been a long time coming, with fans waiting around three and a half years since they first debuted to hear such an announcement. Overall, the reveal was met with a lot of excitement and relief from fans to finally be getting a longer album from the talented K-Pop group.

However, as people have started looking into pre-orders and what versions of the album will be available, some of that excitement has shifted to frustration. It turns out that there are already at least 15 versions of Armageddon to choose from, with likely more on the way. And at this point, though pre-orders are already available, there is little information about the difference between the versions.

With this, aespa has joined a growing list of K-Pop artists who are releasing albums with a number of different versions that go into the double digits. Fans have already become frustrated by this trend in the industry for many reasons, such as the waste being created, inflated sales numbers, and even just trying to choose which version (or versions) to buy.

Some are wondering if it has to do with the fact that aespa’s last album, Drama, sold significantly fewer copies than the one before it, My World. While My World sold over 2.14 million copies, Drama still had a very high sales number at 1.30 million; however, considering that it has become common for many K-Pop artists to sell more albums with each release, this could seem like a setback to SM Entertainment.

The conversation about aespa’s new album versions was discussed on a Reddit post, where fans vented their discontent and annoyance with the marketing method.

Will you be buying one (or more) versions of Armageddon?