we clowned aespa for their ae and kwangya concept without looking into what that actually (might have) meant. or maybe we did and we just like to joke around abt it lol.
there are many ways and angles to take on this. i have yet to finish close reading lyrics of savage (ep), and i'm mostly taking cues from how aespa's concept was introduced through debut/smcu eps, visual narratives from their MVs, lyrics from black mamba and next level, etc. so i might be completely off. nevertheless here goes death of the author. this is going to be really messy and i have yet to completely and properly write a think piece on this but i just want to let it out so we can stop pretending that aespa's concept is anything short of genius.
ever since sm released smcu ep. 1 i've been thinking about how we built an entire virtual world and just accept that we interact on it on a daily basis without realizing it sometimes. like the internet, NFTs, digital fashion—an entire virtual world outside of what we tangibly/physically experience is out there. and i think it's quite a sign of the times that we are asking questions, creating music, building an entire kpop group that explores it. at university, i've been encountering lots of text and literature that talk about this specifically--evocative objects by sherry turkle being the most recent one.
like what defines our human experience, is it the physical world? and what if the virtual inventions of mankind found their way into our daily routines as much as those of the physical world has (hello 1992 invention of the www who wouldve thought)? what does that interaction make of us (and our virtual personas), how much (dis)connection are we experiencing from the fact that virtual everything has been on the rise? how much is it making us lonelier? happier? more human? less human? -- truly some philosophical questions here sometimes lol
the pandemic actually accelerated that because we don't have much choice but to go online to connect, to shop, to deposit money, to interact, to read, to entertain ourselves. where do all these things end up? floating somewhere in the virtual world yet they play such huge part in our lives!!!! it's really mind blowing if you just take a step back and try to take in how much of our lives are facilitated by virtual tools... people?
if you have other literature that can provide an angle/another take on this. i'd be happy to hear about them! this actually makes me so excited because of how this can really be explored in aespa's discography and the smcu.
i'm sorry its 5am where im from, i've just finished uni work and haven't had sleep. just had to write this and think out loud so i cant find the right words to this atm. I promise when i find the time i'll flesh it out more haha and maybe link a blog post of some sort.
do share related ideas! for those who have close read smcu and aespa's lyrics, are there any textual evidence that point/prove/support this thought? would love to hear them.
this is the first time im diving deep into this so if it has been brought up before but the memes / ae clownery just overshadowed them, dont crucify me for being late to the party!

















