The Hardest Part About Performing Live That Pandemic-Born K-Pop Groups Understand Best, According To aespa

Aespa found one thing surprising.

SM Entertainment‘s newest girl group, aespa, made a successful debut in 2020 with “BLACK MAMBA.” They were part of the generation of K-Pop idols that first promoted at the height of the pandemic.

From left to right: aespa’s Giselle, Winter, Karina, and Ningning

They recently sat down for an interview with the Zach Sang Show where they delved deeper into the circumstances surrounding their debut, particularly the fact that they promoted mostly when restrictions were at an all time high.

According to Giselle, it was a vastly different debut than they had expected. Rather than performing in front of a crowd, they did so in front of cameras.

Debuting in the pandemic was obviously a lot different than what we imagined a normal debut would be. When we would stand on stage, there would be no audience, it would just be cameras and that went on for almost a whole year and a half.

— Giselle

They never had more than a few MYs watching them in person during their first few comeback schedules. For reference, KBS‘s Music Bank only began welcoming back live audiences in May 2022 after a two year break.

There were very [few] times when we had a small audience but it was never a fully packed audience that we got to experience unlike really recently.

— Giselle

The group’s first time performing in front of a large-scale live audience was in Coachella, an annual music festival held in California.

Coachella was our very first time where we had people watching us. It’s a huge stage for a first time with people watching so that was a very big moment for us.

— Giselle

Another notable event that aespa attended was the Showcase SYNK in LA at the YouTube Theater. It was an intimate event where they could interact with their fans and show off their live vocals.

The YouTube Theater was our very first time with only our mics like a concert vibe. It’s still new to us. It’s a very fun time and we can feel ourselves improving as we keep doing it.

— Giselle

| @Kpop_Herald/Twitter

There is a big difference between singing in front of a camera versus singing in front of an audience. Giselle noticed that they had more control over their facial expressions in terms of the former.

You know when people talk about how we give energy and how we get energy from the audience? I think we really understand what that meant. It’s so different. In front of a camera, I have almost 100% control over my facial expressions. For example, you know, I’m gonna do this at this part and I’m gonna look at that place at this part and we have all that planned and it comes with practice.

— Giselle

Other pandemic-born groups would be able to relate to how they needed to adapt to performing in front of many people. Having an audience led aespa to realize that “what [they] do can’t be planned.” Every reaction of their fans made an impact on their singing, dancing, facial expressions, and energy.

When there’s audience in front of us…whatever we feel during that moment is what happens in our performance. So I think that’s what makes each stage very special for us.

— Giselle

Check out the full video below to learn more about aespa.

Source: YouTube

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