aespa

Later that day, it was announced that SM would be debuting a new girl group in November. The next day, the group's first member, Winter, was officially revealed. On October 28, the second member, Karina, was revealed.

The same day, a video shown during a press conference featuring Lee Soo-Man revealed the group would have four members, including Giselle and Ningning. On October 29, Ningning was officially revealed as the group's third member. On October 30, Giselle was revealed as the group's fourth and final member.

On November 2, it was announced the group would debut on November 17 with the digital single "Black Mamba", The music video for the song counted 21,425,062 views in its first day, breaking the record for most viewed music video in the first 24 hours by a K-pop group in its debut, which was previously held by ITZY with the song "Dalla Dalla". The group at MBC's Gayo Daejejeon backstage on December 31, 2020 On November 17, the day they debuted, the group's fanclub name was announced to be "MY (마이)" which is the word used to mean "the most precious friend" in KWANGYA where aespa's avatar æ lives. The group for GIVENCHY in February 2021 On January 8, 2021, the music video for "Black Mamba" hit 100 million views, which took only 51 days and 12 hours to achieve, setting a new record in K-pop history as the debut MV to garner 100 million views in the shortest time period.

On January 14, a Forbes article mentioned that the group was expected to put out new music early into 2021 with all signs pointing to additional international activities. Three days later, the group won their first music show win with "Black Mamba" on SBS's Inkigayo. On January 29, the hashtag #늘_네_옆에_난_서있을게 (#I_will_always_stand_by_your_side) was promoted by the group's official Twitter account, and it was later revealed that the group would release a surprise single "Forever" on February 5.

The single was a remake of the song of the same name by Yoo Young Jin from the SMTOWN album Winter Vacation In SMTOWN. Com. On February 4, SM Entertainment announced that the group would release a series of performances for the single in the following days with various concepts.

On March 15, an economic analysis by SM Entertainment revealed that a virtual show in conjunction with the group's "æ-avatars" was expected for the year. Lee Kihoon, a researcher at the Hana Financial Group, also added that the debut process of the group was largely responsible for making SM the most innovative company in the current era of the "metauniverses". Four days later, aespa was one of the two k-pop groups chosen by People magazine in the list "Emerging Artists Making Their Mark on the Musical Landscape in 2021".

According to the article, the group was currently preparing to be able to release their first mini album during the South Korean summer. On April 6, it was reaffirmed again in an article from "Just Jared" that the group was set to release new music in the summer. aespa at a press conference for "[[Next Level" on May 17, 2021]] On May 4, SM Entertainment confirmed that aespa was preparing for a comeback.

On May 6, a teaser was posted via the group's social medias announcing the group's comeback entitled "Next Level". Later that same day, it was confirmed that aespa would be making a comeback with their third di...