Members: Karina, Giselle, Winter, NingNing

In the days leading up to its debut, aespa dropped an unconventional teaser photo: the image shows eight women in a room—but only four of them are humans. That’s because the other four are virtual counterparts of members Karina, Giselle, Winter and NingNing. In later video trailers, the animated characters are seen singing, rapping and dancing alongside the real-life beings. Anticipation was already high for SM Entertainment’s new girl group—the first female act to debut from the powerhouse label since Red Velvet in 2014—and the introduction of these avatars only heightened curiosity around aespa. But more than the digital renditions of the members, it was aespa’s first single, “Black Mamba,” that dominated attention. The music video for this high-intensity track with booming synth notes, rich vocals and the climactic choreography of a sudden floor-drop became the fastest K-pop group debut music video to reach 100 million views on YouTube. Though “Black Mamba” is aespa’s only release thus far, its success has positioned the act in a prime spot among the rookies of 2020.