Netizens Say ‘aespa’ Member Karina Looks Like "A Well-Equipped Game Character" In Comeback Images

by Serena Martinez / May 14, 2021 07:02 AM EDT

The long wait is finally over as the K-pop rookie group "aespa" returns with a highly anticipated comeback. As more pictures of the members slowly emerge this month, netizens are quick to react to the pictures, especially on the teaser images of one of the members, Karina.

Comparing to her previous teaser images for their debut single "Black Mamba" and her upcoming "Next Level" comeback, it was like Karina had become a well-equipped game character that successfully bought all of the items that she wanted in an online game.

Netizens captioned her "Black Mamba" teaser image as a "New Character" then captioned her "Next Level" teaser image as something like "After purchasing all of the game items."

Others commented that the teaser images for Karina look like she is an AI character and the shift from debut to the upcoming comeback is really a huge difference.

It has been 6 months since aespa made its debut in November 2020 with its first hit single, "Black Mamba." In February, the group released a special remake single titled "Forever," but it felt like record label SM Entertainment did not even make an effort in promoting the release. Fans are now looking forward to Mid-May for their highly-anticipated comeback.

In relation to the group's comeback teaser photos, it was recently reported that South Korean music label SM Entertainment had hired artist Bryan Huynh to work on the concept art for the highly-anticipated comeback of the group.

Huynh was a center of discussion in October last year when he compared his own concept work to the official concept photos of "aespa." A report also confirmed that a director from SM Entertainment had saved his work in a Pinterest board as a sort of mood board while brainstorming for the concept of the group's debut single, "Black Mamba."

On May 6, he revealed that he worked with SM Entertainment in relation to the group's comeback, which is scheduled on May 17 KST. He already shared some of his concept art on his official Instagram account. He expressed his excitement for this collaboration.