aespa's "Switchblade" Video Is Out Today. The Song Premiered Live at Lollapalooza First.
aespa released the music video for "Switchblade," their collaboration with Ty Dolla $ign, at 1 p.m. KST Tuesday on SMTOWN's YouTube channel. Fans had already heard it once before - the group brought Ty Dolla $ign onstage to perform it live for the first time during their Lollapalooza debut in Chicago on August 2, days ahead of the song's official release.
Saturday's set ran 15 songs on the Allianz Stage at Grant Park, opening with "Black Mamba" and "Next Level" before moving through "Rich Man," "Can't Help Myself," "Bubble," "To the Girls," "Armageddon" and "Supernova," backed by a live band. "Switchblade" landed in the middle of the set as the surprise: Karina, Winter, Giselle and Ningning performed the song for the first time anywhere, then brought out Ty Dolla $ign for his verse. The set also pulled from aespa's second full-length Korean album, "LEMONADE," released May 29, including the title track and "WDA (Whole Different Animal)."
The group described the Lollapalooza slot as an honor afterward, and said the crowd's energy would carry into what comes next: aespa opens its "2026-27 aespa LIVE TOUR - SYNK : COMPLæXITY" at Seoul's Gocheok Sky Dome on August 7 and 8, before a 25-region run across North America, South America and Europe that continues into next year. That means "Switchblade" will likely enter regular tour rotation on stages far bigger than Grant Park before most fans outside Chicago have had more than a few days with the studio version.
Between the festival premiere and today's official release, "Switchblade" has had an unusual rollout - heard live by a stadium crowd in Chicago before a single official stream existed. aespa debuted under SM Entertainment in November 2020 with "Black Mamba," and Saturday's set closed out a run of festival and tour dates the group has used to bridge from "LEMONADE" into its next era. The Lollapalooza slot also marked the group's first appearance at the festival, following K-pop acts like Jennie and i-dle onto Chicago stages earlier the same weekend. Now everyone else gets to catch up.
