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aespa 'Savage': Release date, sci-fi concept and all about their first mini-album

aespa fight off the 'Black Mamba' from their debut music video in the teaser for their first mini-album 'Savage'

Fans are ready for the rookie monsters’ first mini-album. Having debuted last year, aespa has only released digital singles to date. But for their latest comeback, they will be releasing ‘Savage’, their first mini-album. And they’re going all out. For one, expect something different from their previous glamorous comebacks — the girl group is preparing to show a new, more mature side to them. 

To hype the album, fans have already helped ‘Savage’ cross 120k in pre-orders. At the same time, aespa’s previous release -- ‘Next Level’ has joined Blackpink’s ‘Lovesick Girls’ as the only K-pop girl group song to spend 20 weeks in the top 10 of MelOn’s chart. Additionally, the ‘Savage’ music video teaser reached 1 million views in less than 3 hours making it aespa’s fastest teaser to reach this milestone. Fans are excited for what the group has in store for the ‘Savage’ comeback.

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Release date

aespa’s ‘Savage’ will be released on October 5 at 6 pm KST (5 am ET).

Where to listen

The mini-album will be released on all major music streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, MelOn and more.

Schedule

October 5 - Comeback showcase at 8 pm KST (7 am ET)
October 6 - Kim Youngchul’s 'Power FM' at 7 am KST  (October 5 at 6 pm ET)
October 7 - Kim Shinyoung’s 'Noon Song of Hope' at 12 pm KST (October 6 at 11 am ET)
JaeJae's 'MMTG' at 5 pm KST (4 am ET)
October 9 - 'Amazing Saturday' with Karina and Winter at 7:40 pm KST (6:40 am ET)
Wendy’s 'Youngstreet' radio show at 8 pm KST (7 am ET)
October 15 - KBS’ K-POP World Festival at 6:30 pm KST (5:30 am ET)

Tracklist

1. ‘aenergy’
2. ‘Savage’ - Title track
3. ‘I’ll Make You Cry’
4. ‘YEPPI YEPPI’
5. ‘ICONIC’
6. ‘Lucid Dream’

The title track ‘Savage’ is a hip-hop song with trap-dance elements. And like ‘Next Level’, ‘Savage is also a remake. This time they will be taking Megan Thee Stallion’s ‘Savage’ and reinterpreting it with their color. ‘aenergy’ is an upbeat song while ‘I’ll Make You Cry’ is a dance song about revenge. ‘YEPPI YEPPI’ is full of deep house and trance sounds while ‘ICONIC’ is a dance-pop song. The album ends with ‘Lucid Dream’, a pop song with a dreamy vibe.

Concept

Korean fans pointed out that SM Entertainment has invested a lot in the group as we’ve been getting several video teasers, six concept photos and a CGI-filled music video. In the first concept images for ‘Hallucination Quest’ we saw the girls make references to the ‘Matrix’. In the ‘Synk Dive’ concept, the girls wear glamorous headpieces as they get ready to sync with their AI aka AE counterparts. aespa is then seen wearing dark leather outfits as they pose with their AE counterparts. Finally, they released teasers for the music video as they’re in a pastel world dressed in chic outfits.

Music video teaser

The music video was produced by SL8 Visual Lab that has also worked on other fantastical music videos for K-pop acts like Red Velvet, iKON, Stray Kids, Astro and NCT Dream. In the ‘Savage’ music video teaser, aespa faces off against the "Black Mamba."

Watch the teaser below.

'Not your typical rookies'

Excited fans made tweets like, “I'm in love with the Savage concept! Aespa really said they're not your typical rookies,” “Winter’s vocal. That’s it. That’s the tweet,” and “AESPA LIGHTSTICK?????” One shared, “This is aespa’s world and we are just living in it.” Another added, “Ningning’s top says “we’re the future” and it didn’t lie! aespa 4th gen leader exactlyyyy.” One commented, “I think wavy/curly hair karina is superior.” Another posted, “aespa stylist randomly waking up one day and discover this kind of pants then just how to make this about giselle.” One joked, “Ningning fighting off black mamba with an apple pen.”