On September 12, aespa performed their latest single Rich Man on Good Morning America. It should have been a career-defining moment for the girls. A chance to reintroduce themselves since they don’t promote in the U.S. all that much (their last GMA performance was back in 2022). Instead, their performance was awkward, underwhelming even.
How Bad Was Their Performance?
Rich Man relies on intense choreography and backup dancers to make it look dynamic. Choreographer Lee Jung posted a clip of the dance on TikTok so you can see what I mean.
For GMA, it was just aespa. The girls were out of sync, their movements didn’t match the song’s rockstar concept. The audio was absolutely terrible! I couldn’t tell if aespa was lip-syncing or if the backtrack was drowning out their voices.
To be fair, the biggest issue is that aespa didn’t modify their performance for U.S. TV. Korean music shows are designed to highlight an idol’s strengths. Or mask them with meticulous angles or random cuts. Idols will do multiple rehearsals, making sure every movement is captured to match the choreography. They know where the cameras will be, what facial expressions to have at certain moments so the performance will look great on screen. U.S. morning shows don’t work that way. Live performances are treated as a short break from the regular programming. They’re shot with wide angles with less rehearsal time.
K-pop fans have been unforgiving. Netizens criticized the performance for its weak stage presence. They also accused aespa of lip-syncing and questioned their status as one of the genre’s best vocal groups.
Meanwhile, on America’s Got Talent…
It doesn’t help that LE SSERAFIM performed on America’s Got Talent two days earlier. They did a medley of the English version of HOT and ANTIFRAGILE. The way the two songs melded together felt seamless. You could tell the girls were singing live and their movements were fluid.
Say what you want about LE SSERAFIM’s singing abilities, there’s no denying that those girls are talented performers. They always kill it whenever they get on stage, exuding charisma while expressing the vibe of a song with their energy. Those girls have earned their reputation as one of the best performers in the 4th Gen of K-pop.
SM’s New Direction
I want to make it clear that while I like HYBE’s artists, I am not a HYBE stan. The same can be said about how I feel about SM. I don’t agree with many of the business decisions HYBE makes. However, I can’t deny they did their research into how to promote their artists in the US. Some of their high ranking executives actually moved to America for several years to learn how the music industry operates.
I’m not seeing evidence that the current management running SM has done something similar. Ever since Lee Soo-man left in 2023, SM has been operating under a “center system”. They’ve split creative and management duties between five different production teams.
It’s becoming painfully clear that Center ONE (aespa’s center) doesn’t know what to do with aespa anymore. I wanted to give SM the benefit of the doubt when they moved away from the group’s futuristic concept this year. I wouldn’t be surprised if aespa got too big for SM to handle. Now they’re struggling to maintain the girls’ momentum.
I can’t help but feel like SM is forcing aespa to hold themselves back. Because nothing makes sense. All the members can sing live yet they’ve been accused of lipsyncing. Which goes against SM’s reputation for producing some of the best live singers in K-pop.
Karina used to dance with Taemin before she debuted. He always picks the best background dancers for his stages. Winter is pretty good, I think she has a lot of potential to be a really good dancer. Whenever those two do the choreography for an aespa track, their movements are stiff and lifeless. Why?
Where Does aespa Go From Here?
The GMA performance isn’t the end of the world for aespa. Their fandom MYs have been defending them for days. It is a sign that SM is out of touch with how the K-pop industry works in the U.S.
If aespa is going to thrive internationally, SM has to rethink how they present the group. Maybe being a performance group isn’t aespa’s thing. Shifting the focus onto their vocals would probably be a better fit. SM needs to do SOMETHING different because aespa can be better than this.
