The ‘aftershock’ of aespa that shook the scene continues into the new year. The reason for this is the successive news of awards in Japan, one of the two meccas of K-pop.

Aespa won four awards at VMAJ, the de facto ‘Asian version’ of MTV‘s global awards ceremony VMA. VMAJ is the Japanese version of the MTV Video Music Awards.

Aespa swept four categories at VMAJ held at K-Arena Yokohama in Japan on the 19th, including the grand prize, ’Artist of the Year‘, as well as Best Group Video (International), Best Dance Video, and Best K-Pop Video. aespa’s four crowns are equivalent to the ‘most wins’ among female artists to ever hold the VMAJ trophy.

aespa also garnered attention on the 12th by winning two crowns at another influential Japanese awards ceremony, the ‘39th Japan Gold Disc’. At the awards ceremony hosted by the Recording Industry Association of Japan, aespa won ‘New Artist of the Year’ and ‘Best 3 New Artists’.

The aespa craze that has continued since the beginning of the year stemmed from their ‘triple mega hit’ that made solo mode possible in the first and second half of last year. From the double title songs of their first full-length album, ‘Supernova’Armageddon’ to the title song of their fifth mini-album in the second half of the year, ‘Whiplash’, they continued their relentless march of popular songs.

‘Whiplash’, which was released in October of last year, was particularly well-received as an in-depth version of ‘iron taste sound’, which refers to aespa‘s unique musical color, and it is still at the top of major charts even after half a year has passed.

aespa has also proven its influence by entering the so-called ‘Tokyo Dome’, a measure of their perceived popularity in Japan, for two consecutive years. They have also confirmed their appearance in Tokyo for ‘Summer Sonic 2025’, which is considered the largest outdoor music festival in Japan.


Reporter Heo Min-nyeong mignon@donga.com

This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.