aespa to start new year with film, pop-up store in Seoul

The special movie, titled "aespa: MY First page," will be a film that will look back into aespa's journey to the top since the group's debut in 2020.

aespa will kick off 2024 with a special movie and a pop-up store. [SM ENTERTAINMENT]

aespa will kick off 2024 with a special movie and a pop-up store, the girl group's agency SM Entertainment said Thursday.

The special movie, titled "aespa: MY First page," will be a film that will look back into aespa's journey to the top since the group's debut in 2020.

The film will have interview clips from aespa's debut days and other behind-the-scenes videos of aespa, according to SM Entertainment.

The film will premiere exclusively at Lotte Cinemas in February.

A pop-up store themed around the group's upcoming film will also be held at the Lotte World Mall in Songpa District, southern Seoul, from Friday to Jan. 21.

The pop-up store will feature aespa-themed photo zones, a message zone where fans can send messages to aespa and will be screening the trailer for "aespa: MY First page" ahead of the online release.

There will be aespa-themed stationeries, accessories, clothing merchandise and other events, Lotte Shopping said in a press release on Thursday.

aespa, consisting of Karina, Winter, Giselle and Ningning, debuted on Nov. 17, 2020, with its first digital single "Black Mamba." The quartet released many hit tracks, including "Next Level" (2021), "Girls" (2022), "Spicy" (2023) and more.

aespa saw success in and outside Korea. The group's third EP, "My World" (2023), became the most-sold K-pop girl group album in the first week of its release, selling more than 1.69 million copies, and the album also landed No. 9 on the Billboard 200 albums chart back in July.

To find out more about aespa, visit Celeb Confirmed!

BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]