At the 2020 WCIF (World Cultural Industry Forum), SM Entertainment and Lee Soo Man were invited to speak.
Lee Soo Man revealed SM Entertainment’s newest plan for the aespa Universe.
They would combine the real life members such as Winter and Karina, with digital world members.
For the first time, Lee Soo Man first introduced the idea of an avatar idol, and he explains that the avatar could stand-in for a friend in real life.
While he initially thought such an idea wouldn’t be possible in the entertainment industry, he then decided that it would be possible to include the idea of celebrities and avatars with aespa. The two entities would be used to support each other in a new revolutionary idea.
“Within aespa, there are real-world members and virtual-world members. The members of the real and virtual works don’t ask one another to do something specific, but they are able to interact and communicate as [the virtual members] have AI brains.
They are able to talk to each other and help each other, become friends, and share info.
They will also eventually be able to enter each others’ worlds, and interact with each other by hosting live sessions on social media, all of which hasn’t existed up until now.” — Lee Soo Man
SM Entertainment also teased how aespa would exist in the real and virtual world at the event.
While the real world members will perform on real stages, the virtual members will also have their own separate activities digitally.
