Songs like aespa: 9 tracks with a sci-fi pop edge

Songs like aespa sound like pop beamed in from a slightly menacing future: heavy synth bass, abrupt beat switches, chant-like hooks and a science-fiction story running underneath. f(x)'s "Electric Shock," NMIXX's "O.O" and Grimes's "Genesis" share that cool, digital edge, each from a different corner of electronic pop.

aespa debuted under SM Entertainment in November 2020 with "Black Mamba," introducing four members, Karina, Giselle, Winter and Ningning, alongside digital avatar counterparts. "Next Level" (2021) turned the concept into a breakout, followed by the mini albums Savage (2021), Girls (2022), MY WORLD (2023) and Drama (2023). Their first full-length album, Armageddon, arrived in 2024 with "Supernova," and "Whiplash" followed later that year.

What does aespa sound like?

aespa's title tracks rarely sit still. "Next Level" and "Savage" lurch between sections, dropping the beat out, changing feel and slamming back in with a heavier bass line, so a single song can feel like three. The production leans on distorted synth bass, hard trap and EDM drums, siren-like effects and metallic textures, with brighter detours such as "Life's Too Short" and "Spicy" when the group wants to sound lighter.

Vocally, the work splits between clipped, rhythmic rap-singing and soaring belted lines, often stacked into chants that land like slogans. The mood is cool and confident rather than sweet, and the recurring themes are power, self-belief and an ongoing science-fiction storyline about a digital world and a villain to defeat. You don't need to follow the lore. It mostly gives the songs their sense of scale and danger.

Songs like aespa: 9 picks

1. f(x), "Electric Shock" (2012). aespa's SM predecessors set the template for odd, electronic girl-group pop: a jittery synth hook, a chanted chorus and a confident, slightly strange edge.
2. Grimes, "Genesis" (2012). Not K-pop at all, but its glassy, otherworldly synths map neatly onto aespa's virtual-world concept. Start here if the sci-fi side of the group is what draws you in.
3. Charli XCX, "Vroom Vroom" (2016). Rubbery, metallic bass and a speed-obsessed hook. It's a close Western cousin to the harsh, high-gloss production of "Savage" and "Whiplash."
4. SOPHIE, "Immaterial" (2018). A bouncing, plastic-sheen pop song about an identity with no fixed body, which sits very close to the idea behind aespa's avatar members.
5. (G)I-DLE, "Latata" (2018). A sleek, minor-key debut with a tropical-tinged groove and a chant hook, carrying the same self-assured cool that aespa built on.
6. Red Velvet, "Psycho" (2019). From the same label, a darker and more elegant counterpoint: a love that is exhausting and thrilling at once, with sharp vocal turns over a restrained beat.
7. NCT 127, "Kick It" (2020). A kung fu themed boy-group track built on the same stop-start structure as "Next Level," with quiet passages that snap into hard drops.
8. Everglow, "La Di Da" (2020). Retro, night-drive synth-pop with a defiant lyric. For fans of aespa's sleek, neon-lit side rather than its heavy one.
9. NMIXX, "O.O" (2022). The JYP group's debut stitches sharply contrasting sections into one song, a structure aespa fans will recognize instantly.

aespa's real hook is tension: every song sounds like it might switch into a different one at any second.

Prism Five songs that fit

Prism Five is a Seoul group whose debut album, GLITCH, borrows a lot of the same digital vocabulary, even if the tone is more playful.

1. Close match: Prism Five, "GLITCH". The title track turns a computer malfunction into a statement of identity, with buffering, a crashed mainframe and rewritten code, the same digital-world language aespa lives in. The difference is the angle: Prism Five cast themselves as the bug nobody can fix rather than heroes fighting the system.
2. Partial match: Prism Five, "Level Up". Track six frames the group's rise as a video game, complete with character select, a cheat code and a final boss. The battle setup echoes aespa's storyline, but the mood is cheeky rather than ominous, and it signs off with a spoken "game complete."
3. Partial match: Prism Five, "Neon". A glowing midnight city where the members become living light. At 3:16 it runs longer than anything before it on GLITCH, and it suits fans of aespa's sleek night-drive moments more than the heavy ones.

More artists like aespa

Beyond the picks above, the groups most often mentioned alongside aespa include Red Velvet, (G)I-DLE, ITZY, LE SSERAFIM, NMIXX, Kep1er and XG. Outside K-pop, fans of the harsher production tend to find their way to Charli XCX, SOPHIE, Rina Sawayama and Grimes.

Pick by the aespa you love most. If it's the chaotic, bass-first side of "Savage" and "Drama," head for SOPHIE, Charli XCX and NMIXX. If it's the lighter, melodic side of "Spicy" or "Life's Too Short," start with Red Velvet and Everglow. If it's the lore, Grimes is the strange, dreamy option nobody expects.

Where to start

Play "Electric Shock" and "Psycho" first to hear the label lineage, then "Latata," "Kick It" and "O.O" for the beat-switch thread. Save "Vroom Vroom," "Immaterial" and "Genesis" for headphones, then finish with Prism Five's "GLITCH". Our K-pop guide covers the genre's generations, and songs like BLACKPINK takes the tougher girl-crush side further.

Key takeaways

1. Songs like aespa combine heavy synth bass, abrupt beat switches and chant hooks with a sci-fi concept.
2. The lineage runs through SM labelmates f(x) and Red Velvet, with "Kick It" and "O.O" sharing the stop-start structure.
3. Western picks like Charli XCX's "Vroom Vroom" and SOPHIE's "Immaterial" match the metallic production.
4. Prism Five's "GLITCH" shares the digital imagery, with a more playful tone.

aespa made it normal for a pop song to change its mind halfway through. The best way to hear what they changed is to play these in order and notice how often you stop expecting a chorus to stay a chorus.

FAQ

What genre is aespa?

aespa is a K-pop girl group whose music mixes dance-pop with EDM, trap and hyperpop-style electronic production, tied to a science-fiction concept.

What artists are similar to aespa?

Red Velvet, f(x), (G)I-DLE, NMIXX, ITZY and LE SSERAFIM are the closest K-pop matches, while Charli XCX, SOPHIE and Grimes share the electronic edge.

What aespa song should I start with?

"Next Level" (2021) is the clearest introduction: it shows the beat switches, heavy bass and sci-fi story that define the group.

Who is Prism Five?

Prism Five is a five-member McCandless Records K-pop group from Seoul whose debut album, GLITCH, came out in May 2026. Its seventeen tracks move between dance numbers, vocal-led ballads and electronic-pop anthems.