Netizens are debating aespa's promotional tactics.
On an online forum, netizens discussed aespa's recent scheduling choices, criticizing the group for allegedly prioritizing overseas markets over their domestic one in Korea. In a post titled "aespa doesn’t seem to care about domestic activities at all anymore," the original poster pointed out the group’s relatively short music show promotions for "Rich Man" before heading to the U.S. to perform on 'Good Morning America.'
The post further criticized aespa for being "obsessed with Billboard" and prioritizing international fans, noting that while the group will hold a fansign event in China in September, their Korean fansign is not scheduled until October.
By stressing the risks of failing to secure a strong domestic fanbase for long-term stability, the netizen warned aespa against focusing too much on global activities at the expense of Korean fans.
The original post read:
"Now it feels like Korea is completely outside of aespa’s focus. After just one week of promoting 'Rich Man' in Korea, they’re immediately heading to the U.S. for GMA and to push 'Rich Man' promotions there. They’re seriously obsessed with Billboard. Their fixation on Billboard and overseas activities is pushing domestic promotions and Korean fans completely to the side. Even with fan signings, there’s one in China in September, but the Korean fansign isn’t until late October.
Other groups at least hold regular press conferences during their tours or hiatus, but with aespa, you barely see them together once or twice a month. There’s almost no member chemistry or banter shown—most of the behind-the-scenes clips are just them chatting with stylists while getting their hair and makeup done.
Korean fans are getting worn out because they keep spending money but have little content to consume, leading to burnout and increasing fandom division. They still haven’t secured a solid domestic base, so I just hope they focus on firmly establishing themselves here first. Don’t try to grab something else while letting go of the little you already have."
In response, some netizens agreed, suggesting aespa "might lose their domestic fans if they are not careful enough." Others dismissed the concern, saying the group is pursuing overseas opportunities "probably because they already have so many domestic fans secured."
Reactions include:
"If they keep this up, they’ll lose both Korea and overseas. They should at least secure the domestic market firstㅋㅋ"
"They’re not even making it big overseas."
"aespa probably thinks they’ve secured Korea, that’s why. The petty nitpicking is insaneㅋㅋㅋ Even with this plan, 'Rich Man' already hit top 5, 'Dirty Work' peaked at No. 2 and is still top 10. Of course they’d try knocking on the overseas door."
"But I hope the company realizes that even if they knock, the overseas door won’t open."
"A mini album promotion with just 1 week of music shows because of the U.S. schedule<< I’ve seriously never seen this before. Don’t make it so they can’t do anything properly—just take care of the domestic fans you already have."
"People need to remember, most K-pop revenue still comes from Korea, and other countries contribute only so much. aespa’s streaming is mostly from Thailand. Even if they break into the U.S. market, realistically right now they can only aim for digital performance. Even Fifty Fifty, who did way better, barely made profit from music there. Honestly, SM is just trying to pump their stock with nationalism like BTS or BLACKPINK, but it doesn’t really mean much."
"Korea still accounts for 60–70% of K-pop revenue, what are you talking aboutㅋㅋ Even at BTS’s peak, Korean revenue was higher. Overseas is just to raise stock value with national pride. Unless you’re like Stray Kids with an unusually huge overseas fanbase, overseas revenue doesn’t beat domesticㅋ"
"SM must be conflicted. Red Velvet and NCT were popular domestically but crashed as the years went by since they had no overseas fanbase. Meanwhile, groups that flopped domestically but had a lot of overseas fans kept doing well with tours even in their 10th year. Even boy groups people dismissed for lacking Korean fans grew overseas and now thrive."
"Girl groups that do well overseas also work hard domestically… I don’t know what kind of strategy this is. Just one week on music shows in Korea and then the rest in the U.S. is so obvious and annoying."
"Why are people saying aespa doesn’t care about Korea at all? Is it because of the Friday 1 PM KST release? Even with that, they’ll still rank higher than your flop faves who drop songs at 6 PM, so why worryㅋㅋㅋ"
"Isn’t it obvious? They already milked Korea last year. Why bother taking care of Korean fans who don’t bring in money?"
"Shouldn’t they be aiming for top 1, not just top 5?"
"Come on, how can you say they haven’t done well domestically when they’re already in the top 5 right now~~~~? With the chart boost they’re guaranteed at least top 3~~~~?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ"
"With aespa’s level, shouldn’t they be hitting No. 1 right away?"
"This is why I don’t stan SM = at first they hype their groups up like crazy, but once popularity cools or a new group debuts, they suddenly drop quality, force collaborations, push fans to move on, cut back activities, and eventually shelf the group. Their way of managing fandom is way too blatant."
"Wonder Girls season 2…"
"Starship (IVE) is the only one bringing Kakao Entertainment profit right now, so SM needs to make something happen to bounce back their stock. Their only way is trying to replicate BTS or BLACKPINK’s path. But Starship, since it’s not listed, just runs everything on cost-effectiveness and hasn’t done overseas promotions in a long time. It feels boring to stan because there’s no sense of new fans flooding in. Back when they were preparing for IPO, they pushed overseas promotions and got lots of response, but now they just milk their cash cow and waste money elsewhere."
"If you want to go to America, start with live performances first."
"They’re at their domestic peak right now—IVE is losing steam, and no girl group can catch aespa. This is exactly when they should focus overseas."
"They’re going overseas because that’s where the money is. With aespa’s buzz, everyone who wanted to hear the songs has already done so. Doing more Korean music shows won’t earn much. And if they want to keep group activities going as they age, they need to build an overseas base like TWICE did."
"TWICE were top-tier domestically too… But if a generational shift suddenly happens and aespa’s place shrinks? Even with a strong core fanbase, things can change instantly. Building even a little overseas presence now could decide their future."
"TWICE is different, though—the domestic demand for them is already low. aespa’s situation isn’t the same."
"Does SM not realize how obsessed they look with overseas?ㅋㅋ Among the big 4 companies, they’re the only one who hasn’t cracked Billboard, maybe that’s why they’re so hung up on it."
"But what’s the point of aespa being popular overseas if they’re still a Korean group? They need to do well domestically first for overseas interest to follow naturally. What’s the point of chasing overseas popularity while making Korean fans quit?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ They’re not even that big overseas anyway, just exhausting the members with schedules and sidelining Korean fans. It’s so disappointing I feel like quitting this fandom."
"Maybe SM wants all the Korean MYs to leave."
"If they want to succeed overseas, they should start with live performances…."
"Usually, even a short promotion lasts 2 weeks, but just 1 week is really too muchㅋㅋㅋ"
"They won’t make it anyway… SM’s music style isn’t liked overseasㅋㅋㅋ"
"Meanwhile, their song isn’t even on the Billboard Hot 40ㅋㅋ"
"It’s frustrating. They should focus on Korea instead."
"They didn’t even chart on Billboard but why are they obsessed with America? Spotify is like 80% Thailand anyway. At least manage your Korean fans, because if they leave, it’s really over."
"Why is SM so obsessed with America? Just focus on the Korean market."
"At this rate, they’ll lose Korea too. Stop chasing North America when it’s not working and just dominate domestically instead."
"A mini album promotion with just 1 week of music shows because of the U.S. schedule<< I’ve seriously never seen this before. Don’t make it so they can’t do anything properly—just take care of the domestic fans you already have."
"Honestly, this overseas push is exhausting."
"Someone please talk sense into SM, those idiots."
What are your thoughts?
SEE ALSO: aespa’s ‘Rich Man’ sets 2025 record as top-selling K-pop girl group album in first-day sales
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