aespa 에스파 | SM Culture Universe Season 1 | Seoul | 37th Degree
A cinematic sci-fi narrative universe
SM Culture Universe is a cinematic sci-fi narrative universe created by SM Entertainment, unfolding across three music video episodes directed by 37th Degree. Set across parallel dimensions where the members of aespa journey to reclaim their stolen identities, Season 1 blends high-concept storytelling with choreography, VFX, and original music — laying the groundwork for one of K-pop’s most ambitious world-building projects.
Directed by Taeheung Son & Min Heo
Seoul, Korea Production Led by Kimbo Kim & Byengha Im
Summary
Seoul, South Korea | K-pop Music Video Series | 3 Episodes | 2021–2022
SM Entertainment × 37th Degree
Story
SM Culture Universe (SMCU) is a cinematic sci-fi narrative universe conceived by SM Entertainment — a world where K-pop group aespa exists simultaneously in the real world and a virtual dimension called KWANGYA. The word KWANGYA (광야) translates from Korean as "wilderness" — a boundless, ruleless space beyond ordinary dimensions where time and data flow freely, and where the line between humans and their digital selves dissolves. In SMCU, people and their æs (digital avatars) coexist across two realms: the physical world and the FLAT, aespa's native virtual space.
At the center of the SMCU lore is the concept of the "ae" — AI-generated avatar counterparts of each member: æ-Karina, æ-Giselle, æ-Winter, and æ-Ningning. The bond between each member and her ae is maintained through a digital infrastructure called the SYNK system. The villain — the Black Mamba — is a sentient, shape-shifting digital entity that infiltrates and corrupts the SYNK system, severing those bonds and threatening the stability of both worlds.
37th Degree produced all three episodes of SMCU Season 1 in Seoul, South Korea, each deepening the lore through serialized cinematic storytelling. In ep.1 Black Mamba, aespa first encounters the villain — a massive, shadow-like digital serpent disrupting the SYNK system and severing humans from their æs. In ep.2 Next Level, the members descend into KWANGYA itself, traversing its shifting, formless terrain in pursuit of the Black Mamba. In ep.3 Girls, aespa — now fully empowered by their ae-counterparts — emerge as warriors confronting the Black Mamba at full force.
Each episode ran as a fully standalone cinematic production: exceeding ten minutes in some releases, blending live-action performance with photorealistic 3D animation, VFX, and motion capture. The creative pipeline brought together 37th Degree (production, Seoul), Vixen (VFX), and Giantstep (3D animation and motion capture). ep.2 and ep.3 were directed by Taeheung Son; ep.1 by Min Heo. The result redefined what K-pop visual storytelling could be — establishing SMCU Season 1 as the template for a new genre of narrative-driven K-pop production.
Press
"Black Mamba" (ep.1, 2020) set multiple YouTube records on release: 21.4 million views in the first 24 hours — the highest-ever first-day count for a K-pop group's debut — and 100 million views in just 51 days, making it the fastest K-pop debut music video in history to reach the milestone. The video has since surpassed 200 million total views. It debuted at #5 on the US Billboard World Digital Songs chart. (Soompi, 2021)
"Next Level" (ep.2, 2021) debuted simultaneously on three Billboard charts — including the Billboard Global 200 (#65 peak) and Billboard Global Excl. US (#34 peak) — and ranked #2 on Billboard's year-end 25 Best K-Pop Songs of 2021. Forbes contributor Hugh McIntyre noted that the single brought aespa into "a very exclusive club of some of the most successful girl groups from South Korea." (Billboard, 2021)
In May 2022, TIME magazine named aespa one of its Next Generation Leaders, calling the group "an experimental but essential player in the music industry, acting as a bridge between the reality and virtual." Rolling Stone reviewed the Girls EP (ep.3 era) with Kristine Kwak writing that it "includes everything one could want from an Aespa record," adding that visuals "don't give you a second to blink." (TIME, 2022 / Rolling Stone, 2022)
The Girls EP (July 2022) debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200 — aespa's first top-ten US album — and sold 1,126,068 copies in its first week, making them the first K-pop girl group ever to sell one million copies of an album in a single week. The SM Culture Universe has since expanded into a global multimedia franchise encompassing music, webtoon, interactive digital content, and live performance. (Billboard, 2022)
Credits
Production — 37th Degree
Client — SM Entertainment
Director — Taeheung Son (ep.2, ep.3), Min Heo (ep.1)
VFX — Vixen
3D Animation — Giantstep
