SUPERKIND: The latest K-pop metaverse debut
AI idols aren’t a new concept in K-Pop but they’re more popular now than ever.
Ae Giselle, Ae Winter, Ae Karina, and Ae NingNing – the Ae members of aespa.
With the likes of SM Entertainment’s aespa leading the way for groups in the K-Pop metaverse, it was only a matter of time before another company sought to reap the rewards of animated idols.
Deep Studio Entertainment, formed by a deep-fake technology developer in 2017, announced the arrival of their virtual idol, SaeJin, in January 2022 as part of the new boy-group SUPERKIND (슈퍼카인드).
The first member of the new group was announced through a visually impactful YouTube video which “pays homage to the iconic scenes in KPop M/V” and places him within the story world of “Eternal Return: Black Survival” – a survival game in which players fight to be the last player remaining.
The video features Saejin’s hyper realistic features in super up-close scenes that truly require a double take, with some viewers commenting that they thought he was real at first.
Four other members, Daemon, Eugene, Geon, and SiO, were announced two months later in a series of eerie YouTube videos which follow the members through use of CCTV footage.
In the music video for their debut single ‘WATCH OUT’, released on June 20, the group perform high-energy choreography in a mock up of the Colosseum – transformed into a modern-day boxing stadium.
The members, animated and real, “glitch” to the point of disappearance in certain scenes and at times it really is difficult to tell the A.I member apart from the mortals in the group.
Netizens have spoken of the similarities between Saejin and the 90s virtual idol Adam, and believe Deep Studio may have garnered inspiration from him.
The latter debuted in 1998, before the virtual band Gorillaz and well before vocaloid Hatsune Miku came on the scene, with his album “No Love Like This”.
The artist sold 200,000 copies of his album, but disappeared just months after with some fans joking that he died from a computer virus.
Virtual idol Adam debuted in 1998.
From endless performances and a lack of scandals, to the removal of stage fright and anxiety – which has seen many idols in the past take breaks or leave their groups for good – from the equation, there are several benefits that come with debuting virtual artists in the 21st Century.
These idols come without baggage, or other human complications that Entertainment companies are fraught with on a daily-basis. They do, however, require a huge database and a team of highly-skilled AI designers and editors (among other things).
So far, there have been no live performances from SUPERKIND and it begs the question of how their company will handle these types of performances.
Will they do it aespa style, by editing the A.I member in post-production, or will it be reminiscent of ABBA’s recent virtual concert Voyage, with Saejin performing alongside the other members in real-time?
