aespa Blasted By Koreans For NewJeans Shoutout In “Lemonade”

“Why would aespa do that?”

aespa’s newest track, “Lemonade,” is drawing attention online after fans began speculating that parts of its choreography may reference NewJeans.

| SM Entertainment

In particular, some pointed to one move they said looked similar to choreography from “Attention,” while another reminded them of “ETA.”

The speculation grew even stronger after a fan caught another similar dance move during the line “I got no ETA.” Since “ETA” is also the title of one of NewJeans’ songs, many interpreted it as a possible nod to the group.

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The conversation quickly spread online and eventually made its way to Korean forum TheQoo, where a viral post discussing the alleged reference drew thousands of views and comments.

However, many Korean netizens did not seem convinced by the theory. And those who did accept it, slammed aespa.

| ADOR

Some felt the idea of aespa referencing NewJeans in their own title track made little sense. Others argued that if the choreography really was that similar, calling it a “shoutout” instead of something else raised even more questions.

| TheQoo

• “What are they doing… aespa…”
• “Why would they use their full album title track just to give them a shout-out… think about it logically.”
• “If it’s not a shout-out, then it’s even weirder, because that would mean they copied the dance move exactly.”
• “Why aespa…? It’s not like NewJeans were the first to create that move anyway. Ugh.”

| TheQoo

• “Why would aespa do that? Is there anything for them to gain from it?”
• “…??”
• “What, are all dance moves automatically NewJeans’s now??”
• “They’re not rappers. Since when do groups give shoutouts to other groups through choreography?”
• “How does it even look similar? That’s such a common move. What’s frustrating whenever people call this choreography plagiarism is that idol choreography is mostly built from basic moves with different variations anyway.”