K-pop girl group aespa have announced their upcoming new mini-album ‘Whiplash’ with the release of a teaser.
On September 23, aespa dropped a cyberpunk-inspired graphic trailer for their fifth mini-album ‘Whiplash’, out October 21. According to SM Entertainment per Korea JoongAng Daily, the record will include six new songs. The group will release more information on it in the coming weeks.
The teaser for ‘Whiplash’ comes four months after aespa released their first studio album ‘Armageddon’, which spawned the singles ‘Armageddon’ and ‘Supernova’. The quartet recently collaborated with Canadian musician Grimes on a remix of the latter.
In a four-star review of ‘Armageddon’, NME’s Rhian Daly praised its “supremely confident tracks that more than scratch the itch for the experimental pop aespa do so well”.
The girl group are currently on their ‘SYNK: Parallel Line’ world tour in support of the record, through which all four members have debuted new unreleased solo tracks. Following concerts across Asia and Australia, aespa are set to perform in Bangkok later this week.
In other K-pop news, soloist Lee Hi has released a new single titled ‘One Thing’ in celebration of her 27th birthday. The track is also her first release under new label duover, founded by several fellow former AOMG artists.
Elsewhere, BLACKPINK’s Lisa is set to perform at this year’s Victoria’s Secret fashion show, the lingerie brand’s first in six years. The K-pop singer joins Cher and Tyla on the show’s first-ever all-woman musical lineup.
Madonna revealed that she saw her late mother "on the other side" while she was in a medically induced coma in 2023.
In a conversation on the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast on Monday, the Queen of Pop explained that she was treated in intensive care and remained in a coma for two days after doctors discovered a "serious bacterial infection" that developed after a mild fever.
Thinking back to the health scare, Madonna shared that she experienced a vision of her mother, also named Madonna Ciccone, who lost her life to breast cancer in December 1963.
"I was almost there on the other side, and I had a conscious moment," she said. "My mother appeared to me, and she said, 'Do you want to come with me?' And I said, 'No.'"
She added that her assistant was present in the room and heard her say the word, "No."
"And then, when I did eventually wake up, I realised that the 'no' was about me needing to forgive and make good with people that I still held grudges against," the 67-year-old explained.
One of the long-standing conflicts she chose to release was her troubled relationship with her brother Christopher Ciccone.
The artist passed away from pancreatic cancer at 63 in October 2024.
"For my brother, I didn't speak to him for, you know, for years, years, and years. And it was him being ill (and) reaching out to me and saying, 'I need your help.' And me having that moment like, 'Am I going to help my enemy?' You know, that's how it felt. And I just did," the Ray of Light singer said. "And I ended up (helping) and I felt so relieved. And it was such a load off my back, such a weight that was removed, baggage that I could put down to finally be able to be in a room with him and holding his hand, even if he was dying and saying, 'I love you and I forgive you.' That was really important."
