And, it has been years after SM Entertainment debuted Red Velvet as their latest girl group in 2014. SM Entertainment seems to be busy managing their boy group NCT. But, right before Red Velvet spent their seventh year at their agency, SM Entertainment decided to debut their 4th gen girl group. Yep, their latest girl group successfully made a debut on November 17, 2020. It’s none other than the long-awaited aespa, SM Entertainment’s girl group after Red Velvet. In this article, we won’t be talking about the group aespa in general. Instead, we will talk about one specific member that caught a lot of people’s attention. Well, aespa is a group full of visuals, but this one member is also too charming to resist. This member is the one and only Chinese member in aespa, Ningning! As you can see, Ningning is from Harbin, China, unlike her senior in SM Entertainment, Victoria Song, who was born and raised in Qingdao. Come to think of it, Ningning’s debut in aespa makes us realize that it’s been a long time since SM Entertainment debuted a Chinese trainee. Are you curious about how talented Ningning is? Well, you have to be, because Ningning is not just the pretty face you can see in her image, but she is also a wonderful vocalist. Let’s get to know Ningning better in the sections below!
Ningning’s Full Profile
Full name: Ning Yizhuo Chinese Name: 宁艺卓 Korean Name: 닝이줘 Stage name: Ningning / 닝닝 Nickname: Makningi (youngest Ning), Ningnyangi (KittyNing), Kitten, Ningi, Ningbujin Birthdate: October 23, 2002 Birthplace: Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China Zodiac Sign: Scorpio Education:
Junior High School Affiliated with Harbin Normal University Beijing Contemporary Music School
Position: Main vocalist, maknae Occupation: Singer, idol Blood Type: O Height: 164 cm Family: Parents Official emblem: Butterfly Debut year: 2020 Agency: SM Entertainment Instagram: @aespa_official Facebook: aespa’s Official Facebook Page Twitter: aespa’s Official Twitter Page TikTok: aespa’s Official TikTok Page YouTube: aespa’s Official YouTube Page
Ningning’s Pre-Debut
We mentioned before that Ningning is the only Chinese member in aespa and apparently one of the few active Chinese female artists from SM Entertainment. So, let’s take a look at the story of how Ningning entered SM Entertainment, especially after leaving her hometown behind just to pursue her dream to be an idol. Ningning, or we can just call her by her real name, Yizhuo, is an only child in her family. She was born and raised in Harbin, China, on October 23, 2002. Her parents are really supportive of her. The family moved to Changsha, Hunan Province, in order to support Ningning’s singing activities. Even when Ningning was young, she was already a talented singer. She really loved to sing as a child. It is no wonder her voice is really soothing if you listen to her voice now. Ningning and her amazing voice have impressed a lot of people in her hometown. When she was about 9 years old, she joined the competition for China’s Got Talent from Harbin. In 2013, when Ningning was only 11 years old, she continued to impress a lot of people by performing in front of over 50,000 attendees in a show called Gayu Boys’ Pavilion. Just a year after that, Ningning participated in a singing competition and won first place. At that time, in 2014, she was just a 12-year-old girl.
But, it doesn’t stop there. In 2015, Ningning continued to perform on a lot of stages. Despite being 13 years old, she improved her singing skills and, of course, performed in front of big audiences.
No wonder that in September 2016, Ningning was introduced to be one of SM’s rookie girls along with Yiyang. This means that they became trainees in SM Entertainment and may or may not debut in a future SM Entertainment girl group.
Not only that, at the same time, SM Entertainment also released a video with Ningning, Yiyang, Go Eun, and Hina where they named themselves as MY SMT PRINCESS. The four female trainees sang a song called “Who’s the Best?” A year after that, in 2017, Ningning, along with Yiyang, Go Eun, Hina, Lami, and Jeongyeon, participated in an MBC Show called Shining Star.
Ningning’s Debut with aespa
Ningning was been introduced as a trainee in SM Entertainment when she was 14 years old in 2016. It has been years since that time. The fans have been waiting for a long time to see how Ningning will debut. But, it took a lot of time to realize that maybe SM Entertainment didn’t want to debut a girl group yet. However, all the long-awaited years paid off when SM Entertainment revealed that they will be debuting a new girl group. Fans were expecting some names of the SM Rookies that were introduced to the public years ago, including Ningning. But, the revealed names included only four members to join the new girl group aespa at the time. Luckily, Ningning was included. Ningning officially made her debut on November 17, 2020, as the youngest member of the group called aespa. The three other members are Karina, Winter, and Giselle. In October 2020, SM Entertainment revealed photos of Ningning to the public. But, the group hadn’t yet officially debuted at that time. They made the fans wait and expect the girl group aespa for several weeks. While waiting, SM Entertainment released some teasers until the time when they released aespa’s first debut track. Here are some teaser photos of Ningning for aespa’s first solo track “Black Mamba!” They also released a video introduction of Ningning with SYNK. Here, you can see how good her voice is, and of course, adore her stunning visual.
Ningning looks so stunning with her looks, so fierce and captivating! And, here is the music video for “Black Mamba.” The music video already has over 100 M views after the first few months of their debut days.
The behind-the-scenes of their MV is also something that you cannot miss. Look at the thumbnails; the girls look like a beautiful gang from a high school movie!
Is it still not enough? Well, let’s see the dance practice of “Black Mamba” so we can focus on the dance moves as well. Ningning may be a superior main vocalist, but her dance skills are also on an awesome level.
And, if you’re curious about their debut stage, here are some of aespa‘s debut stages on several music shows!
And, this was the time when Ningning became the ending fairy while performing “Black Mamba!”
The girls really knocked everyone up by getting their first win despite just having debuted a month earlier. Let’s see how aespa reacted when they got their first win with “Black Mamba” on Mnet Countdown!
Seems like aespa really walked onto a flowery path, right? No wonder they got so much love from people. Ningning and the other girls from aespa really do have the talent to show. What do you think about Ningning’s debut era? She was so cute back then, right? Share your thoughts in the comments!
