Aespa Dive Into Battle Mode With New Single ‘dark Arts’ For Pubg: Battlegrounds

Fresh off the heatwave that was ‘Dirty Work’, aespa return with ‘Dark Arts’, a thunderous anthem made for the virtual battlefield. In partnership with KRAFTON’s PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS, the single explodes with electric guitar stabs, pulsing rhythms, and those unmistakable aespa harmonies all wrapped in the energy of a last-woman-standing showdown. Released via SM Entertainment / Virgin Records, ‘Dark Arts’ marks yet another genre switch-up for the group that refuses to stay in one lane.

This isn’t just a soundtrack drop. It’s aespa crashing headfirst into gamer lore and setting the tone for a new kind of pop warfare. Think magic meets melee. Glitter meets glitch. Watch the chaos unfold in the official music video and stream the full track.

K-pop, But Make It Multiverse

aespa are already deep into their main-character era. Last month, ‘Dirty Work’ cracked the UK Official Trending Chart, snagged over 27 million YouTube views, and racked up a jaw-dropping 1.01 million pre-orders. The track debuted at No. 5 on Billboard’s Global 200 and dominated Spotify’s Top Debut charts proving that aespa’s global pull isn’t hype, it’s hard data.

In a Rolling Stone UK interview backstage in London, GISELLE shared that aespa had stripped things back for the single: “With this one, we went a little more minimal... and focused on the way we portray our voices.” And somehow, that switch-up hit even harder.

But aespa don’t slow down. After performing at Morocco’s Mawazine Festival as the first-ever K-pop girl group headliner, they followed their 2024 full-length album Armageddon with the techno-heavy ‘Whiplash’, proving they can shapeshift through styles as easily as they do digital realms.

Magic Girls Go Melee Mode

Now with ‘Dark Arts’, the girls enter the gaming arena and it’s giving final boss energy. Whether it’s the glitchy ambiance or that war-ready production, this is aespa at their most cinematic. It’s also a cultural crossover masterstroke: K-pop’s futurist icons syncing up with one of the world’s most iconic battle royale franchises.

The result? A banger that blurs fantasy and firepower.