Aespa's Ningning, Karina Reveal Only '4-5 Hours' Sleep To Prepare For 'My World' Mini-Album

Life as a K-pop idol is not as easy as it seems. But the members of Aespa are determined to give fans the best performances, even if it means losing hours of sleep.

Earlier this month, the South Korean girl group — consisting of Karina, Winter, Giselle and Ningning — dropped their third mini-album, "My World," and it became an instant hit, debuting at No. 1 on the iTunes top album charts in Japan, Brazil, Singapore, Thailand and Finland, among others.

The record also made history on the Hanteo chart in their home country. It achieved the highest first-day sales of any album by a female act with over 1.37 million copies sold on the first day of its release, according to Soompi.

"My World's" title track, "Spicy," has accumulated over 63 million views on YouTube as of press time.

But Aespa's success did not come without sacrifices. Following several promotional activities during their comeback period, members Karina and Ningning revealed that they rarely had time to rest and lacked sleep.

The youngest member of the group — referred to as the "maknae" in South Korea — revealed in a recent interview with SBS' "Ten Produce 1077" that in the previous week, they only slept about "four to five hours total."

Shocked by the number of hours of sleep they got for the whole week, host Bae Seong Jae clarified, "Last week? Four to five hours in one week?" Both Ningning and the 23-year-old leader of the group confirmed that these figures were accurate.

Despite jam-packed schedules that include television interviews, music performances and tapings of pre-recorded broadcasts, Aespa has remained professional and continued to finish the promotional period on a high note.

The members, however, said that they enjoy the hectic process.

"But I'm kind of enjoying this feeling now... the feeling of having lost your mind," Ningning said of their grueling schedule.

Karina added, "But it's true. It kind of feels like we're flying."

Aespa debuted in 2020 under one of South Korea's biggest entertainment agencies, SM Entertainment. Their standalone single "Black Mamba" was a massive success, having entered Billboard's Global Excl. U.S. chart and ranking No. 5 within 10 days of it being dropped on Nov. 17, 2020.

The group is also well-known for its unique cyberpunk sci-fi concept in which the members exist in two universes — the virtual world and reality.

Other record-breaking hits from Aespa include "Next Level," "Savage," Forever" and "Salty and Sweet."