Karina of aespa talks about the performance of their band at Lollapalooza 2026 and explains how she deals with nervousness when on the verge of going on stage. In an interview conducted with ELLE Korea, Karina shared how aespa was preparing for the concert and also talked about their world tour and strength.
Karina Reflects On aespa’s Lollapalooza 2026 Performance
The aespa members performed at the 2026 Lollapalooza festival in Chicago, which was a significant performance in their career. According to Karina, the group members prepared thoroughly for their participation, considering the fact that it had been a while since they performed at any music festival. As Karina stated, the members rehearsed until late hours of the night, concentrating on their respective duties.
Moreover, they sought to refresh their performance by making it based on songs that they have not performed frequently. aespa participated in the 2026 Lollapalooza festival together with such stars as Jennie from the group BLACKPINK, Charli XCX, Tate McRae and Lorde. The four-day long festival was held in the Grant Park, Chicago, between July 30 and August 2.
Karina Says Nervousness Makes Her Feel “Alive”
Among the highlights of Karina's interview was her admission about her feelings regarding the stage fright. The aespa idol revealed that she usually gets nervous when preparing for the stage. Nevertheless, instead of considering her stage fright as a flaw, the artist has managed to accept it. According to her, the feeling makes her feel alive because it may help her to prevent any mistakes from happening.
Karina pointed out that stage fright usually occurs because of her concerns related to making mistakes. In spite of the fact that such feeling may distract her, she has started looking at it in a different way and considering stage fright as a valuable emotion. Stage fright does not necessarily mean that Karina is not ready for the performance because it helps her to be concentrated on the stage.
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Karina Looks Forward To Exploring New Cities
The members of aespa are still on tour with their "2026-27 aespa LIVE TOUR – SYNK : COMPLæXITY”, thus giving Karina many chances to entertain her audience worldwide. It is interesting to note that there is something else besides performing which makes Karina enthusiastic about tours. The singer mentioned that she loves getting out of her hotel and visiting cities where aespa performs.
According to Karina, she enjoys discovering new places on her own and meeting many things she would not see otherwise if she were not on tour. Thus, the word “tour” implies for her both concerts and travelling as well. It should be admitted that this approach shows another aspect of the Korean pop star. Despite the fact that working schedules may be very busy globally, Karina seems to find some time to appreciate all the perks of being on tour.
What Does Being Strong Mean To Karina?
Karina also discussed her own definition of strength. She did not consider it simply to be physical or emotional strength, but something related to conviction. To Karina, being convicted entails having knowledge of one’s standards and values and sticking to them no matter what happens. Karina also mentioned that having conviction includes the knowledge of who one is.
Karina says she likes to be called strong because of these reasons, providing an insight into her way of thinking in regards to being such a famous performer in K-pop. Now that the aespa world tour is still going on, it is interesting to see how Karina deals with stage fright and confidence issues.
Final Take
Thoughts shared by Karina about Lollapalooza 2026 reveal an interesting attitude towards stage fear. Instead of fighting all of the stage fears and eliminating them entirely, she accepts them as normal and even considers stage fear as something beneficial for her performance.
Given how successful the world tour of aespa is, Karina’s ability to transform her fears into motivation might become another unique characteristic of her performances.
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