The ladies of aespa made their debut on The Jennifer Hudson Show Wednesday (Sept. 24), and blew J. Hud and her audience away with a performance of single “Rich Man” before explaining how Cher inspired the empowering track.
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Looking polished and powerful on stage, members Ningning, Winter, Karina and Giselle were joined by a fleet of backup dancers on Hudson’s stage. As the foursome sang and danced, the camera repeatedly cut to the audience, where everyone was up out of their seats and dancing — including the EGOT winner, who also sang along while looking amazed by the group’s talent.
“Now, that performance was amazing!” Hudson said as the ladies took their seats for their interview after the performance, lovingly telling the overexcited audience, “Calm down!”
The Dreamgirls star went on to ask aespa about what inspired the track, leading Giselle to reveal that a certain pop icon was the muse. “‘Rich Man’ actually has a quote from Cher herself, which says, ‘My mom said to me, “Marry a rich man.” I said, “I am a rich man.”‘ The song was inspired by her quote.”
The ladies then played a game of Most Likely To, which ended up revealing that Giselle and Ningning are most likely to forget lyrics and choreography on stage, while Winter would be the first in the group to go bungee jumping, and Karina and Ningning are the biggest pranksters.
The Jennifer Hudson Show appearance comes just a few weeks after aespa released its Rich Man mini album, which debuted at No. 14 on the Billboard 200. Earlier this year, Billboard named the band group of the year for Women in Music 2025.
Watch aespa’s performance of “Rich Man” above, and check out their conversation with Hudson below.
