Music / AOA

One of the fewer photos of all eight "angels".^note L to R: Youkyung, Choa, Chanmi, Hyejeong, Seolhyun, Yuna, Jimin, Mina

AOA (short for Ace of Angels; Korean: 에이오에이) is a Korean idol Girl Group who debuted under FNC Entertainment in 2012 and went on indefinite hiatus in 2020. The group is well-known for being a "transformer group" — part band, part dance. AOA was originally promoted as a combination of two units: five in the band unit (officially called AOA Black), and seven in the dance unit. Together, they focused on a pop rock and acoustic pop sound that accommodated both units' strengths.

Despite simultaneously promoting both units being their original premise, the last time AOA actually released music together was in 2012 with Wanna Be; afterward, the two units also got their own noteworthy promotions. AOA Black brought the group their first number one on several music charts with Moya which showed off their prowess as a band, and the dance-unit single Miniskirt gave the group their first award win on a music show on Inkigayo.

After being on hiatus for several years, Youkyung left the group and FNC as a whole in October 2016 after her contract expired, fans expressed sadness that she had not been given equal opportunity to shine and wished her well, with Jimin posting a photo of all eight members together and captioned simply "AOA". The following year, ChoA announced her departure after struggling with her mental health, and soon afterwards Mina also announced her departure to "take a different path to make her new dream come true".

The group struggled to maintain their relevance in the eyes of the public, but in August 2019, the group took part in the reality show Queendom, a show where six girl groups/soloists compete to see who is "the real number one". Competing against Mamamoo, Park Bom, Oh My Girl, Lovelyz and G Idle, they came in fifth overall, but won acclaim for their performances of "Sorry" and their remix of Mamamoo's "Egotistic", and appeared to be on their way to stardom again, however this was not to be.

In July of 2020, Mina suddenly claimed to have been severely bullied by Jimin during her time in the group. This eventually led to Jimin's departure from AOA, FNC and a two year hiatus from the entertainment industry as a whole. Yuna, Seolhyun and Hyejeong would later part ways with FNC in December 2020, October 2022 and March 2023 respectively, leaving Chanmi as the sole remaining member and thus effectively confirming the group's disbandment.

In 2022, Chanmi announced she was changing her last name from "Kim" to "Im" (her mother's surname). Following her appearance in the reality show competition Girls Reverse using the stage name "Im Dohwa"^note where she was eliminated in the preliminary round, she announced that she would be using this name for all future activities going forward, and that she was hoping to become an actress. In 2023, she took part in the reality competition show Queendom Puzzle, where despite earning praise and respect for being a good leader, she ultimately finished in 17th place overall, missing out on the chance to re-debut as part of the project group "EL7Z UP".

Not to be confused with the comic book Age of Apocalypse, or the band The Axis of Awesome, which both use the same initials, or with the Hong Kong pop twin duo with the same name, who are unfortunately overshadowed and hard to search up.

---

Members

• Im Dohwa^note real name Im Chanmi: Main dancer, lead rapper, sub-vocalist, maknae.

Former Members

• Seo Youkyung: Drummer.^note She first debuted as the drummer the now-disbanded Sponge Band in 2009 before joining AOA. Was inactive in their music since mid-2013, and left the group in late 2016.
• Park Choa: Main vocalist, rhythmic guitarist. ^note Went on hiatus in early 2017, then officially left the group in June of the same year.
• Kwon Mina: Rapper, bassist, sub-vocalist.^note Left the group in 2019.
• Shin Jimin: Leader, main rapper, lead guitarist, sub-vocalist.^note Left the group in 2020 following Mina's bullying allegations.
• Seo Yuna: Lead vocalist, keyboardist.^note Left the group in 2020.
• Kim Seolhyun: Face, lead dancer, sub-vocalist.^note Left the group in 2022.
• Shin Hyejeong: Visual, lead dancer, sub-vocalist.^note Left the group in 2023.

Subunits

• AOA Black: Band unit solo, debuted in July 2013. Focused on a range of band music from rock to reggae. Consisted of Yuna, Youkyung, Mina, Jimin and Choa.
• AOA Dance Unit: Dance unit solo and considered the main promotion unit, debuted in October 2013. Focuses on pop music. Consisted of every member except Youkyung.
• AOA White: Dance-only members' solo comprised of Seolhyun, Hyejeong and Chanmi, never actually debuted.
• AOA Cream: Made to give some spotlight to who FNC considered the least popular members. Consisted of Chanmi, Hyejeong and Yuna, and focused on cute pop music.

Discography

Korean singles:

• Angels' Story (2012)
• Wanna Be (2012)
• MOYA (2013) (AOA Black only)
• Red Motion (2013) (dance unit only)
• Miniskirt (2014) (dance unit only)
• I'm Jelly Baby (2016) (AOA Cream only)
• Good Luck (2016) (dance unit only)
• Excuse Me (2017) (dance unit only)
• Bing Bing (2017) (dance unit only)
• Bingle Bangle (2018) (dance unit only)
• Come See Me (2018) (dance unit only)

Korean mini-albums:

• Short Hair (2014) (dance unit only)
• Like A Cat (2014) (dance unit only)
• Heart Attack (2015) (dance unit only)
• Good Luck (2016) (dance unit only)
• Bingle Bangle (2018) (dance unit only)
• Come See Me (2019)

Japanese discography (singles listed under respective albums):

• Ace of Angels (2015) (dance unit only)
  • Miniskirt (2014)^note the whole group song Get Out is included, Like A Cat (2015)^note the whole group song Elvis, albeit the dance unit's version, is included, Heart Attack (2015)
• Runway (2016) (dance unit only)
  • Give Me The Love (2016), Good Luck (2016) (dance unit only)

---

• Album Intro Track: A few short songs start off some of the minis to act as intros.
  • Miniskirt has "Gonna Get Your Heart", a short Choa solo.
  • Short Hair has "Fantasy", sung by the non-rappers.
  • Like A Cat has the self-titled "AOA" which is sung by Choa and Yuna (with a bit of Jimin in the background) to a gentle guitar.
• Angelic Beauty: Invoked in their backstory for the angel concept they debuted with, where them being angels explains why they're so attractive. In particular is "Hyejeong.Linus - the most beautiful of all angels".
• Ascended Extra:
  • Youkyung once drummed for her teacher and famous Korean guitarist Kim Se Hwang's showcase predebut.
  • Seolhyun was the lead girl in FT Island's "Severely" MV before making her debut in AOA.
• Auto-Tune: Autotuning is sometimes used, such as "Joa Yo!" (Jimin and Chanmi's raps are autotuned and so is Mina's singing) and "Oh Boy" (Mina and Chanmi's lines are autotuned).
• Badass Adorable: All of them really could fit this in the "Like a Cat" MV, but especially Mina.
• Bathtub Scene: Hyejeong gets this and a Shower Scene scene in the "Miniskirt" MV, and consecutively too for no reason other than for fanservice - she first takes a shower (clothed) before going on to her bubble bath (unclothed), complete with Censor Suds and Leg Focus.
• Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: AOA White's angel backstory at debut invoked this - Hyejeong.Linus is the most beautiful of all angels, Seolhyunari is the brain among the angels and Chanmi T.T loves to dance.
• Berserk Button: Choa learned the lighthearted but hard way that you don't post videos online mocking Jimin's singing without a bit of payback.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Several times since members are prone to dying their hair. For example in the "Elvis" era, Youkyung was blonde, Hyejeong and Choa had orange hair and everyone else were brunettes.
• Boastful Rap: Raps talking about their awesomeness are common in their songs, courtesy of main rapper Jimin. One example is the ever-so-repeated "Like A Cat" line, "I'm good I'm hot I'm fresh I'm fly!"
• Boyish Short Hair: Youkyung debuted with short hair to match her tomboy image invoked on her.
• Breakout Character: AOA's dance unit have become more active than the actual 8-membered lineup itself since 2014.
  • Seolhyun herself could be considered this, who ended up becoming the most popular member of the group.
• Break-Up Song: Quite a few - the ones that were promoted are "Get Out", "Moya", "Confused", "Miniskirt" and "Short Hair"; the first two is about breaking up with a boy because the girl saw the truth and very disappointed with him, then "Confused" and "Miniskirt" is about unhealth relationship, while "Short Hair" talks of letting go of the past including a break-up. And B-Side songs such as "Under the Street Light" is about a relationship that starts fading away, "Crazy Boy" is about breaking up with a guy because she also saw the truth that he was a crazy boy and is totally disappointed with him, while "Three Out" is about a girl who extremely loathes his boyfriend because he doing wrong three things and breaking her heart.
• Catholic School Girls Rule: The girls dress as this after their makeover in the "Heart Attack" MV, and during this era, they regularly wore variations of school girl outfits.
• Censor Suds: Bubbles conveniently cover Hyejeong's body to give her some modesty in her Bathtub Scene in the "Miniskirt" MV.
• Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Hyejeong was voted the quirkiest member due to her odd habits when she's nervous (eg. her inability to stand still). Indeed, now and then she's caught in rather odd positions.
• Custom Uniform of Sexy: AOA is known for wearing sexier versions of uniforms. This is most notable in the "Like a Cat," "Heart Attack," "Give Me the Love," "Excuse Me" and "Bing Bing" MVs. It was most prominent in the "Confused" era whey they often wore crop tops.
• A Day in the Limelight:
  • The two units often get to solely showcase their own skills, especially when they got individual promotions after Wanna Be:
    • AOA Black focuses on 5 members and their instrumental skills, and they sometimes perform covers as just the band eg. the "Price Tag" cover. Also, Moya is an AOA Black-only single and its promotions were solely focused on them hence also finally gave Youkyung well-deserved spotlight and full activities. Then there's the "Elvis" MV band-only version which shows these 5 girls rocking it out to the song.
    • The dance unit focuses on 7 members and their dance skills, and they sometimes do their own dance covers. Their solo promotions started off like this as the songs solely focused on their charms as dancers, however the trope has gradually stopped coming into effect as they've become more prominent than the whole group itself since 2014.
  • AOA White, which focuses on the dance-only members, sometimes do mini dance projects and it's been said getting their own promotions in the future is a possibility.
  • The purpose behind AOA Cream is to give spotlight to who their company considers the under-appreciated members. Yuna and Hyejeong get to sing more than usual and Chanmi gets to be the main rapper.
  • Their Angels' Cams on their official YouTube account give most members including the lesser-known members some individual attention, especially earlier ones which helped fans get to know them better. For example, one is of Yuna playing keyboard and singing, and another is mostly just Hyejeong and Mina staring at the camera.
  • Hyejeong was a guest-singer in Phantom's "Seoul Lonely" lives for first week of promotions. Her lines were unfortunately prerecorded and not live, but nevertheless gave her the rare opportunity be a main singer.
• Demoted to Extra: AOA Black was supposed to be the dance unit's equal but FNC has demoted them mid-2013 onwards to focus on the latter. Hence, Youkyung went from an important full-time member to a hardly-appearing "half-member", and AOA having an 8th member is unfortunately nearly always glossed over even by FNC and official media sources. After Youkyung's departure was announced, people's reactions were unfortunately almost unanimously "...who?"
• Distaff Counterpart: The band unit to their older labelmates and famous idol bands FT Island and CN Blue. FNC particularly emphasises Choa as one to FT Island vocalist Hongki, for both being power vocalists and having similar tones. She released her own version of his drama OST "Words I Couldn't Say" and the two of them sang the OST together at the December 2014 FNC Kingdom concert.
• Dress Rehearsal Video:
  • All their music videos have both units performing like they would to an actual audience.
  • The "Moya" MV starts off jamming to no audience in some scenes but then avert this in the end when the band hijacks the stage and performs for the audience present.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Jimin and Choa are seen recording their parts for a song in an episode of Sleeping With the Boss while their boss/producer gives them his critique. Nearly 2 years later said song was officially released as "Crazy Boy" in Good Luck.
• Elegant Classical Musician: Invoked with the concept behind AOA Black, whose visuals are praised and are admired even more when they play their respective instruments. In particular is Yuna who plays the most elegant instrument out of all of them (the piano) and whose visuals are highly praised by members. It mostly shows in her two solo videos of her singing and playing a ballad version of CN Blue's "I'm Sorry" and "The First Noel".
• Embarrassing Nickname: Their "angel names" listed in Stage Name which they debuted with to go with their angel concept. Everyone was dumbfounded, jokes were made and members expressed their embarrassment when introducing themselves with these. The names have notably been ditched ever since.
• Erotic Eating:
  • The "Miniskirt" MV has Choa eating her strawberry cake and licking the cream rather seductively.
  • AOA Cream members eat their ice-cream in a sensual manner in the "I'm Jelly Baby" MV and teasers.
• Escape Artist: Seolhyun's magic trick in the "Bing Bing" MV.
• Even the Girls Want Her: A Discussed Trope in their 2014 Taiwanese interview where Jimin and Youkyung were picked as the members with the most female fans due to being charismatic and cool when performing in the band.
• The Face:
  • Seolhyun's official position - she's one of the most well-known members, often made front and center and given the most attention and promotion by FNC, and her solo activities tend to help get AOA's name out there.
  • Choa and Jimin, the main vocal and rapper respectively, are quite active in interviews and variety which make themselves stand out and help stick the group together.
• Face on the Cover: All their covers show the members, though Wanna Be is the only one that has close ups of their faces.
  • Finally averted with the cover for their first full album "Angel's Knock."
• Fangirl: The girls have been vocal about their love and admiration for certain people.
  • Chanmi being FT Island's Hongki's fangirl has been mentioned/teased often. Lampshaded by Hongki's caption when the two took a photo together and she simply had her hands on her face while grinning sheepishly.
  • Choa was very excited when she got to meet idol Kahi (formerly of After School) on-camera.
  • Youkyung has expressed her admiration for many acts who have influenced her music interests and drumming - one is Super Junior's Heechul, who was the one that got her into Dir en grey which inspired her to take up drumming.
  • Mina for Mr Children, to the point where she mentioned how she taught herself to play their songs on her bass.
• Fanservice: Lots lots lots of this, whether it be wearing short-shorts or dancing provocative moves. Special mention goes to their Eye Practice dance unit practice videos, which give specific close-ups of each member during their part and giving viewers the chance to be stared at intensely by each member.
• The Fashionista: Jimin's voted by members to be the biggest one in the group, as she really enjoys coordinating and planning her outfits.
• Football Fight Song: The dance unit has a song for the Korean football team released for the 2014 World Cup, called "Spread Your Wings of Victory".
• Foreshadowing: The last episode of Open Up! AOA hinted at an upcoming comeback, with the narrator saying it "will give a heart attack". The comeback that followed was the dance unit's "Heart Attack".
• Form-Fitting Wardrobe: Always.
• Funny Background Event: Prone to this, especially in their Angel Cam videos.
  • In Jimin's one in the dressing room for their "Get Out" band stage, Youkyung who is sitting in the background does some silly things like laughing at/with Jimin and making random hand gestures towards the camera.
  • In Hyejeong/Mina's one, you can see Seolhyun walk by, stop and start dancing to "Get Out". The girls then (unintentionally, maybe) blocked her from the view.
  • On Weekly Idol when Hyejeong was demonstrating her cutesy and sexy dances, Mina could be seen ignoring her and simply indulging in her fried chicken (courtesy of the show staff).
• Fun with Acronyms: Ace of Angels.
• Genki Girl: Jimin was voted the most playful member by the group in a Taiwanese interview, being energetic and loving to joke around.
• Gratuitous English: Many in their songs have... interesting English randomly inserted in their otherwise Korean songs.
  • "Tell me tell me your love!" "Everybody wink, wink!"
  • The B-side "Love Is Only You", which repeats the title and "you are my sunshine of my life/ my heart" a lot.
  • "Paradise in your eyes, heaven is in your eyes."
• Harp of Femininity: Was part of Mina's angel backstory picture at debut which had her gracefully playing a harp with the caption "Minaring who plays the harp all the time" (of course, it was just symbolic of her bass).
• Homage: "Good Luck" pays homage to Baywatch as part of their lifeguard concept, wearing the same red bathers and even doing the Baywatch run.
• He's Back!: A lot of people point to the group's performance of Mamamoo's Egoistic as this moment for the group, more so than Bingle Bangle's success. After losing two members without whom a lot of people didn't think AoA could survive, the girls returned with a vengeance and showed that even down to 5, they've still got it. Sadly, this would prove to be their final comeback.
• Hotter and Sexier: They've always oozed sexiness in some way but FNC and members themselves say "Confused" was the era where the dance unit first started doing sexy concepts.
• Huge Schoolgirl: Hyejeong is the tallest at 172cm^note her profile only says 170cm but she admitted this herself. Seolhyun and Youkyung are the next tallest at 167cm, though possibly taller. They often wear non-heeled/shorter-heeled shoes even if the others are in heels, and they normally still meet or surpass their height. Youkyung's height is made even more obvious when she's with just AOA Black where all the short girls are.
• Important Haircut: The whole point of "Short Hair", as it's symbolic of letting go of the past. In the lyrics' case, namely a bad break up. In the MV's case, namely a bad day; after facing difficulty at work, everyone in the dance unit visits Choa's salon to let off some steam and get bobcuts.
• Incredibly Long Note:
  • Being the main vocalist, Choa sings at least one long note in many of their songs. Their promoted songs that have one from her are "Get Out", "Confused" and "Miniskirt".
  • Yuna sings some long notes now and then due to being the lead vocalist. Examples include "Miniskirt" and "Time".
• Irony: The first teaser photo of AOA Black's "Moya" promotions was them dressed in white and set against a white background.◊
• Jack of All Trades: Being able to play instruments, sing/rap and dance is part of their concept, and applies to members of both units. Bonus points to Jimin for becoming more involved in their lyric-writing.
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: Chanmi introduces her cat on the Queendom group chat.
• The Klutz:
  • Mina has fallen/tripped the most of out the others in the dance performances. She also barely kept up in their first Random Dance Play segment of "Weekly Idol" and was jokingly asked by the MCs if she was a new member.
  • In the "Heart Attack" MV, the girls initially don't have a good grasp of lacrosse and frequently trip or bump into each other.
• Knife-Throwing Act: Hyejeong participated in this in the "Bing Bing" MV.
• Knockout Gas: Mina accidentally knocks herself out in an air vent with it in "Like A Cat".
• The Leader:
  • Jimin's official position and is thus often the spokesman, takes charge in many situations and sometimes writes their lyrics.
  • Choa is the secondary leader due to being the maternal figure and oldest. She's sometimes mistaken as the official one due to her age and role as the main vocalist.
• Leg Focus: All the members' legs are often shown off in photoshoots and performances. Hyejeong's are praised the most within the group as she's the tallest and thus automatically has the longest legs which have gotten her the status as the group's sexiest member/member with the best body. Notably, she shows off her legs in her Bathtub Scene in the "Miniskirt" MV.
• Lighter and Softer: AOA Cream's song and concept is considerably cutesier than the group's usual works, with emphasis put on pastel colours and bubbly song.
• Light Feminine and Dark Feminine:
  • AOA White vs AOA Black; if the names don't speak for themselves already, AOA White is the more "graceful" subunit due to focusing solely on dancing, while AOA Black is more fierce and focuses on rock band music.
  • The dance unit vs AOA Black, where the dance unit carry the more sensual and occasionally sweet image while the band sports the more devilish and mischievous look.
  • Their concept for their double title track comeback with "Excuse Me" (light feminine) and "Bing Bing" (dark feminine).
• Magical Girl: AOA Cream girls become magical girls in "I'm Jelly Baby" to get revenge on a cheating boyfriend, getting their own transformation scenes, outfit changes and sticks to boot.
• Male Gaze: Their MVs and choreographies have never hesitated to draw attention to provocative moves such as butt-shaking but it increased a lot from "Confused" onwards to go with the sexy concepts. In particular is the creepy and blatant camera focus on their shaking butts in the "Get Out" and "Miniskirt" MVs.
• Meaningful Name: Some of the seemingly random angels name do apparently have meaning behind them according to members:
  • Yunaria - "angel that is as beautiful as flowers".
  • Jiminiel - the L signifies her as the leader.
  • Chanmi.T.T - the two T's signify her cuteness as the maknae.
  • Minaring - it means a halo which is shining brightly on an angel’s head.
  • Seolhyunari - the "ari" means "charming" and the name as a whole means "Seolhyun virus".
• Motor Mouth: Jimin's raps are a mouthful and very fast, especially in "Elvis" and "Moya".
• New Sound Album: Their "Confused" single is a complete 180 from previous songs, going from an interesting pop-rock and band-acoustic sound to a safe retro pop sound that is very common in kpop. Slightly a given since this is only the dance unit in contrast to the full group, however even the AOA Black-only "Moya" single has influences of their full group music while still maintaining their own flare.
• Never Trust a Trailer
  • The first video teaser for "Confused" had the dance unit wearing white while innocent looking at the camera and eventually sitting together wearing blindfolds, all to gentle ballad music. The actual song and MV? A textbook pop song with the girls dancing provocatively in black outfits most of the time. The singing heard in the teaser was kept in though, and the footage of them in white is briefly shown in the beginning but with no signs of the blindfolds.
  • The end of the last episode of Open Up! AOA shows both units practising, and as it ends with the band practice the secret angel narrations states that the group will release something soon. This made it look like a full group comeback or an AOA Black comeback would take place afterward. The actual comeback that happened was... the dance unit yet again.
  • "I'm Jelly Baby" teasers put a lot of emphasis on the magical girl concept. It plays a lot smaller role in the actual MV.
• Non-Uniform Uniform: The girls' performance/MV attire are often slightly varied from each other. The Elvis dresses have different sleeve fringes and embellishments (and Youkyung wears pants altogether), and the school-like uniforms in "Heart Attack" follow the green/white and shirt/skirt styling but have varying designs.
• Not So Stoic: Discussed Trope in regards in Youkyung in Episode 8 of Open Up! AOA when she, Choa and Chanmi visit a psychology cafe. Chanmi mentions that she first thought Youkyung was too cold and quiet but she found her to be really warm after rooming with her and Choa says she is more emotional than she lets on.
• One-Letter Name: Youkyung's angel name Y.
• Power Ballad: AOA Black's "Without You" and the dance unit's "Tears Falling" are rock ballads. Choa's OST for the drama The Bride of the Century is also a gentle and tear-jerking ballad.
• Precision F-Strike: Jimin does one on Queendom.
• Put on a Bus: Youkyung and Seolhyun/Hyejeong/Chanmi are often made absent depending on which unit is promoting (and of course there's the units themselves). In particular:
  • Youkyung had this done to her the most since the dance unit is more active and she isn't given any other activities; from the end of 2013 onwards she was put on an indefinite hiatus from music promotions, resulting in her leaving the group in 2016. Music college is FNC's main reason for her absence (even though she's been attending college before "Moya" promotions which shows she's capable of studying while actively promoting). She makes the occasional appearance in other events like their Open Up! AOA show.
  • AOA Black promotions of any kind have not been done since mid-2013 to pave way for the dance unit, and they've been given few performances ever since. FNC's excuse was to wait until the dance unit brought in enough popularity to support another comeback, which Miniskirt fulfilled. They finally announced plans for AOA Black to come back in 2016 - a whopping 2 years later, although these might not happen now during to Youkyung's departure.
  • Seolhyun is already prone to absence due to her busy acting schedules, but she was also put on a longer one during Miniskirt promotions due to her injured knee, though she still participated in many CFs. It was extended again when she injured the same knee.
• The Quiet One: Invoked in their music with Youkyung who doesn't sing nor rap (her drumming on the other hand...), and she speaks the least in interviews (by choice or not), often only saying her introduction. In an FNC magazine issue depicting the girls' dorm life Youkyung is described to be someone who "doesn't like to talk".
• Radial Ass Kicking: Chanmi on the Queendom's finale.
• Reaction Shot: Jimin and Mamamoo's Solar have some of the best in Queendom.
• Retcon: At debut, AOA was always stated as an 8-member group with Youkyung considered a member like everyone else, and both units considered equal. Once the fame of Miniskirt kicked in, FNC had Youkyung shafted to the sidelines and since then they merely treat her as some random back up member while treating AOA as a 7-member group, and since then they acknowledge AOA Black as nothing more than a non-serious act. Members and media have gone along with this sadly, despite the girls' statements in "Like a Cat" era that FNC wanted to wait for the dance unit to become more popular before bringing AOA Black back (which never happened, and now with 4/5 of AOA Black gone, it never will).
• The Reveal: An unexpected twist about the guy who cheated on Choa is shown at the end of the "Moya" MV - he isn't the handsome guy like the MV heavily implied, but the goofy guy played by the comedian!
• The Rock Star: Jimin gets her chance to become one on Queendom.
• Self-Empowerment Anthem: In "Good Luck" the girls boast about themselves and encourage girls to be confident, on top and not settle for boring, extra boys.
• Self-Plagiarism:
  • All their choreographies recycle a lot of moves. Even the highlights of Miniskirt and Short Hair are almost the same (shaking the hip/butt with hands together, just done from different views).
  • Their songs after "Confused" often have the same sounds and melodies since the producer Brave Brothers is prone to reworking old songs. "Miniskirt" is a rehash of all his recent previous songs and "Short Hair" is often dubbed as Miniskirt 2.0 due to sounding nearly identical (they both even have an "oooh" part, and both go with their similar hip-shaking moves on top of that!).
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Youkyung's has the tomboy image invoked on her thus usually sticking to pants and shorts, but she's occasionally styled more glamorously like wearing a miniskirt for a CF photoshoot.
• Shower Scene: Hyejeong gets this and a Bathtub Scene in the "Miniskirt" MV, purely for fanservice. She first takes the shower (clothed) before moving on to the bath.
• Shout-Out:
  • The title of their debut song is "Elvis", and the girls wore Elvis-esque outfits too.
  • Their "Get Out" MV has all the members cosplaying as several female characters to promote female empowerment: Choa as Elle Woods, Jimin as Mathilda, Yuna as Lara Croft, Youkyung as Leeloo, Hyejeong as The Bride, Mina as Holly Golightly, Seolhyun as Juliet, and Chanmi as Hermione.
  • In the "Moya" MV, the band that AOA Black kicks off stage parodies FT Island's "I Wish" and CN Blue's "I'm A Loner" - the main vocalist even parodies Hongki for "I Wish", sporting the same tiara headband and imitating his shoulder dance.
• Show Some Leg: Most of their outfits aren't shy about showing some legs. Special mention to the miniskirt-zipping move in the "Miniskirt" dance which shows even more leg.
• Shrinking Violet:
  • Zig-Zagged with Youkyung who is quieter than the others and appears shy when the camera is on her, yet has expressed a strong desire to receive spotlight and be recognised a skillful drummer and has shown a friendly and talkative side when actually given the chance - which is rare.
  • Hyejeong describes herself as someone who used to be shy and insecure until she picked up cheerleading and modelling, which apparently gave her a confidence boost and got rid of said shy side.
• Singer Namedrop: "A to the, O to the, uh huh, A A!" from Moya, amongst many other songs.
  • Most notably, "The pretty girls are AOA!" in Like a Cat.
• Sixth Ranger:
  • In the "Elvis" MV Youkyung joins everyone else midway through the video, falling out of nowhere into the room they're in. They accept her in the group and she jams with fellow band members afterward.
  • Averted yet a common misconception with the group due to their confusing member/unit set-up with Youkyung and AOA White members turning up at seemingly random points depending on the unit that's promoting.
  • Juniel played with this, joking about becoming the 9th member in a group photo with them◊.
• Solo Side Project:
  • Choa released a solo project "Flame", a remake of an older song.
  • Jimin released solo rap songs that were produced with the rap show Unpretty Rapstar and also another song outside of it featuring Exo's Xiumin called "Call Me Bae".
• Spiritual Successor: AOA Black are seen as the 2nd SCANDAL as both are Asian girl bands that stand out in the sea of girl groups in their respective industries.
• Spoken Word in Music: "Joa Yo!" has Seolhyun's spoken English lines at the beginning: "Blue sky, summer breeze, I love it!"
• Spy Catsuit: The dance unit sport some variations in their "Like A Cat" MV where they are cat burglars, and it was mostly what they wore for the performances in that era.
• Stage Magician: Their entire concept for the "Bing Bing" MV.
• Stage Name:
  • Their angel names are derivatives of their real names and are as follows - Jiminel, Choaya, Minaring, Yunaria, Seolhyunari, Hyejeong.Linus, Chanmi T.T. and Y. They are no longer used in their introductions and profiles.
  • Youkyung was under the stage name Gaon when she was Sponge Band's drummer.
• Team Dad: Jimin (the 2nd oldest and leader), as discussed by members. They say she guides the group, is the strictest and has high expectations of the other members.
  • Harsher in Hindsight following Mina's allegations against Jimin, unfortunately.
• Team Mom: Choa, as discussed by members. She's the oldest and cooks for everyone and said to take care of them when they're down.
• Title Track: "Moya" and "Miniskirt" of their respective single-albums, and all their mini-albums' respective songs with the same name.
• Tomboy: Invoked with Youkyung's styling; she debuted with and stuck to Boyish Short Hair for a while and and is styled less femininely than the others - for example for "Elvis" she wore an Elvis-style shirt/pants outfit while others wore Elvis-style dresses, and in an FNC Kingdom concert she wore a shirt/shorts of similar colours to their dresses/skirts. She's also been named the "quiet big brother" of the group and plays drums which is considered a masculine instrument.
• Training from Hell: Band members have expressed the pain they've gone through from practicing their instruments:
  • Mina and Choa have noted how much practicing their guitars hurt their fingers. The former admitted she's even cried.
  • Jimin once Carpal Tunnel syndrome predebut due to over-practicing had to get surgery, and Youkyung received similar surgery from hurting her hands from practising.
• Translated Cover Version: Some songs were translated to Japanese for Japan promotions such as "Miniskirt" and "Like A Cat".
• Truck Driver's Gear Change: The key changes in the last choruses in "Love Is Only You", "Get Out" and "Moya".
• Unperson: From the "Miniskirt" (or even "Confused") era onward, not only has FNC been trying to make the dance unit the main AOA, they also often remove mentions of Youkyung from most of their media and avoid calling her/listing her as a member at all.
• Unplugged Version: There are official videos on their YouTube channel of Choa, Yuna and Jimin singing acoustic versions of "Miniskirt", "Short Hair" and "Like A Cat".
• Vocal Tag Team:
  • Choa and Yuna aka the main and lead vocalists. While it's a given in AOA Black since a band normally only have 2 vocals at best, it even happens in the dance unit as they usually sing 75% of a song.
  • AOA Cream has Yuna and Hyejeong as the main and lead vocals, singing majority of "I'm Jelly Baby".
• The Voiceless: A variant with Youkyung; she's only in the band-unit and prefers to just drum, and so she's the only member who's not heard singing nor rapping (though she rapped in one of Sponge Band's songs).