Most MY's will already know this, but aespa has been low-key spoiling us with next comeback hints since Black Mamba. We got Next Level hints all the way back in December. And now... NingNing said this about their upcoming album during their press conference.
and then there is the People Magazine article from last month that said this.
I am pretty sure they got this info from SM's staff before publishing as a lot of kpop companies do this to build hype/tease upcoming projects for their artists. Also, on the radio show Aespa attended today the host asked them what concept they wanted to try next and this was their answer.
The "fresh" type of concept screams a Summer comeback to me. This brings me to my final point that after 6 months of waiting since Black Mamba for an official comeback, aespa would only return with a digital single. I really believe that Next Level will serve as the pre-single before their debut album drops. Probably sometime in July/August. Manifesting 
