LE SSERAFIM

[Jeremy Blackman]

I became familiar with Le Sserafim from their first Overwatch collab, which I thought was pretty good, but it didn't hook me. Then, about a month ago, they did a second collab to promote their new EP. This time, largely because the album is a legit masterpiece, I became somewhat obsessed.

Regardless of your feelings or impressions of Kpop, I am very serious when I say that Le Sserafim is extraordinarily special, and anyone who loves music (and dance) should do themselves a favor and give them a try.

First, as they say, let me tell you 'bout LE SSERAFIM.

I'm an outsider to Kpop, but from what I understand, Le Sserafim is a departure from the mainstream or cutesy aesthetics, instead going for something more edgy and weird.

What do I mean by edgy? Well, for example, one of their new songs was banned from the Korean Broadcasting System because its evocative lyrics about the ecstatic experience of burning to death (like a phoenix, to be clear) were considered too disturbing and problematic. (More on "Ash" later.)

What do I mean by weird? The "Fearless" music video has a piece of choreography where they're all face-down on the floor, doing a synchronized mock temper tantrum, pounding their fists to the beat (at 2:09). If that weren't already strange enough, they're also, well... gyrating... not quite off-frame. This is some truly inspired and bonkers choreography.

But it might be topped by the iconic moment in Crazy when Sakura duck-walks into view. Which gives me an excuse to include that as well. This is probably their most well-known song currently:

In general, Le Sserafim comes off as completely un-self-conscious, which gives them the freedom to try a lot of different things and seemingly have more fun than most other humans on the planet.

The group was conceived with the concept of self-empowerment and fearlessness (Le Sserafim is an anagram of "I'm Fearless"), so you'll find most of their music circling similar themes, mostly eschewing love songs (until very recently).

Visuals-wise, they default to a sort of high-fashion aesthetic. Personally I love the cinematic sensibility of their songs and videos. While the group's initial concept was already packed with creativity and ingenuity, the most interesting development in their ethos came much later...

One year ago, at Coachella 2024, Le Sserafim put on a concert with some very shaky vocals. By Kpop standards, it was considered disastrous. Most people might rationally conclude that there were some technical issues and they probably couldn't hear themselves very well (which seems clear to me), but Kpop nerds can be ruthless, and Le Sserafim became a favorite target of criticism, which became bullying, for months to come.

"Antifragile," the group's popular early single, had now become painfully ironic, as they were devastated by the backlash and weren't even sure what their future looked like.

Coachella was traumatic enough that it sort of created a new origin story for the group, like an inciting incident that would generate a new mythos. This is where Le Sserafim's pre-packaged concept gave way to an organic new identity.

One of the members, Yunjin (the Korean-American member, already a singer-songwriter-producer), took on an increased creative role in their next EP, grappling with the trauma of Coachella head-on, framing it as not only an inflection point, but a phoenix-like rebirth.

Remember the "controversial" lyrics I mentioned before? This is how they describe this formative moment :

(From the English translation, I'll sort of re-organize it into a poem...)

In the wave of pain, I'm turning into ashes
Live again like oh, oh, oh
The more it hurts, the more alive I am
A newborn in ashes
Nothing lasts forever, baby
I'm about to bloom again, pour oil all over my body
Light thе flame like oh, oh, oh, I don't wanna stop

"Don't be afraid"
Angеls whisper to me
This darkness creates you
Feel the feelings you never felt
Even I burn again, I burn it more
Can't get enough

So beautiful, new life
The renewal of new skin on my body after peeling the old one
After midnight, a new life will begin
Spread my wings to a new day
The more it hurts, the more alive I am
A new born from ashes
Nothing lasts forever, baby
Burn it up, make it bluer
My footsteps will remain in the flames

This, in my view, is also Le Sserafim's best song. It was released a month ago on their new EP, which I became obsessed with and really sold me on the group for real.

(More posts to come. They probably won't be essays.)

[Jeremy Blackman]

This is what people mean when they say Le Sserafim are next-level dancers. Their naturalistic execution of extremely difficult (and unrelentingly athletic) choreography is such a joy to witness.

They're all great dancers, but I would rank Yunjin and Chaewon side-by-side at the top. Yunjin for expressiveness and Chaewon for precision. (I would say the same of their vocals, by the way.)

In the second video, starting around 1:13, Chaewon pulls off 8 moves in the space of 4 seconds. It's so seamless and perfect that you have to watch at 0.25 speed to see everything she's doing.