Le Sserafim: The K-pop band who want to change the industry from within

Hong Eunchae, the youngest part of K-Pop group Le Sserafim, is strutting through Seoul’s legendary Nakwon Instrument Arcade when she suddenly loses her standing.

With a fall, her drink flies into the atmosphere and the 17-year-old falls head-first down a metal stair, getting with a sickening thud on a train surface.

There’s a delay. Finally she sits up with a sigh, fully unharmed, as though this is how she generally navigates the steps.

Instantly meme-able, the scene features in the trailer for Le Sserafim’s third EP, Easy, which was released earlier this year. But Eunchae says it also carries a deeper meaning.

” When I’m following the path I want to follow, tumbling and falling down does n’t matter”, she tells the BBC.

” I usually start over like nothing has happened. That’s the information I wanted to deliver”.

Since Le Sserafim were thrust into the spotlight two years ago, for disobedience and perseverance have helped them cut out a market.

With the eccentric energy of Girls Aloud and the impeccable hooks of the Korean pop machine, they’ve released grungy, club-ready songs like Crazy and Antifragile, been nominated for multiple MTV Awards, and collaborated with Nile Rodgers and PinkPantheress.

To a relaxed watcher, the band might seem like the design child group: Coiffed, choreographed and bristling with confidence.

However, they’re surprisingly direct about the unattainable requirements that the business places on women.

On Eve, Psyche and Bluebeard’s Wife (a song named after three women who defied societal expectations), rapper and singer Kim Chaewon speaks about the pressure to perform, even when you’re not at your best.

“Smile bigger for the crowd/ Shut up, shut up, now shut your feelings out.”

On Good Bones, Huh Yunjin snaps back at her critics.

“You think it’s OK to degrade someone/ Just because they’re true to themselves?” she protests over a spiky rock riff.

” As a group, we’re always trying to show that paradox of being sturdy but also being vulnerable”, Yunjin explains.

” But no matter what happens, we’ve got each other and that gives us tenacity”.

Le Sserafim have an unusual origin story, with members drawn from all over the world at different ages and stages of readiness by their label Cause Music.

Sakura Miyawaki is a showbusiness senior, with expertise in three different bands- KT48, AKB48 and Iz*One.

Aged 26, she’s the oldest Sserafim, and Yunjin calls her” a wall” of power who “always has great tips” about the business.

Chaewon was likewise part of Iz*One, and acts as Le Sserafim’s head, a position she characterises as being” a stone” who “makes all easy” when difficulties arise.

Yunjin was raised in New York and studied opera before entering the rigorous world of K-pop training. By contrast, Eunchae only had 15 months of preparation before making her official debut in 2022. Aged 17, she is nicknamed Manchae – a portmanteau of her name and maknae (막내), the Korean word for “youngest member”.

Previous dancer Nakamura Kazuha, who was swept out of the Dutch National Ballet Academy five times before Le Sserafim’s debut second, was the last to visit. To this day, she feels like she’s playing catch-up with the rest of the staff.

” It’s been two years but every day is a new issue still”, she says.

There was initially a fifth part. Kim Garam made her debut EP, Brave, but she resigned soon after being accused of bullying kids in high school.

Le Sserafim also encountered a few obstacles along the way.

The group apologized earlier this year for allegedly having vocal issues during a California effectiveness at Coachella. Chaewon responded to negative media by claiming that the team had just “become excited and lost handle of our speed” while staging their initial outdoor festival.

A recent behind-the-scenes documentary, Make It Look Easy, exposed more about the pressures the band faced promoting their first album, Unforgiven, last year.

In one scene, Chaewon breaks down in tears and confesses:” I do n’t really know how to be happy”.

” To be honest, I often think about quitting”, she tells an off-camera examiner.

Kazuha also has fears about her acting prowess.

” Sometimes I get super-confident and I’m like,’ I should work harder. I can do this'”, she says. ” But then I lose confidence and I’m like,’ I ca n’t do anything. I have no appeal'”.

Yunjin is more flaming. Her British culture gives her a unique perspective on K-Pop’s “idol” economy, and she’s expressed a desire to change it from within.

” Gods need to do this, do that. There are all these unspoken laws”, she says in the film.

” I could feel it when I was a apprentice, but back then I desperately wanted to]make my ] debut, so I only conformed. But after launching I was like,’ Why does it have to be like this?'”

She expresses her frustrations in a single track called I-Doll, which expressly criticizes how products are made of pop stars.

“They pick apart my body and throw the rest away,” she sings. “Idol doesn’t mean your doll to [expletive] with.”

In the past, the 23-year-old has declared she wants to” change the idol industry”, breaking down its” strict standards one by one”.

Le Sserafim purposefully challenge the status quo, which demands efficiency, by being open about their problems, and do so at a time when K-pop musicians are increasingly willing to confront the program.

Earlier this week, a singer with girl group NewJeans testified to South Korea’s National Assembly about the bullying she has faced at work. Last year, the 11 members of Omega X won emancipation from their contract following allegations of “unwarranted treatment” by their label.

Le Sserafim – who have the full support of Cause Music – put a more positive spin on their story.

Chaewon says the information we wanted to convey through the film was not that our task is difficult and laborious.

Instead, we wanted to draw attention to the fact that we share a lot of similarities with those who continue to work.

” We want to say that you do n’t have to be perfect all the time”, adds Yunjin.

” All faces troubles”, Chaewon concludes. ” So our communication is, this defeat all those troubles together”.

In a cursory market, they make a morality of their errors, projecting them as a power.

Yet the singer’s title is an alias of the word” I’m Fearless”.

Their camaraderie is expressed in songs like Chasing Lightning – where Yunjin is teased for her obsession with Greek yoghurt, and Sakura describes her love of crochet – and their latest single, 1-800 Hot N Fun.

It follows the strap on a day away, kissing strange neighbors, demanding the DJ play Beyoncé, and clinging to the dancing floor until sunrise with a serpentine bass guitar riff.

” I love that song”, says Yunjin. ” It’s almost like a speech, we’re merely all having a talk”.

In the hook, the bandmates keep asking, “Where the heck is Saki?” – their nickname for Sakura – before someone responds, “She’s waiting down in the lobby.”

Does that mean Sakura’s always the first to get set?

“Wow! Wow!” exclaims Yunjin. “That’s actually true! That’s the first time we’ve thought about it that way. That’s genius.”

There wo n’t be much time for partying this year, though. Enthusiasts have speculated that Le Sserafim are working on a novel EP, which would complete a trio of produces called Easy, Crazy, and Popular, while speaking to the BBC in the middle of a long time of TV performances.

The title was mentioned in the Great Bones phrases, but Yunjin skillfully abseits divulging any information.

” Will it even been called Popular? We do n’t know”? she laughs.

” It might be cool, it might be nice. But whatever we come out with, it’ll become flames”.

Based on the evidence thus way, there’s no reason to doubt it… as long as Eunchae avoids stairs.