Struggle isn’t a word you’d expect to be in LE SSERAFIM’s vocabulary. When the girl group debuted in 2022, they introduced themselves to the world with one robust and unwavering declaration: “I’m fearless.” Ever since that idea has formed the backbone of the group – even their name is an anagram of those two words – and that attitude prevailed over the five-piece’s first releases, from the tough exterior of ‘ANTIFRAGILE’ (which helped earn them a spot in the NME 100 in 2023) to the villain arc embracing ‘Unforgiven’. It’s part of why they’ve gained considerable acclaim since their debut and maintained a consistent presence in NME’s songs and albums of the year lists since 2022.
But, in February 2024, on their third mini-album, ‘Easy’, the women started to shine a light on the cracks in their armour that they’d previously been keeping out of the spotlight. The record started to dismantle the undaunted façade they’d built around them, showing the challenges, hard work and, yes, struggle that had gone on behind the scenes of their magnificent rise as one of K-pop’s newest girl groups to believe in.
“Everybody has their demons, everybody has their struggles,” New York-born member Huh Yunjin reasons, sitting on a couch at the back of a photo studio in Eagle Rock, California. It’s three days after the group performed at Coachella – their first major live performance in the US, and also the fastest K-pop girl group to be invited, under two years into their journey – and they’re spending the days before the festival’s second weekend on a tightly packed schedule of press and promo. “Despite all that, you can still be strong and keep going on your path. We just wanted to talk about how nothing is just surface level.”
If you’ve been watching LE SSERAFIM at just surface level over the last two years, you’ll have likely accepted them as they came – five young women putting themselves in front of the world with no trepidation. Dig deeper, though, and you’ll find the K-pop stars have been slowly, subtly redefining what it means to be fearless in their lyrics and how they carry themselves, tossing out the standard meaning of lacking fear and replacing it with a more multidimensional definition.
“Idols are expected to present ourselves as perfect, but, at the same time, nobody’s perfect” – Sakura
In the LE SSERAFIM universe, being fearless isn’t about pushing on with zero cares or concerns, being bulletproof to the world around you and being unbreakable no matter what life throws at you. It’s about accepting the lows and the challenges when they come, allowing yourself to feel what you need to feel and then dragging yourself back up on your feet, even when you want to curl up in a ball and hide. It’s a refusal, despite all the fear, confusion and anxiety that might be rushing through your body, to let the pitfalls of life stop you in your tracks.
“Not everyone can be positive every day,” Sakura says of when the group feel their strength and determination to continue waver. “There are days where we’re feeling under the weather. Even [if that’s the case], we just accept that fact.” She looks to her bandmates, who are all sitting poised and thoughtfully considering her words to her left. “We have each other to depend on and cheer each other up, so when we feel less determined, we just try to put our best foot forward and depend on each other.”
The five women of LE SSERAFIM all came to be a part of the bold group in different ways. Sakura – previously a member of idol groups HKT48 and AKB48 in her native Japan – was a contestant on the reality TV series Produce 48 in 2018 alongside her future bandmates Kim Chaewon and Yunjin. The programme ended with Sakura and Chaewon earning spots in the temporary girl group IZ*ONE. Yunjin didn’t make the cut and almost put her dream of becoming an idol back on the shelf until LE SSERAFIM’s label, Source Music, called her back from the States for one more shot.
Kazuha, the group’s second Japanese member, trained in ballet around the world – Osaka, Moscow, London – and was studying the discipline in the Netherlands when she joined Source. Hong Eunchae, the group’s maknae (or youngest member), meanwhile, began auditioning for K-pop agencies after attending a dance academy and was eventually snapped up by Source Music.
Despite their different backgrounds, ages (they are between 26 and 17 years old) and interests, in their training period and the two years since they debuted, LE SSERAFIM have become a tight-knit gang. That’s visible on stage at Coachella when, as their performance comes to an end, they take a deep bow, hands linked, and shake each other’s arms in giddy excitement – an act that feels like friends excited to have done something momentous together rather than colleagues completing a task.
It’s in NME’s Cover shoot today, too, as the five women support each other throughout and, for one shot, join hands again and stride forward together. “With my members, I can persevere through any challenges,” Kazuha says of their connection. “They’re very precious to me, and I feel very proud any time we overcome any challenges that we face. That also makes our bond even stronger.”
In their time together so far, the group have learnt a lot from each other, including something that feeds right back into how they carry themselves forward in their version of fearlessness. “There’s a difference in the kind of resilience, but I’ve learned resilience from each and every one of the members,” Yunjin shares before giving some examples. “Learning to laugh when you’re faced with adversities or learning to pick yourself back up when you’re going through a difficult time, learning to accept you have some shortcomings and then getting yourself to work harder and persevere.”
Being honest in their music – about the things they have to be resilient in the face of and in general – is the goal for LE SSERAFIM right now. On ‘Easy’, they do that by lowering our gaze from their composed demeanour above the surface to what’s happening beneath “A swan on the water whippin’ / Sometimes my legs give out, but I keep it,” they sing, calling attention to the dichotomy between the hard work they pour into the group and how effortless they make everything seem. “This album adds another level of depth in terms of vulnerability and transparency,” Yunjin explains. “Going forward, that’s something we’re going to continue to do in terms of not just talking about the result but the journey and the lessons that we learned, the adversities we faced.”
“My members are very precious to me, and I feel very proud any time we overcome any challenges that we face” – Kazuha
It would be easy for the five-piece to go in the opposite direction, papering over the cracks with fierce IDGAF energy and leaving their vulnerabilities behind closed doors. It’s important for them to be so upfront about their reality because of the expectations put on people in their line of work. “Idols are expected to present ourselves as perfect, but, at the same time, nobody’s perfect,” Sakura says. “We have our shortcomings. It takes courage to express those and show that weakness, but we try to embrace it and move forward. If we show that side of us, I think a lot of people will resonate with that.”
Right now, society’s scrutiny feels tougher than ever – both for everyday people and celebrities, but especially for the women of K-pop. It’s not exaggeration to suggest women in the industry can be subject to huge criticism over things their male counterparts barely get attention for. Hard though it might be to have your every action be put under a microscope by a world seemingly waiting for people to ‘slip up’, the LE SSERAFIM women try to shut out the noise around them by concentrating on what they can control: themselves. “I try to focus on comparing myself to the me of the past – if I’m better today compared to yesterday,” Sakura explains.
As the California sun blazes outside, inside the cool photo studio, there’s a hushed calm as the group share their thoughts. They give their full attention to NME’s questions, each one answered with care and consideration, so when Yunjin tells us sincerity “is a big part of the group”, it feels accurate. As they leave the ‘Easy’ era behind and move forward into their next chapter, their genuine love for what they do will fuel their narrative, while the quintet also find the space to finally let loose on their next mini-album ‘Crazy’, out on August 30.
“We’re going to be talking about the struggles of loving something so much that you would do anything for it, and you would lose your mind over [it],” Yunjin says carefully. The project, she suggests, will also tackle the idea of insecurities: “Also the struggles of feeling like you might look weird or you’re not good enough to pursue something.”
During the group’s two Coachella sets, they give a taste of the upcoming record with the debut of ‘1-800-hot-n-fun’, a flirty, fun, half-rapped ode to chasing a party that suggests, as well as all the serious stuff, what they’re also prepared to go crazy for is a big girls’ night out. “Yeaaaah!” Yunjin exclaims when NME links the song to her previous point. “I don’t care what you say, I’m gonna chase after what I want.”
Initially, that track wasn’t meant to be premiered in the Californian desert. “When we first heard it, everyone fell in love immediately,” Sakura explains. “Because [of that], we wanted to show it to our fans and the audience as soon as possible.” Yunjin nods, adding that “it definitely shows a really playful side of us that we haven’t really [shown before]. It’s very musical-esque but also not; very chill but also very rock-inspired as well”.
“Everybody has their demons, everybody has their struggles” – Huh Yunjin
As LE SSERAFIM continue to grow and try new things, they want some things to remain constant. “As we’ve been doing up until now, we want to express what we’ve been feeling through our songs and for them to cheer people up and empower people,” Chaewon says. Empowerment is already something the group has nailed, not just giving new strength to their listeners through their songs but to themselves, too.
Eunchae looks back at their debut title track ‘Fearless’ for proof of that. “I wasn’t like the person that is described in the song, but if I wanted to convey its message to the audience, I felt responsible to become that person,” she admits softly. Singing its lines of towering strength made that job easier. “As I continued to sing them, I felt like I became a little bit more fearless.” To her left, Chaewon agrees with a smile: “Our lyrics are powerful.”
As our time with the group comes to an end and they prepare to dash off to their next appointment, Yunjin shares one more powerful thing with NME – what she’s learned as a member of LE SSERAFIM for the last two years. “Vulnerability is the key to intimacy,” she shares. “Intimacy can lead to a lot of strength – it’s like when you get a scratch or a wound, and your skin grows over it, and you become tougher skinned. Being able to show your hurt can make you stronger and the person you’re with or the person looking up to you stronger, too. So, vulnerability is a good thing.” She pauses before continuing with a knowing smile. “And being fragile makes you anti-fragile.”
LE SSERAFIM’s mini-album ‘Crazy’ is out August 30 via Source Music
Listen to LE SSERAFIM’s exclusive playlist to accompany The Cover below on Spotify and here on Apple Music
Words: Rhian Daly
Photography: Kristen Jan Wong
Styling: KIM Hyesoo
Hair: OH Yumi, HA Min
Makeup: LEE Myungsun, KIM Ina
Visual Creative: CHO Yoon Kyung, LEE Soo
Label: Source Music
Location: Cherry Soda Studios
