Le Sserafim has never shied away from trying something new.
The five-member K-Pop group released two wildly different EPs last year — the vibe-y, aptly named Easy, released in late February of last year, months before their U.S. festival debut at Coachella, and the experimental Crazy, which dropped on August 30.
Back with the final installment of their album trilogy, Hot, and its lead single of the same name, Le Sserafim — comprised of members Chaewon, the group’s leader, Sakura, Yunjin, Kazuha and Eunchae — is once again showing off a new side of themselves, embracing a more stripped down, groove-oriented sound. The bass and drum-heavy title track is a softer sonically than some of their previous releases, while the b-side song “Come Over” — a collaboration with J Lloyd and Lydia Kitto from the British band Jungle — has a 60s-era vibe that might make one want to grab a polka dot dress and go-go boots and hit the dance floor.
“I think there’s a lot of parts that I resonate with in this album,” Yunjin tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I think a lot of people will be able to relate to it.”
The 23-year-old New York native shared a letter about the album and what it means to her on the fan-platform Weverse. “Love persevering — it is the embodiment of this album,” she wrote on the post. “I am thankful for the experience Easy, Crazy, Hot has been. I am thankful for the many versions of myself it took to meet the person l’ve come to know today.”
The group, hailing from Source Music, a subsidiary of K-Pop giant Hybe, debuted nearly three years ago in May 2022 and have been on an upward trajectory since. Following the release of Hot, the girl group is set to hit the road on the Easy Crazy Hot tour beginning next month in Incheon, South Korea before heading to several countries throughout Asia, with North American dates expected to take place in September.
The group is full of excitement about their new album, happily giggling with one another throughout a Zoom call with THR from Seoul as they chat about their new album, what it means to them, how they’ve grown closer to one another and how they hope to be perceived as a group.
Hot is the last album in your Easy/Crazy/Hot trilogy. How do you feel about finishing it up and do you have favorite parts of making it?
YUNJIN We put a lot of our love and work into it. This album is the first album where we really set the main theme as love. So it was really, really cool to talk about something like that. We wanted to convey a message of really going after what you’re passionate about despite not knowing how it’s going to actually end up. While making this album itself, for me personally, I got to love the process of doing things because the whole message of this album is to really love the process more than the result. I think that kind of bled into me. I’m living Hot right now.
SAKURA I’m incredibly proud that we’ve been able to complete the trilogy we started with Easy. I feel we’ve grown significantly both as a team and as individuals through this journey. I’m excited to keep evolving even more as an artist in the future.
The sound is different than a lot of the stuff you’ve released so far. What was it like getting to show a new side of the group?
CHAEWON As we were working on Hot, from the get go, we knew that we had to learn this new genre. We put a lot of thought into it. We did a lot of studying on singing this new [kind] of song and Hot, although it may sound soft, there are parts where we need to delicately express our emotions. We had to find a balance between not going over too much, but at the same time expressing the things that we need to express within the song.
With this album, especially with “Hot” and “Ash,” it feels like it’s a moment of rising again and declaring this is who we are at this moment in time and who we’ve become. How much of that do you feel personally connected to? How much of that did you really want to explore on Hot?
YUNJIN I always feel a deep connection to things that talk about the circular motion of life and death. I feel like with this album especially, it was kind of a similar message in the sense that even if you lose a certain part of yourself or a certain part of you dies, it’s not completely gone because you’re just going to be reborn from that old self. In that way, we’re all immortal for this lifetime at least. I think there’s a lot of parts that I resonate with in this album, and I think a lot of people will be able to relate to it as well; just with the message that we can always rise from our past, always rise from our ashes and live a life full of love and your passions.
What are your personal favorites on the album?
KAZUHA Personally my favorite is “Come Over.” It was a true honor to be collaborating with Jungle. (J Lloyd and Lydia Kitto from the British band collaborated on the song.) This song had the vibe that I really like, and I thought, what would it be like if we had a song like this within an album? I was really looking forward to singing it ourselves and once we recorded it, it really fit well with us and with the album.
EUNCHAE My favorite is “Come Over” as well because compared to other songs, that tells you a message. Be true to the emotions at the moment and let’s dance. It really resonated with me, and it’s a really fun and a nice song.
CHAEWON It’s “Come Over” for me as well. [Laughs]. I wonder if I need to give a different answer? But I can’t say otherwise. I love the song and it was truly an honor that we worked with Jungle. They have a really famous performance video. I became a huge fan of them after I watched it. It was really exciting to work with them this time around. As I listened to the song, it really got me thinking that the song is just like me. While we were practicing and preparing for the performance, I could really feel it. It said, enjoy the moment, which is something that really resonates with me.
YUNJIN I was going to say, “Come Over” as well. It changes all the time though because I listen to the album, we’ve got all the masters. I listen to it and it changes every day, so “Come Over” but also “Ash.” I really do like “Ash.”
SAKURA My favorite track is “Ash” because it’s a song that beautifully captures Le Sserafim’s musical and artistic identity.
How are you feeling about the group’s dynamic at the moment, and what have you learned in the last few years?
CHAEWON For sure we’ve become more comfortable with one another, but the thing is I realized my members are really good people. [Group laughs]. The better I get to know them, I realize they’re really good people. We have really good teamwork, and I believe that there’s much to learn from each other as time goes by. We have a really good team here.
YUNJIN I myself have something to add, but I’m going to say it in Korean because I want my group members to hear it. So recently we had a shoot, I don’t remember exactly what, but the travel hours are four hours. With about two hours left, my cell phone ran out of battery and it got turned off for the remaining two hours. I just sat there and got [to] thinking. I found myself thinking about my [group] members. By the time I was back to the company at Yongsan, the conclusion I came up with was that if it’s true love, there are things that you learn from it. For instance, if it’s actual true love, there are things that you can learn from the other person, and we can actually teach each other and you grow together. That was what I realized. The more I thought of each one of my members, I realized that I respect them a lot. There’s so much to learn from each and every one of them. And that is true love. I realized I truly love my members. I came back to the company, returned to Yongsan, went to our dorm and then fell asleep at 3 a.m., but it was really funny to realize that [I have] true love for my group members.
SAKURA We always say that we need all five of us together to be complete, and I truly value that sentiment. Being able to trust and depend on one another is what makes us such a strong team.
As you grow as artists, how do you want the world to see you? How do you want to be perceived? Are there things that you wish people knew about you?
KAZUHA I don’t think I can answer your question with something grandiose, but what I want to say is that we’re also humans. Although we may do different things, we are the same people. We feel the same emotions — happiness — [but] we also have concerns. I do believe that we carry those true emotions and feelings in our music. Hopefully, to the people who live in the same age as us, when they listen to our song and see our lives, they can get courage. They can feel connection and hope. We can be a group that can give courage and connection to people.
Is there anything about Hot that you want to add?
EUNCHAE This album is about having that commitment towards the thing that we love and giving our all regardless of the outcome. We are going to give our all — our hearts and emotions. For those who are currently hesitating, pursuing that things that they love, hopefully our songs and our album can give them a little courage to start pursuing that thing that they love. With that, we will not forget the commitment and devotion that we have made today and work harder going forward.
CHAEWON Thus and therefore, don’t be hesitant to love us with all your heart.
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