Le Sserafim Reveal the Meaning Behind Their New Album and What It's Really Like to Start from Scratch
Le Sserafim are keeping it real on their newest single.
The first-ever girl group created under K-pop powerhouse Hybe (the label behind BTS) just dropped the music video for their second single, "Impurities," off their sophomore EP, Antifragile.
The track is about self-confidence, owning your imperfections and wearing the scars of past struggles proudly — something that's been at the heart of the five-member group's identity since long before they debuted last spring — and a refreshingly candid outlook in an industry often dominated by spectacle.
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"It's not that we're really 'antifragile,'" Sakura, 24, tells PEOPLE of the meaning behind the album's name. "We're pursuing to be antifragile. It's not that we're really fearless [the title of their first EP], like we're not scared of anything. But we pursue to be fearless people. I hope that our fans, whenever they face fears or adversities or bump into a wall, I hope they listen to our music and gain strength through these messages."
Even their group name evokes both strength and softness. "Our team name is an anagram," Huh Yunjin, 21, who was born in Korea but grew up in the U.S., explains. "It's 'I'm fearless,' and if you switch around the letters, it becomes Le Sserafim."
The album art is also a perfect visual distillation of resilience as it mimics Japanese Kintsugi, an art form in which broken pottery is put back together, the cracks filled in with gold.
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Compared to the edgy, apocalyptic music video for their previous single, the title track "Antifragile," the "Impurities" video reflects the rawness of the song's message with a spare setting and minimalist style. The R&B-inflected sound may take some listeners back to the '90s, as will the fashion: coordinating all-white outfits in different cuts that wouldn't be out of place on Destiny's Child.
"We wanted to show different and diverse sides of Le Sserafim through this album, so we tried very different styles and genres as well," says Kim Chaewon, 22, the group's leader, who admits she became a fan of the pop-punk sound on another song, "No Celestial," while recording.
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Kazuha, 19, a former ballerina and burgeoning rapper, says her favorite part of the video is a standout dance moment: "There's one choreography in "Impurities" where Yunjin and I dance together as a pair. I loved working on this together with her." (Around 1:48 in the video above.) "I also thought the beginning of the track was beautiful where we start lying down in the choreo."
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While Le Sserafim just debuted as a group in May 2022, there's a good reason their performances and public personas feel so polished.
Three of the five members — Kim, Sakura and Huh, appeared on a music competition show in 2018, and Kim and Sakura, were formerly part of the group that was created from it, which disbanded in 2021. Sakura was also previously in a girl group in her native Japan.
In order to form Le Sserafim, they elected to go through the intensive pre-debut training process all over again alongside their rookie members Kazuha and Hong Eunchae, 16 — and in an incredibly short time by K-pop standards.
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"Since it is my second debut, it was a difficult decision to start everything from the beginning, from the trainee days," says Kim. "But I had this distinct and clear goal of what I wanted to do, so i think that helped me to decide that I wanted to start over and start fresh"
Adds Huh, "For me, I feel like Le Sserafim was really my final destination. Before that, there were a lot of ups and downs. I was relentlessly knocking on doors I just subconsciously knew were never going to open."
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Hong, the youngest member, was also the last to be added to the group.
"The other members already knew the songs and the dances and I came in the middle, so that worked as a pressure for me to do well and I was worried. Also the members are all older than me, so I was kind of shy and it was difficult at first for me to become close with them."
But working together day and night during recording sessions, dance practices and meetings bonded them quickly. "Even though it can be seen as very abrupt, the way that we came together, I'd like to think that we were all kind of waiting for each other. That's how I feel," says Huh.
With two hit records under their belt in seven months, Le Sserafim are setting their sights on the future.
"One of our biggest goals at the moment is a world tour," reveals Kazuha. "We want to show who Le Sserafim are with our performances to FearNot [their fandom group name] around the world."
