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The Seraphim (left-right): Yunjin, Kazuha, Chae-won, Sakura and Eunchae
Hong Eunchae, the youngest member of K-Pop group Le Sserafim, is strutting her stuff in Seoul's infamous Nakwon Instrument Arcade when she suddenly loses her footing.
With a crash, her drink flies into the air and the 17-year-old falls headfirst down a metal staircase, landing with a sickening thud on the subway floor.
There is a pause. Then she stands up, shrugging her shoulders, completely unharmed, as if this is how she usually takes the stairs.
Instantly memorable, the scene appears in the trailer for Sserafim's third EP, Easy, released earlier this year. But Eunchae says it also has a deeper meaning.
“When I follow the path I want to follow, falling doesn't matter,” she told the BBC.
“I always start again as if nothing had happened. That's the message I wanted to send.”
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The band's eclectic sound ranges from deep house tracks to arena rock to Amapiano's sing-song grooves, delivered in a mix of Korean, Japanese and English.
This courage and perseverance have allowed Sserafim to carve out a place for itself since its appearance on the scene two years ago.
With the eccentric energy of Girls Aloud and the impeccable hooks of the Korean pop machine, they released grunge, club-ready songs like Crazy and Antifragile, were nominated for multiple MTV Awards, and collaborated with Nile Rodgers and PinkPantheress.
To a casual observer, the quintet might look like the prototypical girl band: coiffed, choreographed and bristling with confidence.
But they are particularly outspoken about the unrealistic standards the industry imposes on women.
In Eve, Psyche and Bluebeard's Wife (a song named after three women who defied society's expectations), rapper and singer Kim Chaewon talks about the pressure to perform, even when you're not his best.
“Smile bigger for the crowd/Shut up, shut up, now put your feelings aside.”
On Good Bones, Huh Yunjin responds to his critics.
“You think it’s okay to degrade someone/Just because they’re true to themselves?” » she protests against a bristling rock riff.
“As a group, we always try to show this duality of being strong but also vulnerable,” Yunjin explains.
“But whatever happens, we stick together and that gives us resilience.”
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The five musicians were scheduled to perform at the Coachella festival just 18 months after their debut, a record for a Korean group.
Sserafim have an unusual origin story, with members hailing from all over the world at varying ages and stages of preparation through their label Source Music.
Sakura Miyawaki is a show business veteran, with experience in three other groups: KT48, AKB48 and Iz*One.
At 26, she is the oldest of the Sserafim, and Yunjin considers her a “pillar” of strength who “always has good advice” about the industry.
Chaewon was also part of Iz*One and acts as the leader of Le Sserafim, a role she describes as “a rock” who “does everything smoothly” when problems arise.
Yunjin grew up in New York and studied opera before entering the rigorous world of K-pop training. In 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 “younger member”.
The last to join us was former ballerina Nakamura Kazuha, who was expelled from the Dutch National Ballet Academy five months before Le Sserafim's debut single. Even today, she feels like she's catching up with the rest of the team.
“It’s been two years, but every day remains a new challenge,” she says.
There was originally a sixth member. Kim Garam appeared on the group's debut EP, Fearless, but quit shortly afterward following accusations that she bullied students at high school.
This is not the only difficulty that Le Sserafim encountered.
Earlier this year, the band apologized for perceived vocal weaknesses during their performance at Coachella in California. In response to the negative press, Chaewon said the group simply “got excited and lost control of our rhythm” while playing their first outdoor festival.
A recent behind-the-scenes documentary, Make It Look Easy, revealed more of the pressures the band faced promoting their debut album, Unforgiven, last year.
In one scene, Chaewon breaks down in tears and admits, “I don't really know how to be happy.”
“To be honest, I sometimes think about quitting,” she tells an interviewer off-camera.
Kazuha also faces insecurities about her abilities as a performer.
“Sometimes I'm very confident and I think, 'I should work harder. I can do it,'” she says. “But then I lose confidence in myself and I say to myself: 'I can't do anything. I have no charm'.”
“This is not your doll to play with.”
Yunjin is more fiery. Her American upbringing gives her a different perspective on the K-Pop “idol” industry, and she has expressed a desire to change it from the inside.
“Idols have to do this, do that. There are all these unspoken rules,” she says in the documentary.
“I could feel it when I was a trainee, but at the time I desperately wanted to (make my) debut, so I just complied. But after my debut, I was like, 'Why does it have to be like that?'”
She translates these frustrations into a solo song called I-Doll, which explicitly critiques the way pop stars are treated like commodities.
“They take my body apart and throw the rest away,” she sings. “Idol doesn’t mean you have to (expletive) with your doll.”
In the past, the 23-year-old said she wants to “change the idol industry”, breaking its “strict standards” one by one.
By being transparent about their struggles, The Sserafim deliberately challenges a status quo that demands perfection – and their candidness comes at a time when K-pop artists are increasingly willing to confront the system.
Earlier this week, a singer from girl group NewJeans testified before South Korea's National Assembly about the harassment she faced at work. Last year, the 11 members of Omega
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The band has yet to play in the UK, but Yunjin says: “Our hearts are already in the UK. Spiritually, we are already there.”
The Sserafim – who have the full support of Source Music – put a more positive spin on their story.
“The message we wanted to convey through the documentary was not that our work is hard and arduous,” explains Chaewon.
“Rather, we wanted to emphasize the fact that we have a lot in common with anyone who has a job.”
“We want to say that you don’t have to be perfect all the time,” adds Yunjin.
“Everyone faces difficulties,” concludes Chaewon. “So our message is: let’s overcome all these difficulties together.”
In a superficial industry, they make a virtue of their imperfections, projecting them as strength.
Even the band's name is an anagram of the phrase “I'm Fearless.”
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The group shows their wackier side in the web series Leniverse, where they participate in various challenges and quizzes.
Their camaraderie is expressed in songs like Chasing Lightning – where Yunjin is teased for her obsession with Greek yogurt and Sakura describes her love of crochet – and their latest single, 1-800 Hot N Fun.
Fueled by a winding bass riff, it follows the band at a party, kissing random strangers, demanding the DJ play Beyoncé, and hanging out on the dance floor until dawn.
“I love this song,” Yunjin said. “It’s almost like a dialogue, we’re all just having a conversation.”
In the hook, the band members keep asking, “Where the hell is Saki?” — their nickname for Sakura — before someone responded, “She's waiting in the lobby.” »
Does this mean Sakura is always the first to be ready?
“Wow! Wow!” Yunjin exclaims. “It’s actually true! This is the first time we've thought about it this way. It's genius.
There won't be much time to party this year, however. The Sserafim spoke to the BBC in the middle of a long day of TV rehearsals, and fans speculated they were working on a new EP – completing a trilogy called Easy, Crazy and Hot.
The title was hinted at in Good Bones' lyrics, but Yunjin skillfully avoids revealing any secrets.
“Will it even be called Hot? We don't know?” she laughs.
“It might be cold, it might be hot. But whatever we come out with, it'll be fire.”
Based on the evidence available so far, there's no reason to doubt it… as long as Eunchae avoids the stairs.
