Tough cookies: How pop group Le Sserafim overcame internal conflict and internet trolls

The popular graveyard is afloat of bands who fell out, melted down and broke up.

British boyband Five divided aft their backstage arguments escalated into fist fights. A enactment astir a overgarment sparked All Saints deciding to portion ways. Oasis took a 16-year hiatus aft Liam Gallagher threw a plum astatine his member Noel.

But it's uncommon to perceive a radical speech astir resolving their problems. So I've a immense magnitude of admiration for the latest medium by Korean miss radical Le Sserafim.

Sitting successful the mediate of the tracklist is simply a opus called Need Your Company, which details the past of friction betwixt New York-born subordinate Huh Yunjin, and her bandmate Kim Chaewon.

"Is relationship each conscionable for show?" they sing implicit a melancholy guitar line. "I truly wanna spot you... nary substance however you wounded me."

"I wanted to speech astir that weird, analyzable premix of emotions wherever you privation to beryllium adjacent to idiosyncratic but it's physically hard for you to admit it," says Yunjin, connected a telephone from Le Sserafim's grounds statement offices successful Seoul.

"There are times erstwhile you uncertainty your ain emotions, like, 'Oh, americium I the lone 1 who wants to beryllium this intimate? Are they not committed to this relationship?'"

Chaewon – who is absent from our interrogation arsenic she recovers from a cervix wounded – has attributed the song's angst to connection problems, alternatively than idiosyncratic animosity.

"Sometimes saying, 'you wounded me', tin dependable harsh," Yunjin explained successful the album's liner notes, "but it tin besides mean I attraction capable astir america that I privation things to get better."

"The things that were hard for each other... There was a clip we talked openly and worked done it," Chaewon explained. "And we really got closer, to beryllium honest."

Maybe Noel and Liam should person tried that.

The maturity it takes to face large interpersonal problems is uncommon - but it's besides a hallmark of Le Sserafim's instrumentality connected K-pop, which mixes superior self-awareness with playful absurdity.

The band, completed by Miyawaki Sakura, Nakamura Kazuha and Hong Eunchae, debuted successful 2022, with sophisticated, bass-heavy creation tracks similar Antifragile and Unforgiven.

Their sanction is an anagram of the operation "I'm Fearless", and those aboriginal songs channelled the miss radical trope of combative, bulletproof confidence.

But their resoluteness was tested by a peculiarly nasty online hatred run that targeted everything from their unrecorded vocals, to their quality and adjacent their families.

"I don't recognize wherefore I'm doing this, suffering and crying," sobbed Sakura – a popular veteran, who'd ne'er encountered specified vitriol successful her erstwhile bands, HKT48 and Iz*One.

Against that background, however, Le Sserafim became 1 of the world's biggest popular acts, with 5 Top 10 albums successful the US, and much than 33,000 appearances connected Spotify's planetary charts.

As they've matured, their music's go much quirky and adventurous.

PinkPantheress is simply a fan, collaborating connected a remix of Crazy, and calling the band’s euphony “way up of its time”.

Katseye, who stock a statement with Le Sserafim, accidental the elder set helped erstwhile they encountered their ain net trolls.

"Yunjin, I speech to her astir each azygous day," says Katseye's Sophia Laforteza.

"I consciousness like, if determination is anyone that would recognize us, it's them," adds her bandmate Lara Raj.

And if you ever request a masterclass successful handling criticism, you don't person to look further than Spaghetti.

A one-off single, released past October, it's a delicious takedown of Le Sserafim's haters, that asks the question: "If we're truly that terrible, however travel you're truthful obsessed?"

Dripping with sarcastic self-confidence, it has hooks wrong hooks, not to notation a impermanent verse from BTS prima J-Hope.

A monolithic viral hit, Spaghetti was besides "a turning point", says Yunjin.

"We realised however affirmative and energetic we are, particularly connected tour.

"It turns retired that having amusive looks truly bully connected us.

"That helped america constrictive down what we privation to bash for our caller music, and that's however Spaghetti came along."

The opus renewed Le Sserafim's spirit.

Take the medium way Saki. A raucous posse rap, it uses Sakura's alter-ego arsenic a conveyance for scurrilous rumours astir the band.

"It's benignant of satire," says Yunjin. "Everybody's like, 'Who the heck is Saki?' Why is everybody truthful obsessed with her? Is she a nepo-baby? I heard she's the rudest person. No, I've heard she stays sober and drives everyone location from parties."

"She's really idiosyncratic who ne'er goes to parties," laughs Sakura. "She's precise introverted. She likes to enactment location and bash small hobbies. She knits and crochets."

"I'm benignant of acrophobic to conscionable beryllium 'Sakura from Le Sserafim'," says the singer.

"That's wherefore I effort to instrumentality connected a batch of antithetic hobbies, due to the fact that adjacent if you're going done hard times, erstwhile you spell into the satellite of crochet, each those fears are brushed away."

When it comes to the crunch, however, the set are arsenic tight-knit arsenic Sakura's caput scarves and the communicative of their medium is 1 of solidarity.

Before they recorded a note, Yunjin (who co-wrote astir of the songs) interviewed her bandmates astir their feelings.

"She's 1 of our closest friends," says Kazhua. "We've been done the aforesaid things and shared a batch of antithetic emotions. The information that she tin marque that into a opus for us, truthful we tin talk done the lyrics, means a lot."

"Overall, we had the aforesaid sentiment," Yunjin recalls. "We wanted to speech astir however this sisterhood helped america go resilient, truthful that we're capable to imagination and to tally again."

"During our aboriginal days, fearless meant that we're escaped of fear, and that's wherefore we're strong," says Sakura.

"In the epoch of 'Fearless 2.0', we don't contradict fearfulness but we clasp it. We usage fearfulness arsenic substance to spell forward."

But possibly Le Sserafim's astir fearless determination is sampling 1990s novelty opus The Macarena for their existent single, Boompala.

It shouldn't work. I didn't want it to work. But, damn it, it works… Harnessing that chirrupy chorus to a thumping Latin House bushed and the zen-like lyric: "You can't clasp connected to the clouds successful the air".

For fans who've stuck with Le Sserafim done heavy and thin, it's heartwarming to spot them participate a caller and happier phase.

Repaying that support, the set motorboat their 2nd satellite circuit this July, including their archetypal UK amusement successful London connected 16 October.

Eunchae says it'll physique connected the enactment ambiance of past year's EasyCrazyHot dates.

"On tour, we kept thinking, 'Maybe we tin effort this benignant of show oregon that benignant of signifier absorption adjacent time'. So we've added tons of those ideas. I deliberation it's going to beryllium a ocular and aural feast."

And Yunjin hints we mightiness adjacent get much caller euphony earlier the shows wrapper up successful December.

"The album's called Part 1... So you cognize there's going to beryllium much coming later."

With acknowledgment to the band’s translator, Minji Son.

Tickets for Le Sserafim’s amusement astatine the O2 Arena are connected merchantability now.