LE SSERAFIM is a young girl group from Source Music, a label owned by HYBE Corporation . HYBE was until then mainly known for boy groups like TXT and of course the global sensation BTS, so there was great excitement when the debut of a girl group in 2022 was finally announced.
We'll introduce you to the girl group and their careers so far so you can have a say!
LE SSERAFIM currently has five members: Sakura, Chaewon, Yunjin, Kazuha and Eunchae.
The group originally debuted as a six-piece, but Kim Garam left the group shortly after the release of the first album. Find out why in this article!
- Pre-Debut
- The members
- Debut with "Fearless"
- Kim Garam Scandal
- Fandom Name
- The first comeback: "Antifragile"
Pre-Debut
HYBE has only produced one girl group in its entire history, which started in 2005. Together with the Source Music agency, HYBE managed the girl group GLAM, which debuted in 2012 but disbanded three years later due to a scandal. Later, G-Friend and fromis_9 were also part of the HYBE Corporation because their labels - Source Music & Pledis Entertainment - were taken over by HYBE after 2019. Since G-Friend disbanded in 2021, fromis_9 was the only girl group under HYBE Corporation for a while. However, in June 2020, HYBE Labels, a division of HYBE Corporation, opened to female talent for the first time since the debut of GLAM Auditions, sparking excitement among K-pop fans worldwide!
After rumors circulated for several weeks that HYBE was trying to recruit former members of IZ*ONE, the label confirmed on March 14 that two of them - Sakura and Chaewon - had actually signed a contract.
IZ*ONE was a very successful Korean-Japanese project group that released music together for two and a half years and disbanded in April 2021.
Sakura and Chaewon were the first two confirmed members of the new girl group! According to the rumors, IZ*ONE's Minju was also offered a spot in the girl group, but she decided instead to become an actress.
On March 27th, the name for the new girl group was announced on the new official Instagram account: LE SSERAFIM. If you rearrange the letters, you can use them to form the English sentence “IM FEARLESS”.
LE SSERAFIM is produced and managed by the Source Music label, which has been part of the HYBE Corporation since 2019.
After this big announcement, it was clear that the debut was imminent! A few days later, from April 3rd to April 8th, all six members were finally officially introduced on Instagram and YouTube: Miyawaki Sakura, Kim Chaewon, Huh Yunjin, Nakamura Kazuha, Hong Eunchae & Kim Garam.
Before we continue, let's take a quick look back, because some members have been attracting attention long before their debut in LE SSERAFIM and can look back on a varied success story!
The members
| Artist name | Real name | Birthday |
|---|---|---|
| Sakura | Miyawaki Sakura | 19.03.1998 |
| Chaewon | Kim Chaewon | 01.08.2000 |
| Yunjin | Huh Yunjin | 08.10.2001 |
| Kazuha | Nakamura Kazuha | 09.08.2003 |
| Eunchae | Hong Eunchae | 10.11.2006 |
Former member: Kim Garam
Sakura, Chaewon & Yunjin: AKB48, Produce 48 & IZ*ONE
Miyawaki Sakura was born in Japan and began her music career there at the age of 13.
At that time, she debuted in the girl group HKT48, a sister group of the famous Japanese girl group AKB48. AKB48 and its more than 20 sister groups across Asia are collectively referred to as the AKB48 Group. The groups are based on a graduation system. This means that when members get too old or want to quit, they "graduate" and leave the group. New members are added every year.
In 2018, Sakura took part in the Korean survival show “Produce 48” with 38 other members of the AKB48 Group. The show was intended to create a Korean-Japanese girl group active in both countries. At that point, Sakura was considered one of the most popular members, not only in HKT48 but in the entire AKB48 Group.
Sakura took second place in the finals of Produce 48 and won a place in the 12-member project group IZ*ONE!
But she wasn't the only future member of LE SSERAFIM to appear on the show. The 57 Korean participants included the then 18-year-old Kim Chaewon and the 16-year-old Huh Yunjin.
At the time, both were still unknown trainees in various entertainments.
(Chaewon = Woollim Entertainment / Yunjin = Pledis Entertainment)
Chaewon reached 10th place in the finals and, like Sakura, won a place in IZ*ONE, but Yunjin was unfortunately eliminated right before the finals.
In October 2018, Sakura and Chaewon debuted in IZ*ONE and were active in the girl group for two and a half years until it disbanded as planned in April 2021.
IZ*ONE was extremely successful and made all members stars across Asia within a short period of time! When IZ*ONE disbanded, all 12 members had their own fan base who patiently waited for them to debut again in other groups or solo.
Yunjin returned to Pledis Entertainment. During her time on Produce 48, however, she caught the attention of many K-pop fans, who eagerly awaited news from the talented singer for years. But it would still be a while before she finally returned to the stage.
Kazuha & Eunchae
The two youngest members of LE SSERAFIM were relatively unknown in the K-pop scene compared to the other three.
Before her debut, Nakamura Kazuha was a professional ballet dancer who trained in several famous ballet schools around the world and won countless awards!
On May 3rd, LE SSERAFIM debuted their first mini album “Fearless”!
The title song of the album, which contains a total of five songs, is called “Fearless” like the album itself:
The album was a complete success! On the day of release, more than 175,000 copies were sold, and on May 10th the title song LE SSERAFIM brought them their first win in a music show!
Unfortunately, the debut was overshadowed by a scandal surrounding Kim Garam:
Even before the album was released, Garam was accused of bullying other students at school. HYBE denied these allegations and defended Garam while new alleged evidence continued to be presented.
However, on May 20, Source Music announced that Garam's case was currently under investigation and she was taking a break. From then on, LE SSERAFIM performed as a five-piece.
That's why there are many music show appearances by Fearless with only five members:
For a while it looked like Garam would return to the group after a while. But on July 20th she was finally officially released from LE SSERAFIM. Garam's contracts with the label were also terminated.
Garam published a post on a friend's Instagram account in August in which she reiterated that she was innocent. Nobody really knows what's true now, but LE SSERAFIM has continued with the five of them ever since.
On August 8th, three months after their debut, LE SSERAFIM announced their official fandom name on social media!
Since then, fans have been able to call themselves “FEARNOT”. “Fear not” literally means “not to be afraid”. The girl group's label explained that the word "Fearnot" also sounds similar to the Korean word for "blooming."
So the name means that the girl group and their fans, who fear nothing, will come together and blossom together.
The second mini album “Antifragile” will be released on October 17th:
After the turbulent debut, many fans were eagerly awaiting the first comeback of the young girl group, hoping that the members would be able to really enjoy their success this time. On September 1st, Source Music finally confirmed that LE SSERAFIM would be releasing new music in the fall! On September 19th, the label then announced concrete details: The second mini album “Antifragile” is due to be released on October 17th, the first album with the five-piece!
You can already see several different concept photos on Twitter and Instagram.
We're excited about the new songs, because we've heard Fearless and B-Sides like Blue Flame from the first album so many times that we can't count them anymore!
