“Smart” by LE SSERAFIM, Friday, June 14, 2024

Today it’s back to the world of the Hybe Corporation. In 2019, Hybe hired Min Hee-jin (민희진) as the company’s chief brand designer. She worked as the company began a transitional phase when BigHit Entertainment took on several subsidiary record labels. Min had worked for SM Entertainment, one of the big three K-pop labels in the ‘90s to early ‘10s, and had been the creative director behind some of the label’s biggest acts such as Exo, SHINee, (f)x, and Girls' Generation. She then worked developing other K-pop acts on every label for Hybe except for BigHit because that label had its own specialized brand designer. But upon being hired at BigHit (later Hybe), Min demanded her own subsidiary, Ador, of which the brand designer became CEO. Ador was formed in 2021 and signed their first act in 2022.
 

WANNA BE A WINNER. Min Hee-jin planned to release a girl group in 2022. Hybe Corporation was known for its boy bands and rappers. Still, with SM, YG, and JYP releasing successful fourth-generation K-pop girl groups like aespa and IVE, Hybe needed to capitalize on that demographic. Min hand-picked the girls of the group NewJeans, but before the group could debut with the song “Attention,” Source Music, another subsidiary of Hybe Entertainment, debuted their new girl group, Le Sserafim. The girl group followed the girl groups Glam and GFriend, the latter who had recently disbanded in 2021 leaving Source Music an empty roster only to Le Sserafim. Three of the group members were involved with the talent show Produce 48, which aired in 2018. Two of the members, former J-pop idol group member Sakura Miyawaki (宮脇咲良) and Kim Chae-won (김채원), won the competition and joined with ten other winners in the group Iz*One. Hybe and Source Music promoted their new group Le Sserafim, beginning to tease the group on March 14, 2022, and debuting the group’s EP Fearless on May 10th. 

BUT LIVING LIKE A VILLAIN IS WHAT I NEED. Le Sserafim’s debut EP was commercially successful, becoming the best-selling debut of a girl-pop group. In contrast to Le Sserafim’s promotional hype, Min Hee-jin’s girl group NewJeans arrived with their debut single without much promotion from the label. Hybe claimed that Min’s demand for her own label delayed NewJeans’ debut and that Hybe couldn’t promote two new girl groups simultaneously. Still, NewJeans’ surprise debut turned into a number-one hit, and NewJeans has been one of the most successful girl groups since their debut. Le Sserafim has maintained a strong presence on the charts. They’ve released three EPs; their latest Easy was released on February 19th. The two singles “Easy” and “Smart” performed well on charts around the world. The songs range from experimental rock on “Good Bones” track to trap on the lead single “Easy” to tropical house on the second single “Smart.”  In April, they performed at Coachella. While many American music outlets praised the performance, many K-pop fans and netizens were disappointed with the group’s lack of live vocal talent. Listeners didn’t only point to the Coachella performance but noticed that the group’s vocals had always been inconsistent with their studio recordings. We’ll see if this affects the group’s next comeback. 

Read the Korean lyrics on Genius.

Read the English version's lyrics on Genius.