BTS. Blackpink. From the waves of their ARMY fandom on Twitter, to the covers of Vogue and the Rolling Stone magazines, music artists from Korea have managed to grab the attention of the world, and establish themselves as an important element in global pop-culture.

Many people may believe that the most popular K-POP artists, ones you may have heard on the radio or popular shows, are almost all of what Korean music has to encompass. What is lesser known is that these artists are only one step in the evolution of K-POP and general pop-culture in Korea.

K-POP is divided into generations of older and newer artists, with each one modified to cater to the audiences, culture, and technology. While BTS remains popular and loved among fans, the next generation of artists are beginning to arrive, and are fighting fiercely for the top spots among fans and music charts. There are 4 generations of K-POP as of today. While generations 1, 2, and 3 have already been established with distinguished artists who have already made their mark on the music industry, generation 4’s top spots and opportunities for fame are still volatile.

With the prospect of gaining ultimate fame or losing it all, one group from this new volatile battleground has managed to rise up to the top in album charting and sales: LE SSERAFIM.

LE SSERAFIM, along with NewJeans, I’VE, Aespa, and STAYC are currently the most popular and well-known fourth generation music groups in the world. While some of these groups like STAYC and IVE have remained in the traditional K-POP concepts such as the “aspirational star” and “girl crush” respectively, other 4th-gen groups have taken a risk in different fields to compete with the same audience base. Aespa has decided to go with a futuristic concept, in which each member has alternate digital versions of themselves, while NewJeans does the opposite and attempts to remain completely “timeless” in its music and concepts.

But instead of following the traditional notion of using their concept as an aesthetic to the group’s music and album themes, LE SSERAFIM has chosen to turn their concept into their mission: creating anthems of self-confidence for their fans to be inspired and empowered.

The group consists of 5 members: Sakura, Kim Chae-won, Huh Yun-jin, Kazuha and Hong Eun-chae. If you take a look at the “LE SSERAFIM” for a while, you will find that it is an anagram of the words “I’M FEARLESS”. Taking inspiration from this anagram, this group’s first extended play “FEARLESS” has managed to capture the attention of many fans across the globe, inspiring them to be fearless themselves with an earworm chorus, fast-paced electronic bassy beat, and smooth choreography. The elegant visuals and elements of realism in their music videos complement the experience, and make this song very satisfying to listen to.

Following this debut in May 2022, the group has released their second extended play, which has been well-received by fans and listeners across the globe. The new songs follow in the light of the original, but add a more imaginative feel with music video elements, and dance styles. The vocals are crisp and blend with each other well as they continue to drive the beat forward. Combining settings, styles, and outfits of street dancers, space travellers, racing, and pyrotechnics, the video helps capture the emotions of the viewers and pull them further into the feel of the song. With choreography that moves fast and combines aggressive dance moves, it continues the trend of LE SSERAFIM’s empowering concept, and helps reinforce the likeability of the song. The result of this is a catchy hit that has reeled in fans all across the world.

In the span of one month from  Oct. 16 to 16 Nov. 16 , this catchy EP has managed to rapidly climb to 5th place on the monthly global charts, and to the number one spot on the weekly global charts of the Circle Chart, the Korean government’s official music chart.

In terms of album sales, Antifragile has sold 369,350 copies over the first month, beating out competing albums such as IVE’s “After Like”, selling  111,972 copies, and NewJeans’s “New Jeans” debut album, selling 10,540 copies. These impressive sales have worked together with the group’s popularity to skyrocket them to the top of the Korean music industry.

While this album has been able to rise in popularity and sales, it has not been able to remain as competitive on the digital and streaming charts. The title track of Antifragile has been out-streamed by the title track from both IVE (After Like) and NewJeans (Attention).

What this indicates is that while many other groups have decided to follow the path of reaching mass popularity through streaming, LE SSERAFIM has instead decided to build an audience of devoted fans, and reach for fame in terms of a committed fan base instead.

Though this group decided to do things a bit differently, it is beginning to show its success in terms of skyrocketing to the number one spot. LE SSERAFIM continues to inspire fans across the world, and bring them powerful and memorable music to soundtrack their lives.