KPOP has become one of the biggest genres of music in 2023. Two popular 4th Gen KPOP girl groups are IVE and LE SSERAFIM.  

IVE debuted as a 6-member girl group signed to Starship Ent, one of the KPOP agencies, but currently is a 5-member group as one of their members is on hiatus due to focusing on her health. IVE’s name is a abbreviation for “I Have”. The members of IVE consist of An Yujin, Gaeul, Rei (member who was on hiatus but returned on May 26), Jang Won-woung, Liz, And Leeseo.  

They officially debuted on December 1st, 2021, with the single album called “Eleven”. According to Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/artist/ive/1594159996) their 2nd single album “LOVE DIVE” released on April 5th, 2022, with two songs called “LOVE DIVE” and “ROYAL”. Their 3rd single album released on August 22, 2022, includes “After LIKE”, and “My Satisfaction”. They released their first studio album “I’ve Ive” on April 10, 2023. The album has 11 tracks including their pre-release single “Kitsch.”, and the lead single of the album is “I Am”. Currently their first Japanese EP “WAVE” includes their lead single “WAVE” which was pre-released on May 9th. Other songs featured on their EP are “Classic” and a Japanese Versions of songs “After Like”, “LOVE DIVE”, and “Take it”.  

My favorite songs from IVE are “WAVE”, “I Am” “After LIKE” and “Eleven”. I first started listening to IVE after I got into KPOP through another 4th gen girl group called NewJeans with their songs “Ditto” and “OMG”. I noticed IVE in the MAMA 2022 awards through their stage girl group collaboration, which had featured five 4th gen girl groups which had a successful debut year, and the groups featured were NMIXX, IVE, Kep1er, LE SSERAFIM”, and New Jeans.   

All five groups’ members were performing their debut songs of their groups and the other groups present which were “ELEVEN” by IVE, “WADADA” by Kep1er, “O.O” by NMIXX ,“FEARLESS” by LE SSERAFIM, and “Hybe Boy” by NewJeans. At the end, the groups all performed “CHEER UP” by TWICE. I had gotten into all 5 groups, but IVE’s music had the most influence.  

In KPOP there is something known as bias which is your favorite member of the group/band and there also exists bias wrecker which is your second favorite in the group. My bias in IVE is Won-woung because of her visuals and performance in the group. Overall, the entire group’s performance, songs, visuals are amazing and something worth watching and listening to. 

According to the article titled “Watch IVE shed tears as they become 3rd fastest girl group in history to win a Daesang at MMA 2022” published on the website for Soompi <https://www.soompi.com/article/1556002wpp/watch-ive-sheds-tears-as-they-become-3rd-fastest-girl-group-in-history-to-win-a-daesang-at-mma-2022>, in 2022 IVE won a Daesang (Grand Prize) for their song “LOVE DIVE”. A Daesang award is KPOP’s biggest award, and it is one of the highest achievements a group or artist can win.

Other awards won by IVE are MAMA Award for Best New Female Artist 2022, MAMA 2022 Award for Song of the Year, 2 and 022 MAMA Award for Favorite New Artist. They also have won many other awards on music shows like “Show Champion”, “The Show”, “Music Bank” “Show! Music Core”, “Inkigayo” and “M Countdown”. (SOURCE: https://kpop.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_awards_and_nominations_received_by_IVE)  

IVE overall as a group has grown significantly big in the KPOP industry and is one of the big 4th Gen Girl Groups to exist and will still grow bigger and bigger in the KPOP industry.  

“LE SSERAFIM”  is a 5-member girl group that debuted on May 2nd, 2022, but was originally a 6-member group. They are signed by Source Music, A HYBE subsidiary. The 5 current members are Sakura, Kim Chaewon, Huh Yunjin, Kazuha, and Hong Eunchae. The 6th member was Kim Garam, but she left the group on July 20, 2022 due to a school bullying scandal.  

LE SSERAFIM’s group name is an anagram for “I’m Fearless” which implies self-confidence and a strong will to move forward without being swayed by the world’s gaze. According to KPOP Fandom wiki, LE SSERAFIM won the “2022 MAMA Award for Favorite New Artist” and “2023 Seoul Music Awards for Best New Artists” for “FEARLESS” and “2023 Golden Disk Award Rookie Artist Award” <Source: https://kpop.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_awards_and_nominations_received_by_LE_SSERAFIM> 

  LE SSERAFIM debuted with the mini album “FEARLESS” with “FEARLESS” serving as the title track.  The album consisted of five tracks which are “The World is My Oyster”, and one of my favorites “FEARLESS”, “Blue Flame”, “The Great Mermaid” and “Sour Grapes”. LE SSERAFIM recently released their first full album called “UNFORGIVEN” on May 1, 2023.

The  album includes 13 songs with the lead single “UNFORGIVEN” featuring Nile Rodgers. The other 12 songs are “The World is My Oyster (2023 Ver)”, “FEARLESS (2023 Ver)”, “Blue Flame (2023 Ver)”, “The Hydra”,, “ANTIFRAGILE”, “impurities”, “Burn the Bridge”, “No-Return (Into the unknown) “, “Eve, Psyche & The Bluebeard’s Wife”, “FEARNOT (Between you, and me and the lamppost)”, “Flash Forward” and “Fire in the belly”.  

One of my favorite songs from LE SSERAFIM is “Eve, Pysche and the Bluebeard’s Wife” which refers to three mythological female figures: Eve from the Garden of Eden; Pysche from Greek mythology who is also the goddess of souls has a rivalry with Aphrodite about beauty; and Bluebeard’s wife from French Folklore. In the song they are not directly mentioned, but there is a lot of symbolism mentioning them. The lyric “I wish for what’s forbidden” can relate to all three figures as they desired what was forbidden to them: Eve with the apple, Psyche with her hidden lover, and Bluebeard’s wife with the secret chamber. The song’s main idea is about rejecting the rules and to do anything for the sake of desire and self-actualization.

To me, LE SSERAFIM’s music motivates me to keep on going and a lot of their songs are on my gym playlist as well. My other all-time favorites are “Fire in the Belly”, “ANTIFRAGILE” and “Fearless”. I also got into them the same way I had gotten into IVE. My bias for the group is Sakura and my bias wrecker is Yunjin. 

What I find unique to LE SSERAFIM is the choreography which has a lot of movements, and some of their choreography feels trippy in a good, synchronized way. It’s one of the many things I enjoy watching on YouTube. One of my all time favorite choreographies is the one for “The Hydra” wehre everything is about it is so cool to watch, especially the way everyone is moving in a synchronized way. It’s really one of the reasons why I got into the group and enjoy watching them perform on music shows. 

 SONGS FROM  IVE AND LE SSERAFIM FEATURED IN THE ARTICLE