Album Review: LE SSERAFIM - Fearless

After Gfriend's disbandment, rookies LE SSERAFIM are HYBE's only girl group. Their pre-debut rollout was a mix of hype and controversy. With members of IZ*ONE part of the lineup, success was guaranteed, but threatened by member Garam getting thrown into a high school bullying controversy. To this date, accusations and counter-accusations have flown wily-nily, with proof being offered by both sides.

Right after debut, the group was thrown into controversy due to the sexual nature of their debut single Fearless's MV, especially since much of the group is made up of minors. Unfortunately, this is part of a disturbing trend seen in the recent crop of K-Pop girl group debuts. NMIXX, IVE and LE SSERAFIM all have minor members and highly sexual choreography. For this reason, I will not be embedding the MV here. Nonetheless, the EP sold over 300,000 copies in pre-orders alone.

Despite that, the album is about as stale as they come. It has some highlights, but nothing here is groundbreaking over revolutionary. In a way, it feels like a dramatic catwalk rather than a revolutionary album.

The World is My Oyster

The album opens with the electronic The World is My Oyster. I love the clobbering club beat here, even if there is no melody to ground it in. The lyrics are recited rather than sung, a trend in recent HYBE releases. This is nothing awful, but it is not quite musical, and more a statement of intent.

Fearless

Given all the hype (or hybe, hehe) and controversy surrounding the release, the lead single Fearless is about as generic as they come. With a simple AABA structure, the song feels more like a rich-and-popular girl's walk into school, not too different from IVE's slightly more ambitious Chaebol crush. I like the slight funky elements introduced in the "You Should Get Away" segment, but there is nothing else really to grab on, with the post-chorus going nowhere when it really needed to explode.

The members are fine performers, with Chaewon and Yunjin providing some charisma on the stage which did not really translate into the recording session. Combine this with generic lyrics, and you have a song that is more safe than spectacular.

Rating: 7/10

Blue Flame

Blue Flame feels like a slightly more ambitious cousin of Fearless, 'slightly' the keyword here. The funky beat sound perfect for some MJ-cosplaying. This is as generic as it comes, but I love the pounding bass throughout the song, it keeps something for listeners to be engaged to. The chorus hook with its touches of cowbell is the other highlight here, weaving its way into my head.

Rating: 7.75/10

The Great Mermaid

Now, this is what I am talking about. I love the aggressive electronic textures here in The Great Mermaid, sounding like a proto-Red Velvet song. The glitchy textures are uniquely K-Pop but set up a potential future identity for LE SSERAFIM, something the rest of the album does not. The song is not perfect, but it does something at the very least.

Rating: 8/10

Sour Grapes

After a streak of slowly improving tracks, Sour Grapes is as generic as they come, sounding like a generic b-side from 2018. I earnestly cannot justify this song's existence, it is so basic that it is easy to forget it exists by the time it ends. I like some of the percussion, but it never does something unique enough to justify its existence, especially in such a short debut that needs every second to be good. I enjoy the finale's intensified production, but it just makes me curious. Why did they not add it from the start?

Rating: 4.5/10

Cumulative Rating: 6.8/10

Overall Score: 6.4/10

The biggest flaw of Fearless is it does nothing to establish who LE SSERAFIM are, it sounds more like mall music than an album. It is fantastically produced but lacks much unique value. Hopefully the group continues down the path of The Great Mermaid, because I see potential there.

Image Source: Music Munidial