News : LE SSERAFIM tell us about their new mini-album ‘Hot’: “You have to set your body on fire to maintain the flame”

LE SSERAFIM have spoken to NME about their latest mini-album, ‘Hot’, and their upcoming world tour. Check out the music video for the former NME Cover stars’ new title track below, alongside our full interview with the K-pop girl group.

‘Hot’ wraps up the five-piece’s latest trilogy of records, which began with the mini-album ‘Easy’ in February 2024. On that release, they wanted to highlight the work they put in behind the scenes to make their output look effortless. Last August, the group shared the second instalment, ‘Crazy’, on which they embraced chaos and threw themselves into their passions.

Continuing that narrative, the new mini-album (out today, Friday March 14) finds LE SSERAFIM giving everything they have for the things and people they love.

“In ‘Easy’, we wanted to express our inner anxieties, thoughts and struggles in a very candid manner, and in ‘Crazy’, we decided not to succumb to those fears and just go crazy,” Kim Chaewon told NME in Seoul. “In ‘Hot’, we wanted to portray wholeheartedly accepting the things that we love. Hopefully, through this trilogy, we show that LE SSERAFIM have become very resilient and solid.”

Hong Eunchae added that she felt that she and her bandmates had all grown while working across the three records, thanks to the messages behind them. “If you have inner anxiety and concerns, it’s really hard to start something because you probably have fears,” she said. “Finding something that you really like and want to do is a difficult task in and of itself, but once you [do and get] start[ed], there’s so much to learn, regardless of the outcome. We saw a growth in our mindset [by] saying that if you find something [you like], you need to give it your all and make sure you pour everything into it.”

The overarching concept of LE SSERAFIM has always centred on fearlessness and pushing through adversity (the group’s name is an anagram of ‘I’m fearless’). On ‘Hot’, the track ‘Ash’ most explicitly connects to that idea. Co-written by member Huh Yunjin, the song depicts new life rising from the ashes and discovering beauty by embracing pain. “The more I hurt, the more I feel alive,” they sing in beautiful falsetto.

“While writing ‘Ash’, I was really focused on wanting to express the moment between life and death, but also the pain that comes with that,” Yunjin explained. “I especially wanted to talk about that pain because, without it, you miss out on a lot of gratitude and appreciation for the beauty of life itself.”

The image of a matchstick also served as inspiration for the lyrics because “you have to set your body on fire to maintain the flame”. “That represented how you have to surrender yourself to your passion and, sometimes, you undergo that pain and overcome that hardship to keep your flame alive. Even if you use up all of your body and it feels like it’s ended, you’ll just rise from it again. In that sense, I think by just going through pain, you’re able to discover a new self that you didn’t know was there before, and I think we all went through that,” Yunjin said, gesturing to her bandmates beside her.

‘Hot’’s title track sees LE SSERAFIM setting themselves on fire for love – marking the first time they have focused on romance in a lead single. “Just like / A phoenix soaring across eternal skies,” they sing on the glistening pop song. “You’re just like / A miracle making me dream again tonight.”

“As a team, a big part of what we do is talk about a message that feels most natural to us in relation to what we’re going through, what we’re feeling or what thought processes we’re having,” Yunjin explained. “For ‘Fearless’, our first album, we were really focused on debuting and getting our name out there, so we had a lot of messages focused on our main theme, which is to fearlessly go forward and face adversities. With ‘Antifragile’ it was about resilience.

“Now, at this point, we’ve received so much love from our [fanbase] Fearnots and from the people we work with and each other, so it came really naturally to want to talk about love. At this point in our career, we [also] wanted to talk about something that everybody could relate to and what can people relate to more than love?” The singer added that, while ‘Hot’ is intended to be about romantic love, it could also still be interpreted to be about other kinds of passion.

The group say there are multiple things that make them feel that kind of fire, with Chaewon citing the time they spend on stage and their fans. “They’re always supporting us no matter what and that makes us maintain our passion,” she said. “I know how lucky we are to be working on something that we love, and we’re really grateful for this.”

“LE SSERAFIM is that fire for me,” Sakura told NME via email later. “The album’s message – the willingness to burn everything for what one loves, despite the uncertainty of how one’s story will unfold – reminds me of the same feelings I had when I decided to re-debut as a member of LE SSERAFIM.”

Elsewhere on ‘Hot’, LE SSERAFIM worked with Jungle’s J Lloyd and Lydia Kitto on the ’60s-flavoured ‘Come Over’. The two groups met in Los Angeles last year to work on the track – sessions in which, Yunjin said, it was “so amazing to see this whole thing come to life”. “Their sound is so unique and to see us blend in with that was so, so cool,” she continued. “I think this retro sound really blends into the concept of this album, and it definitely adds a lot of depth, as well.”

Closing track ‘So Cynical (Badum)’ will also see LE SSERAFIM team up with the game Overwatch 2 for a second time following their collaboration around their 2023 single ‘Perfect Night’. That previous partnership saw the group perform at the annual gaming convention BlizzCon, as well as be immortalised in the game via dance moves, skins and themes. “BlizzCon is still a really good memory for us, and we really like Overwatch 2 as a game in general,” Eunchae said. “It was really amazing to see our songs and characters and our dance be shown. With ‘So Cynical (Badum)’, we’re so excited to once again see our song in the game and I think it’s a really good opportunity for us to share our music with diverse people.”

The five-piece will continue pouring everything into their work when they hit the road for their new ‘Easy Crazy Hot’ tour. The dates kick off in South Korea in April before continuing across Asia and North America, with all shows set to begin with a bang.

“You might remember we began with a backdrop on our previous tour,” Kazuha said, referencing the entrance of their 2023 ‘Flame Rises’ tour, which saw each member fall backwards off a platform before reappearing in the middle of the stage. “This time around, we’re also preparing for a memorable opening, so stay tuned,” the singer promised.

Although further territories for the ‘Easy Crazy Hot’ tour have yet to be confirmed, the group teased that a trip to the UK could be on the cards. “Hopefully, a UK leg will also be added, you never know,” Yunjin said, grinning. “We really, really want to meet our UK Fearnots,” Chaewon added. “Just call us, and we’re ready to see them anytime.”

LE SSERAFIM’s ‘Hot’ is out now. The group’s world tour kicks off next month – see the dates so far below

APRIL
19: Incheon, South Korea
20: Incheon, South Korea

MAY 2025
06: Nagoya, Japan
07: Nagoya, Japan
13: Osaka, Japan
14: Osaka, Japan

JUNE 2025
07: Kitakyushu, Japan
08: Kitakyushu, Japan
12: Saitama, Japan
14: Saitama, Japan
15: Saitama, Japan

JULY 2025
19: Taipei, Taiwan
25: Hong Kong, China

AUGUST 2025
02: Manila, the Philippines
09: Bangkok, Thailand
10: Bangkok, Thailand
16: Singapore, Singapore

SEPTEMBER 2025
North America