Le Sserafim fans might be quite surprised when they hear the girl group’s new song “Hot” for the first time — but the most pleasant surprise.

Simply put, Le Sserafim’s latest fifth EP “Hot,” which drops today, is “the least Le Sserafim” yet. Instead of the rebellious, darkish dance tracks that the quintet has been best known for in the past with “Fearless” (2022), “Antifragile” (2022) and “Unforgiven” (2023), Le Sserafim talks about love for the first time with a melodic dance track befitting the emotional subject.


“We thought that this could be the best way to show a new side of Le Sserafim,” Kim Chae-won told reporters during a showcase held Friday at the Yes24 Live Hall in eastern Seoul, prior to the release of the album at 1 p.m.

“We really thought hard about how we could make this work,” Kim said. “The goal is to become a band that can pull off a variety of styles and genres, and also make everyone else think so too.”

“Hot” is the last of the trilogy that began with third EP “Easy” in February last year and continued with fourth EP “Crazy” released last August. The overall message of the three albums is to live life true to oneself: Take everything “Easy” instead of making too much out of something, be “Crazy” instead of being worried and be “Hot” about everything that you love.

“The title track, ‘Hot,’ is about burning everything up for the thing that we love, even if we’re unsure of the results,” Sakura said. “This is the first time we went with a love song for our lead track and we’re excited to show the fans.”

“You might have thought that the song would be a powerful one because of the title,” Kim said. “But it’s a pop song with a touch of rock and disco and a sentimental melody line. I hope that people enjoy the sense of plot twist.”

When asked what it is that Le Sserafim loves so much that they can burn everything down, the members gave the best answer that could come from a hard-working K-pop group.

“I have a lot of things that I love, but I love this team the most,” Kazuha said. “And it’s all because of the fans that we can be on this stage and perform the music that we love, so I hope we can show just how much we love them.”

“I personally believe that we don’t live to love, but we love to live,” Huh said. “I love this team so much and I love everyone who supports us. I just love this job so much and that gives me the power to live. I talk about this a lot and I’ve been trying to express my love for the members while preparing for this album.”

“That’s true. She would just randomly text us saying, ‘I love you guys so much,’ and out of the blue,” Kim said, laughing.

For the title track, American songwriter Ali Tamposi, who took part in the production of Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes’s “Señorita” (2019) and BTS’s “IDOL” (2023), and Feli Ferraro, who penned Le Sserafim’s “Unforgiven” (2023), collaborated. Members of the British rock band Jungle, Joshua Lloyd and Lydia Kitto, contributed to the production of the B-side track “Come Over.”

Le Sserafim members also participated in the production. Huh Yun-jin participated in producing “Hot,” “Ash” and “So Cynical [Badum],” while Kim Chae-won and Hong Eun-chae contributed to producing “So Cynical [Badum].”

“We always talk a lot with the production team when we make the albums,” Huh said. “And we really felt that this album is our story itself. We always take things we learn and feel during the previous releases and I learned, with the trilogy, that we can be happy regardless of the outcome if I try my best with the people that I love. I tried to get that across in the album.”

“We made this album based on the things we learned and experienced during ‘Easy’ and ‘Crazy’ activities, so I hope we get to take everything from ‘Hot’ and put that into the next album,” Hong Eun-chae said.

Le Sserafim will kick off its first world tour, “Easy Crazy Hot,” with two shows on April 19 and 20 at the Inspire Arena in Incheon. The tour then continues in major cities in Japan: Nagoya on May 6 and 7; Osaka on May 13 and 14; Kitakyushu on June 7 and 8; and Saitama on May 12, 14 and 15. From July, it will perform in Taipei on July 19, Hong Kong on July 25, Manila on Aug. 2, Bangkok on Aug. 9 and 10 and Singapore on Aug. 16.

The dates and location of the North American tour have not been confirmed yet. It will begin in September.

“We were a little sad that we didn’t get to tour last year, but we did hold a meet and greet,” Sakura said. “So we’re very excited about the upcoming tour. We’re also excited to perform in Thailand for the first time during the Asian leg, which we didn’t get to last time [due to the flu].”

“We didn’t get to tour with the trilogy so I think you can look forward to a very different setlist for the concerts,” Huh said. “And there could also be rearrangements, but I won’t say more.”

A pop-up store opened Friday to take place until March 23 at the Platz2 in Seongsu-dong, eastern Seoul. A pop-up store will also take place at the 9SY building in Tokyo’s Shibuya.

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]