By: Cameron Tyo
February 20th, 2024
LE SSERAFIM’s Easy is the girl group’s third mini album, which is comprised of five songs. LE SSERAFIM has been making music since their debut in 2022 with their first mini album, Fearless. The group’s music is often times experimental and leans toward themes of empowerment. The first time I listened to their music was after their studio album Unforgiven was released. In fact, it wasn’t even the title track that caught my eye or ear, but the energetic B-side “Eve, Psyche and the Bluebeard’s Wife.” After listening to the whole album, I loved their music. I decided to listen to the other two mini albums they had released at the time, and not only did I fall in love with their other music but also the overall personalities of all the group members.
Easy, released on February 19th, and the five songs all deal with themes of never losing determination and getting used to living out of the confines of social norms. All in a way to show empowerment, especially among women. As stated before, LE SSERAFIM is known for this. Hence, their broad fan base is growing today. I ended up preordering and picking up my copy of the album from Target and listened to it the night it came out.
Empowerment through the ages can be hard but “Easy:”
The first song of the album, “Good Bones,” acts as a long interlude. The five members of the group narrate in English, Korean, and Japanese, the primary languages spoken by certain members of the group, vows of moving forward no matter the hate they might receive, their resolve growing stronger at the end of the song when they repetitiously say how moving forward it easy and that they’ll make it. It is accompanied by a rock track, giving emo vibes. This song segues into the title track, “Easy.”
The best way to describe this song would be a hip-hop and trap mixup of instrumentation with R&B-like vocals from the group. It is a good song for soft listening. Despite the gritty hip-hop vibe, the vocals are pretty. It is not the greatest song, but it is still really good. It seemed a little repetitive, given the length of the song.
When I first heard the Swan Song instrumentation, I thought about how similar it was to SZA’s “Kill Bill.” Despite this, it’s different enough. “Swan Song” mainly consists of the chorus section where the vow of staying determined by dancing to survive like black swans is revealed. The vibe is cute, and the song is super happy and fun.
“Smart” is the next song in the album. It gives Afro-pop vibes similar to “Unforgiven.” It’s a sadder song describing how they could be powerful villains if they needed to be in a world where they are looked down upon. The final song, “We Got So Much,” is my second favorite song in the album, and it rounds it out with jersey beats and details the group after some under-the-surface emotions detailing the love they receive and giving back to the people who trust in them.
Life can also be hard, not “Easy:”
The album’s songs are all short, which has been a trend for recent K-pop album releases. This has to do with promoting the videos on TikTok and such. I know some people hate this as they believe it leads to flat-sounding music. However, I think that LE SSERAFIM was able to show minimal repetitiveness in the album except for “Easy,” but that is the only song I honestly noticed. Most of the songs are chill other than “Good Bones,” and honestly, LE SSERAFIM pulled through with a decent album filled with similar, thematically different music.
For what they were going for, the music was decent. I wish the songs were a bit longer, and maybe one or two more songs could be added to add to the variety of music genres. After a few listens to the album, these are my thoughts, but they could change throughout each repeated listening. I can’t wait to see where LE SSERAFIM goes next with their music. Hopefully, we will get the next full album sometime soon.