Was LE SSERAFIM set up to fail even before Coachella?
The group's performance at the festival has been met with harsh criticism. But was any of it fair?
(Photo credit: Source Music)
Playing at Coachella is a goal many musical artists dream of. And just two years after debuting, the K-pop girl group LE SSERAFIM was able to achieve that very feat.
The band is composed of members Chaewon, Sakura, Yunjin, Kazuha and Eunchae. And when they took the stage last Saturday during the first weekend of Coachella, reviews of the performance ranged from mixed to downright harsh.
Immediately after their set, my TikTok and Twitter feeds were filled with videos criticizing the group’s lack of vocal projection, pitch stability and stage presence.
The comments and endless video analysis has since been hard to escape. So much so, that member Sakura even took to Weverse to address the criticism.
“What does it truly mean to stand on stage? Is it to present a flawlessly polished image? To bring joy to the audience? Or is it to execute the performance flawlessly, without a single hitch?” she wrote.
“No matter what anyone else thinks, I will believe in what I feel. That is how I came here. I will not betray myself, and I will continue to believe in myself.”
(Photo credit: Source Music)
While LE SSERAFIM’s set was not perfect (and let’s face it, live performances rarely ever are…), it wasn’t even bad. But even before Coachella began, I’ve noticed LE SSERAFIM is the latest girl group to receive a wave of hate.
Much of it began when the band were seen filming in a church for their music video “Easy”, which some deemed “inappropriate.” Granted, this church is often used as a set in many music videos and films, including The Amazing Spiderman and Legally Blonde 2.
Then came the encore performances of the band performing at promotional music shows in South Korea, which drew attention for the band’s lack of vocal stability. And in recent weeks, Yunjin has come under fire after she was spotted drinking Starbucks. The coffee chain has been the subject of boycotts due to the Israel-Gaza war. But rather than focusing on the real-world conflict at hand, it became fodder for fans to argue amongst themselves.
A lot of the negativity I saw online struck me as reactionary and jumping on the bandwagon without proper context, research and media literacy.
But most of all, it also felt like misogyny.
(Photo credit: Source Music)
While all fandoms are not immune to rumours, criticism and negative comments, I’ve noticed far more arguments revolved around girl groups—from the way they look, the way they sing and the way they dress.
Soon after LE SSERAFIM took the stage at Coachella, they were immediately compared to Blackpink and aespa—both groups who have performed at the festival in previous years to great acclaim.
By that measure, the same comparisons could theoretically be said for boy groups like ATEEZ, who join bands like Tomorrow X Together and Stray Kids in playing at major festivals (I loved ATEEZ’s Coachella performance btw…)
But the truth is, women are often put at a pedestal over their male counterparts. That opens the door for people to start looking for mistakes. Female performers can never be less than perfect.
Even the girl group ILLIT—who has been winning award after award since their debut in March—has been drawing criticism for their live vocals. But the thing many people don’t realize is live singing and dancing is hard work, especially when it’s sung raw. Mic and mixing issues can also often come into play.
As a result, lots of Korean music awards shows rely on backtracks and lipsyncing for recorded performances. That skews with people’s perception of what K-pop idols are capable of. As a result, it creates unrealistic expectations.
Part of the problem lies in K-pop’s strive for perfectionism, and the impossibly high standards put on idols to the point of controlling every move—whether through interviews, their personal lives to the way they interact with fans. Because parasocial relationships are such a huge draw in the industry, it’s easy to see how fans can often forget that these performers are human beings too.
I’ll be honest and say that while LE SSERAFIM has more room to grow (heck, they’re still very young!), their Coachella performance was still highly entertaining as someone who watched from home. I just hope that when they take the stage again this Saturday, they will let the negativity slide. After all, they’ve already made it this far.
ATEEZ announce tour stops, fresh off of their Coachella performance
Coming from a high of performing at Coachella, ATEEZ gave more details about their upcoming world tour ‘TOWARDS THE LIGHT: WILL TO POWER.’ Over the weekend, venues across North America teased tour stops with the words “See You Soon.”
The cities that have announced so far include: Chicago, Washington D.C., New York, Arlington, Phoenix, Duluth, Los Angeles and Toronto.
A Canadian tour stop! Yay. As someone who saw ATEEZ in Hamilton in 2022, I can say for sure these boys are excellent performers.
HYBE-owned AI powered Supertone now lets users change their vocals
Supertone, the AI-powered tool owned by HYBE, recently launched the beta version of Supertone Shift, “a one-of-a-kind” real-time voice changer for its content creators.
According to a press release, Supertone Shift allows users to immediately switch to their desired voice from a library of ten predefined voices in real-time, with their voice analyzed for conversion within a mere 10 seconds. Users can then customize the voice by adjusting a blend ratio as well as voice parameters such as pitch, joy, and reverb with simple and intuitive sliders.
"Through Supertone Shift beta, our goal is to collect feedback from an array of creators to incorporate a broader range of voice samples and additional features to better serve various content creation environments,” said Kyogu Lee, President of Supertone.
Lee continued, “We hope this innovation will elevate the value of voice within the creative process, pushing the boundaries of creativity for creators.”
At a time when the arts is currently being challenged with artificial intelligence, I’m curious to know what this will mean for creatives. While it can certainly add new layers to music, might it also hinder creativity and create fewer jobs?
After years in the K-pop industry, singer AleXa has her eyes set on breaking into the North American market. I spoke to her about her career, navigating the K-pop space as a biracial Korean-American and making new music. Read my interview for The RepresentASIAN Project.
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I’m still recovering from ATEEZ last night ☠️☠️☠️
I am soooo excited for their performance tonight…we just know it’s going to 10x better