[EP Hype] LE SSERAFIM Are Back and They're Not Fearless Anymore

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2026-04-14T08:50:45+01:00

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LE SSERAFIM
PUREFLOW pt.1

Not fearless. Just powerful. The five-piece return with a second studio album that reframes everything they have ever stood for.

Who Are LE SSERAFIM

LE SSERAFIM are five. Kim Chaewon, Sakura, Huh Yunjin, Kazuha, and Hong Eunchae. Debuted under Source Music and HYBE in May 2022, the group took their name from an anagram of their own fandom name, FEARNOT. The whole premise, the whole brand, was built on a single declaration: we are fearless.

That was not a pose. For three years it was a genuine philosophy. Every release drilled the same message deeper. And then, with PUREFLOW pt.1, they turned it on its head entirely.

LE SSERAFIM 'FEARLESS' Official MV · Source: HYBE LABELS YouTube

Before PUREFLOW: The Road From UNFORGIVEN

UNFORGIVEN, released in May 2023, was LE SSERAFIM's first full-length album and one of the most assured debut-to-album transitions in fourth-gen K-pop. The lead track, featuring Nile Rodgers, landed a disco-funk foundation under Chaewon's ice-cold delivery. It was immediately strange, immediately confident, immediately theirs. The album debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard 200, their career high at the time, and put the group firmly in the global conversation.

After UNFORGIVEN came the EP run that cemented everything. EASY in 2024 brought a sleeker, more electronic sound. CRAZY the same year pushed further into pop-club territory and landed the group on the Billboard Hot 100 for multiple weeks. Then in early 2025, HOT debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Album Sales chart. These were not flukes. These were the results of a group that knew exactly what it was doing sonically.

UNFORGIVEN (feat. Nile Rodgers) Official MV · Source: HYBE LABELS YouTube

And then came SPAGHETTI. The October 2025 single featuring BTS's j-hope was a turning point in a different way. Playful, maximally sticky, built around a hook that refused to leave your head. It entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 50, the group's highest-ever placement, and No. 46 on the UK Official Singles Top 100. It also became their fastest song to reach 100 million Spotify streams. The song gave five very serious performers permission to be ridiculous, and they were very good at it.

SPAGHETTI (feat. j-hope of BTS) Official MV · Source: HYBE LABELS YouTube

🔵 "CELEBRATION" Pre-release · 24 April 2026
Between Albums: Where FEARNOT Kept Watch

Between studio albums, LE SSERAFIM have barely stopped moving. A Tokyo Dome encore run for their Easy Crazy Hot international tour in late 2025. A VR concert, Le Sserafim VR Concert: Invitation, developed around the visual world of Spaghetti. Billboard VMAs and EMA appearances. Coachella in 2024. A group that could have coasted on chart results instead used every gap to widen their reach further.

The through-line in all of it: these five are built for stages. Physically precise, visually arresting, and now, with three-plus years of headline sets behind them, completely comfortable in their own spectacle.

PUREFLOW pt.1 announcement teaser visual · Source: HYBE LABELS YouTube

PUREFLOW pt.1: What We Know So Far

The album title arrived on 12 April 2026 with an announcement that immediately reframed the group's entire identity. The teaser video cycled through one line: "FOR WE ARE NOT FEARLESS, AND THEREFORE POWERFUL."

That shift is intentional. Source Music's statement made it plain: while LE SSERAFIM's early message centred on strength through fearlessness, PUREFLOW pt.1 lands on something more complex. Understanding fear, sitting with it, and finding that it does not destroy you. That is the new idea. The new logo motion makes the same argument visually: compressed internal energy in phase one, then that same energy expanding outward and connecting with the world in phase two. Flow, not force.

The lead single, "CELEBRATION," pre-releases on 24 April. Source Music describes it as capturing a moment of self-realisation, celebrating the inner strength gained through change. The full album follows on 22 May 2026.

Album Details

Artist LE SSERAFIM

Album PUREFLOW pt.1

Type 2nd Studio Album

Label Source Music / HYBE

Album Release 22 May 2026

Pre-release Single "CELEBRATION" — 24 April 2026

Title Track CELEBRATION

Tracklist TBA

🎬 "CELEBRATION" MV · dropping 24 April — check back soon

The Versions

PUREFLOW pt.1 arrives in 12 physical configurations. The four main versions each take a name with a distinct material quality. Then six Compact versions and two Weverse Album QR editions.

BIRCH SCAR 96p photobook · lyric paper · punch-out board · pull tab · random PC of 5 · sticker set · CD

YUSU LILY Same contents as above, different version photography throughout

PEONY ROOM Same contents as above, third visual direction

TRI ACCORD Same contents as above, fourth visual direction

COMPACT 6 colourways: Clear Silver, Crystal Pink, Innocent Green, Absolute Blue, Pristine Red, Clean White · 24p photobook · random PC of 3 · tag paper · sticker · CD

WEVERSE A & B Digital QR format · random 5 of 10 photocards

What PUREFLOW Might Sound Like

The word "pureflow" points to water. To something continuous, unforced, and changing shape to fit whatever it moves through. Given LE SSERAFIM's recent catalogue, that could mean a lot of things. But here is the specific tension that makes this interesting: they are not walking away from their sound. They are redirecting the energy. The same drive that powered FEARLESS and ANTIFRAGILE is still there. It just has a different relationship to the fear it once claimed to not feel.

If UNFORGIVEN was armour, PUREFLOW pt.1 reads like the moment after the armour comes off. Still powerful. But more honest about the cost. The title track name, "CELEBRATION," is worth noting too. Something that has earned it. FEARNOT will have a lot to talk about on 24 April.

Pre-Order at SOOJIB

Physical editions available now for UK and European FEARNOT. Select your version below.

POB SOLD OUT

[POB] PUREFLOW pt.1 Standard ver.

£28.00

POB SOLD OUT

[POB] PUREFLOW pt.1 Weverse Albums ver.

£15.00

POB SOLD OUT

[POB] PUREFLOW pt.1 COMPACT ver.

£21.00

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