My Le Sserafim HOT albums came in, let’s unbox!
In total I have four favourite groups within the K-pop industry: BlackPink, BTS, Stray Kids and… Le Sserafim. But while I only became a fan of the other groups later, I was a fan of Le Sserafim right from the start. Three years ago, this girl group debuted with two Koreans, two Japanese (one of the girls even studied in the Netherlands!) and a Korean American. In K-pop terms, this is a diverse group and that is also reflected in the music. I’ve already posted several album and merch unboxings from this group in the past, and also my “HOT” review over here.
HOT has, just like previous albums, Antifragile, Unforgiven, Easy and Crazy three different versions of the album. Each with a completely unique style that all fit the concept of the group: vol. 1 Drenched Vetiver, vol. 2 Tanned Guaiac, vol. 3 Bleached Aura.
Le Sserafim is the only group I go out of my way to check out multiple versions of their albums before they release. Just like during the Crazy era I bought multiple versions this time around. The order was all placed at the Dutch webshop Kyeopta. Of course I had to get the special Tin Case ver. but the one I will be talking about today is the normal album. Personally I prefer to collect version one, since that version is the “tough” photoshoot and it’s also the shoot that gets promoted the most. However this time it’s actually vol. 2 in the spotlight with good reason since it fits the narrative of people’s expectations of the word “hot” the best. (wanna know more? I wrote it all down in this blog.)
Did you know vetiver helps with emotional pain? When looking closely into the lyrics of this album you probably understand why it is so significant to name an album version after the plant. Also, the fact that it is drenched means that the Fimmies shed their tears. So it makes actually more sense that they decided to go for promotion for the second volume album cover. Guaiac is one of the hardest types of woods in the world and fun fact… the flowers have five petals.
Anyway, let’s go back to the physical album. The album consists of a box and an 80 page photobook held together by a hard plastic sleeve that has “rain drops” on them.
When opening the paperbox you find multiple goodies. You can never go wrong with putting a big poster in an album! Everything in the box is to the theme of the album, so of course in this case the poster is black and white.
In Le Sserafim albums it’s typical for them to put in stickers. There are two 2D and one (the logo) in 3D.
The CD sits in a sleeve that looks interesting. I am wondering if this is a clue for the next comeback… or something else. The Fimmies and their team are known for leaving clues in plainside. The postcard has a “burned off” look that gives it just that extra touch to it. Also funny that the album came with a Heat Detecting Tea Coaster. For sure creative!
Why do a normal lyrical paper if you can also choose to make it a banner for their current world tour? The side on the photo is the banner side and on the other side you can find the lyrics. For the photocards I pulled Kazuha, just like last time, funny enough!
“Easy, Crazy, Hot” trilogy
At first I was very surprised when it was announced this was going to be a mini album, because the other trilogy consists of two mini albums and a studio album. But when I thought longer about the message of this album, why would they take more than a mini album to explore the theme? They said what they needed to say about the subject(s) and now they are ready to move on.
It is interesting to me that already from the start of the Easy era they knew that the next albums would be Crazy and Hot. And that the album in itself still contains messages of things that are recent. But that was probably a case of last minute decisions.
How does this trilogy tie all together? Well, do we remember what Le Sserafim said in the Easy trailer, Good Bones? “Easy, Crazy, Hot, I can make it.” Safe to say now: they made it. Maybe before releasing the different parts of the trilogy they didn’t know what was going to happen along the way and there were even doubts if they were going to survive it. But they did. And now they will move on to a new chapter.
You can read all my thoughts in the blogpost, Why Le Sserafim’s “HOT” is the anthem of the “Easy, Crazy, Hot” trilogy. Once again thank you to Kyeopta for delivering and the Le Sserafim’s design team for creating an album very fitting for this comeback.
Love,
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