Who is Lesserafim? HYBE’s new girl group has 2 IZ*ONE members
IZ*ONE was one of the biggest fourth-gen girl groups that constantly broke records. In fact, their huge fanbase showed their loyalty by collecting over $2.6 million to help the girls reunite when their agency shared that the girl group had disbanded. Since the twelve-member project group had been formed through the survival show ‘Produce 48’, they only had a contract for 3 years. Even though fans were disheartened, they are now supporting each and every member’s new career of going solo or joining HYBE’s new girl group Lesserafim.
Known to be BTS’ label, BigHit branched out and became HYBE Labels, a parent company to several subsidiary K-pop agencies like BigHit, Belift, Pledis and Source Music. They house many popular K-pop boy groups like BTS, Seventeen, TXT and Enhypen. It was then reported that they were trying to acquire new girl groups by signing on the already debuted girl group fromis_9. They are now debuting their own girl group Lesserafim under the agency Source Music.
READ MORE
Will IZ*ONE's Chaewon and Sakura join HYBE's new girl group? Fans fear it will end like GFriend
Hybe launches survival show 'I-Land 2', fans hope Chaewon and Sakura aren't in it
Chaewon and Sakura to debut in new HYBE girl group
Previously, there were rumors that IZ*ONE members Kim Chaewon and Miyawaki Sakura would be joining HYBE’s new girl group. The group which is allegedly called Lesserafim will also be adding more ‘Produce 48’ contestants, the show that formed IZ*ONE. Reports suggested that HYBE and Chaewon’s agency Woollim had signed an exclusive contract that would allow her to debut with Lesserafim. They also claimed that HYBE was in discussions with Sakura’s Japanese label Vernalossom.
It was then announced that HYBE would be partnering up with Mnet for the K-pop girl group survival show ‘I-Land 2’, the sequel to ‘I-Land’ which formed their boy group Enhypen. Fans hoped that Chaewon and Sakura would not have to go through another survival show just to debut in a 3-year project group again. Well, that doesn’t seem to be the case. According to Esquire Korea, HYBE’s Source Music is said to debut a girl group reportedly called Lesserafim with members that had participated in ‘Produce 48’. It includes Sakura, Chaewon, Heo Yun-jin and Yoon Chae-bin at the moment.
Acc. to Esquire and Hankyoreh, Source Music new girl group expected to be named '레세라핌' (LESSERAFIM).
— KoreanUpdates! (@KoreanUpdates) January 21, 2022
With 2 from former #IZONE #MiyawakiSakura #KimChaeWon, forner #Produce48 #HuhYunJin, #YoonChaeBin https://t.co/G1ODnPXy2E #KoreanUpdates VF pic.twitter.com/vDkmo8fjqx
Update: On March 24, a Korean media outlet shared that the group would have 6 total members. Along with Sakura, Chaewon and Yun-jin, two former Source Music trainees and a girl from the Netherlands had been scouted to join. They are set to debut in May.
Where is the rest of IZ*ONE
As for the rest of IZ*ONE, leader Eunbi was the first member to go solo with her first EP ‘Open’ in 2021. Hyewon dropped ‘W’, a solo special album for fans in December 2021. Choi Yena had her solo debut with ‘Smiley’ on January 17. Chaeyeon turned heads by joining the female dance crew survival show ‘Street Woman Fighter’. Minju is currently hosting the music show ‘Music Core’. Nako has gone back to her J-pop group HKT48 but was recently embroiled in rumors that she was being bullied by her Japanese members for her stint with IZ*ONE.
Hitomi too has gone back to her J-pop group AKB48. Yuri had her solo debut in October 2021 with ‘Glassy’. Ahn Yujin is the MC of the music show ‘Inkigayo’ and also the leader of popular rookie group IVE. Maknae (youngest) Wonyoung is also part of IVE with Yujin.