[instiz/enter-talk] UK MUSIC CRITIC NME RATES LE SSERAFIM'S COACHELLA LIVE ft. WILL THEY RECOVER WITH THE PUBLIC?

“Everybody post us on your story,” Kim Chaewon grins. LE SSERAFIM’s leader stands at the front of the Sahara stage, throwing up peace signs to the front of the crowd while she and her bandmates take a water break. We’re only three songs into the girl group’s debut Coachella appearance, but it’s already clear the festival airwaves are going to be jammed with fans trying to share footage of the moment once the set is over.

Ever since BLACKPINK were first booked to perform at Coachella in 2019, K-pop’s presence on the festival’s stages has slowly become the norm rather than an oddity. This year, LE SSERAFIM have set a new record, becoming the fastest-invited K-pop group to perform here, making their mark in the desert before their two-year anniversary. It’s a reflection of the impact the five-piece have already made on the music scene, carving out a space for themselves as a badass girl gang with a grungy edge.

That feeling shines through from the first moment of their set tonight (April 13). Joined by a live band, the members strut onto stage one by one to the grinding riffs of ‘Good Bones’, taking their individual moment in the spotlight but coming together as one powerful entity. As they launch into ‘Antifragile’, it’s clear they didn’t come to play – and that they get what the energy of a festival performance should be. The chorus lines become chanted boasts of the group’s toughness, their full-bodied shouts matching the crunch of their backing band and getting the crowd hyped up further.

Where K-pop can often be focused on pristine perfection, LE SSERAFIM’s set loosens things up and brings out a new rawness. The viral ‘Eve, Psyche & the Bluebeard’s wife’ feels even more electrifying on this stage, its closing “girls wanna have fun” rally a call to arms the group immediately answers with the bright ‘Perfect Night’. ‘Smart’, meanwhile – preceded by Huh Yunjin cheekily asking the crowd: “Are you ready to shake some fucking ass?” – becomes even more irresistible, with pockets of the crowd break into groups performing their own takes on the hip-swinging choreography.

That looseness colours the attitude in LE SSERAFIM’s new song, ‘1-800-Hot-N-Fun’, which receives its premiere on the Sahara stage tonight. “I like to dance when I party / I like to kiss everybody,” the group sing over a surging, bass-y riff, the English-language song growing into a contender for the world’s new weekend anthem. It lives up to its title perfectly, its playfulness coming to a peak with the closing refrain “1-800-hot-n-fun, that’s my number / Hit my line” a coquettish invitation.

Although the focus tonight is strictly on the girl group, they bring out one special guest for the performance. As they bring the spaghetti western ‘Unforgiven’ to life, Nile Rodgers – their collaborator on that track – quietly slots into the band behind them. It’s not until the group shout out his presence the crowd picks up on his presence, but when they do, he’s greeted with a roar befitting of such a legend.

It’s just one part of what makes this performance “a dream come true” for LE SSERAFIM, as Sakura describes it towards the end of their time on stage. Watching the group, you get the sense that, for the group, another big part of that feeling comes from being able to conquer Coachella with each other.

As they take a final bow, all stood in a line with hands clasped, they can’t help but show their excitement about what they’ve just done. Torsos still bent towards the floor, the five members giddily shake their still-interlocked hands, an action that wordlessly screams, “We did it”. If “it” is put on a fierce, fun performance that makes the Sahara stage their own, even if just for 40 minutes, then LE SSERAFIM certainly did.

source:

https://www.nme.com/reviews/live/le-sserafim-live-coachella-2024-review-setlist-photos-3617620

original post: here

1. Why is the score so high...? Compared to the actual reactions

> The reactions were only bad in Korea

>> Huh? But I saw people overseas complain about Hybe's vocals too and there were tons of RTs on those Tweets and they were even RTing the Korean Tweets

2. I'm so envious, I wished I could watch them live too

3. If you look at the fancams, they were actually not bad

4. Is that based on what the people see onsite?

5. Oh so if that's what people thought about them onsite, that's a relief for them, but please practice more next time

6. I really wish that the singers and the fans won't be "relieved" seeing articles like that, they should be embarrassed

7. They wrote this article quite generously, and the fact that they didn't even mention Fire in the Belly once is both hilarious and sad

8. Looks like they disregarded every part that actually sparked a buzz and parts where they were bad. I find them super likable but I was so shocked. Looks like if you listen to the whole thing, it wasn't as bad

9. Oh the score is high

10. It's because the AR was so loud onsite that it was more comfortable to listen to them, their fancams sound way better than the broadcast

[enter-talk] COACHELLA TODAY FOR LE SSERAFIM WAS SERIOUSLY IMPORTANT + I JUST WATCHED THEIR STAGE

If they fail this time, I feel like the results of their next album would go down

If they struck out for the general public, they won't look them up anymore

Their Unforgiven encore - Easy encore stages were all fails. If they fail this time too, I feel like they will get a bunch of criticism no matter how good their next song is. But this time around, it won't be forced hate but it will really show how bad they are as singers

They are being criticized because they even do their own part, and they can't do the main job itself, so they're going to be criticized for every little thing afterwards. They're going to be criticized everywhere on YouTube and Instagram for Coachella. The general public already thinks that Le Sserafim = lacking vocals so if they are gonna get as much as aespa, or if they are already predicting this kind of reactions, then they are really just confident. Please be at the very least average.

(If they use ar live lip sync, ittheywill also be criticized, but it is impossible to improve that much in a month, sso there might be even more resistance building up)

+ update) Kim Chaewon did well, and Huh Yunjin has been doing fine since her Unforgiven days, but Fearless and Antifragile was surprisingly disappointing compared to her usual skill level. Her voice sounded strained and the pitch was off. And Hong Eunchae's skills were the same as her encore skills, and Kazuha was a disaster... Sakura was surprising. I thought she was worse than Kazuha, and I thought she was the worst in Le Sserafim, but this time it was Kazuha who was the worst.

In my opinion, it was Kim Chaewon>>Huh Yunjin>Sakura>Hong Eunchae>Kazuha

post response:

[+648][-126]

original post: here

1. [+962, -62]

Where did the best comment come from?ㅋㅋㅋ If I can be blunt and give my review as the general public, they were just f*******cking bad. I was so embarrassed that I turned it off

2. [+870. -52]

I just watched it and it was so bad that I couldn't even curse at them

3. [+811, -19]

Are the comments crazy?ㅋㅋ Do they think that Coachella is some encore stage? This is considered "good"? They were screaming every 10 seconds to hide how bad they were

4. [+680, -6]

No but.. ah for real, It's regrettable that they've gone down an irreversible path.....

5. [+623, -7]

Even the fans can only say that they did "fine" and can't say that they did "well"ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ The Twitter reactions are all saying that they can't sing and only shout. I understand why the K-pop culture is a culture for losers

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