Introduction
With HOT which will be covered in an upcoming review, establishing itself as another hit in today’s era of K-Pop, I have decided to post a review of CRAZY to ensure that this instant classic still remains fresh in the minds of Le Sserafim stans and other listeners alike.
Overview
One of the faces of today’s K-Pop scene, Le Sserafim released easily one of the most popular K-Pop albums of 2024 with their second to most recent comeback titled CRAZY. This project carries heavy angst on the lyrics of every track with most of them also having house-pop instrumentals that energize the environment of wherever they are played. This album showcases the strong confidence in music Le Sserafim models themself after. My initial impressions of the album was definitely mixed, since at first I felt that their label, Source Music, was simply trying to create mainstream sounds to appeal to the younger generation and were creating songs that were too linear. However, impressions have changed, and the album holds a lot of significance for the K-Pop genre in 2024 and also illuminates Le Sserafim’s fearless motto.
Source: Genius
Released towards the close of August 2024, CRAZY is the 4th EP released by five member girl-group Le Sserafim who debuted in 2022 with FEARLESS. Since their banding, this group has become one of the most popular groups in the K-Pop genre with songs such as “Antifragile,” “UNFORGIVEN” and earlier in 2024, “EASY.” Like other releases, CRAZY proves their capability to set the tone for new eras in K-Pop. This record also reveals their resilience, since after heavy criticism from the group’s Coachella performance earlier this year, there was a vast phase of constant internet hate that was difficult to handle for the members.
Review
Source: HYBE LABELS
The overall theme of the album comes from the previously mentioned fearless and resilient attitude of Le Sserafim. The instrumentals are a lot more gnarly and aggressive than previous Le Sserafim releases, and the choruses are chanty. The title track “Crazy” and the second most popular track, “1-800 hot and fun” are especially simple in the sense that they carry out messages of having fun and being bold with lyrics such as “all the girls are girling, girling” which implies just girls being… well, crazy.
The tracks “Pierrot” and “Crazier” stand out to me most. “Pierrot” references French pantomimes while carrying the meaning of just having fun in the present. “Crazier” is the only slow song on this record and it carries deep emotion in the desire of wanting to completely be oneself, but feel unable to. The other tracks are great and are very fun and addicting to listen to no matter what background you come from. The first track of Le Sserafim albums is usually an intro of quotes in different languages, but even this one “Chasing Lightning” had a fun chorus.
While I would not call this the greatest album for K-Pop in 2024, it definitely is a fan favorite that I can accept and enjoy.