IVE and LE SSERAFIM have both achieved outstanding achievements since their debut, but have also been continuously entangled in unnecessary controversies.
Debuting at the same time, LE SSERAFIM and IVE are currently two of the most prominent female rookie groups of K-pop at the moment. They are also considered “rivals” of each other on all fronts from musical achievements to controversies.
All have the presence of former members of IZ*ONE
The biggest thing LE SSERAFIM and IVE have in common is that they both own former members of IZ*ONE. LE SSERAFIM has two familiar names Sakura Miyawaki and Kim Chaewon, who were once contestants of the survival show Produce 48 and also former members of the group IZ*ONE.
Chaewon was born in 2000 and has the strength of being the main dancer and main vocal of IZ*ONE. Sakura, the oldest member of LE SSERAFIM, was born in 1998. She is an experienced idol who has debuted 3 times (HKT48, IZ*ONE and LE SSERAFIM). Therefore, this female idol owned herself a very large fanbase.
Meanwhile, 2 former members of IZ*ONE, Jang Wonyoung and Ahn Yujin, were members of the Starship girlgroup IVE. Despite their young age, these two female idols are both well-experienced when they have had time to work with a group that came out of a survival show. Besides, both of them also possess outstanding appearance with impressive height and gorgeous facial features.
All entangled in controversies right at the beginning of their debut
Although it has only been a month since their debut at the beginning of May 2022, LE SSERAFIM has continuously been involved in big scandals originating from member Kim Garam. Right after her debut concept images were released, Kim Garam was accused of being a school bully who took pictures with sensitive images and did not comply with the school’s regulations. She was also said to almost become a member of the group IVE.
Besides, she is suspected of using a clone social network account to bad-mouth IVE, Wonyoung, V (BTS), and Sakura (LE SSERAFIM). Up to now, Kim Garam has not left the group after that series of scandals, making the public even angrier.
In addition to the accusations aimed at Kim Garam, the video teasers of some members of the group were also accused of plagiarism. The group’s concept photo is said to have copied the entire set of photos of a brand.
Meanwhile, IVE also faced many controversies when they first debuted. Many netizens think that Starship turned IVE into “Jang Wonyoung and friend” because Wonyoung always wore the most outstanding outfits while the other members looked like her backup dancers. On the other hand, the group was also criticized for not bowing to seniors.
Besides, many Kpop fans also expressed dissatisfaction when thinking that IVE copied EVERGLOW’s introduction greeting. The most notable was the group’s disastrous encore stages. IVE members, especially Rei, used to face criticism for avoiding high notes when doing encore stages.
KBS comparing LE SSERAFIM and IVE
A video of LE SSERAFIM’s Music Bank performance headlined “The group who surprised the editor by suddenly becoming a 5-member group” was recently published to KBS’s worldwide channel “KBS WORLD TV” and edited with fan comments (a trending edit in Korea). Fans swiftly panned the video after noticing that the thumbnail and chosen comments inside were disrespectfully shaming IVE. One of the comments wrote: “I could only see Wonyoung and Yujin from IVE, but I love how every LE SSERAFIM member is pretty. Their beauty is working hard”
