HOT': 5th Mini Album (TIN CASE ver.)

Closing out the "easy, crazy, hot" trilogy teased in 2024s "Good Bones," HOT is the fifth mini-album from South Korean pop powerhouse LE SSERAFIM. Compared to the airier EASY and catwalk-to-club CRAZY, HOT proves the most uplifting set of the era, with the titular warmth building the core of their sound this time around. Things kick off in traditionally cinematic fashion with the pulsing "Born Fire." Here the group rise phoenix-like, spinning poetic narratives of new flames over plucky strings and a smooth club beat. With the tone set for rebirth by fire, the women dedicate the rest of the record to summer hits, delivering a four-pack cluster of anthems centered on new beginnings. Title track "HOT" takes charge as the albums lead single, a call to action that sees the group taking invigorating agency over their lives amid disco-pop grooves. With two-minute song lengths carrying over from their two prior releases, things wheel quickly into the equally succinct "Come Over" and "So Cynical (Badum)," lighthearted, sun-tinged tracks that are likely to push their way into summer joyrides and onto beach-day playlists. Yet the undeniable highlight of the set comes on the fourth track, "Ash," which continues the phoenix-rising narrative with an oozing, slick story of rebirth. Though all of the bandmates are in pristine form here, its Yunjin that truly sets the track alight: her initial "I want you to stop time" carves through the track with breathtaking precision, setting a slick tempo for the others to glide over. Catching onto a simpler but stronger concept this time around, SSERAFIM end the Easy, Crazy, Hot trilogy in suitably top form. ~ David Crone