Sakura revealed to be first member of new girl group Le Sserafim

Sakura of Le Sserafim [SOURCE MUSIC]

HYBE’s new girl group Le Sserafim’s first member has been revealed to be Sakura.

On Monday, the K-pop powerhouse posted a video of Sakura on its official YouTube channel to confirm the news.

Starting with Sakura, HYBE said that it will reveal a new member of the sextet every day.

Le Sserafim is an anagram of “I’m Fearless” and will be managed by Source Music, a label under HYBE. Source Music previously produced the now-disbanded girl group GFriend.

Le Sserafim is expecting to debut in May.

Sakura, whose real name is Miyawaki Sakura, was a former member of now-disbanded girl group IZ*ONE. The group was formed from the top 12 contestants of Mnet’s K-pop competition show “Produce 48” (2018).

HYBE and Source Music previously said that Kim Chaewon, another ex-member of IZ*ONE, will also be part of Le Sserafim.

HYBE is also venturing into nonfungible tokens (NFTs), as a sort of “digital souvenir” to mark the group’s debut. Fans will be able to create NFTs using Le Sserafim members’ digital appearances, messages to fans and voice recordings later this year.

BY SHIN MIN-HEE [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]