<i>HOT</i>, the fifth mini album from K-pop squad LE SSERAFIM, is all about love. In the pantheon of pop music, that might not sound so special—but it was a relatively unexplored subject for the girl group that had previously sung about being “FEARLESS,” “ANTIFRAGILE,” and spending the “Perfect Night” with one’s crew. In the groovy, low-key title track “HOT,” the members will do anything for love: “Even if I turn to ash, I’m happy/So tonight, hold me in your arms/Bonnie and Clyde it, oh.” In “Come Over,” they beckon someone closer on the dance floor and, in “Ash,” they spur a lover to “light the flame.”
The fiery imagery evoked throughout <i>HOT</i> stands in contrast to the relative sonic softness of the album, which is a shift from the old-fashioned hip-hop embraced in LE SSERAFIM’s third mini-album, <i>EASY</i>, and the club bangers the members vogued along to for fourth mini album <i>CRAZY</i>. The album includes writing credits from 13, the Korean music production team behind “FEARLESS” and “ANTIFRAGILE,” as well as HYBE founder Bang Si-hyuk, aka “Hitman” Bang. Member Yunjin has credits on “HOT,” “Ash,” and “So Cynical (Badum),” and Eunchae and Chaewon also contributed to the writing of “So Cynical (Badum).”