{"id":3057,"date":"2026-06-26T15:06:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T15:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3057"},"modified":"2026-06-26T15:06:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T15:06:08","slug":"huh-yunjin-from-le-sserafim-on-her-crazy-pre-debut-story-almost-quitting-k-pop-and-collabing-with-katseye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3057","title":{"rendered":"Huh Yunjin From Le Sserafim on Her Crazy Pre-Debut Story, Almost Quitting K-Pop and Collabing With Katseye"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\n\tThere is a version of Huh Yunjin\u2018s life in which she is a college student right now. She had the acceptance letter. She had paid the deposit. She had spent the better part of two months applying to schools after years of grueling K-pop training in Korea had worn her down and she decided that it was time to try something else.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3055\">\u2018Strictly Business\u2019 at Cannes Lions: Deloitte, AWS and Sony Pictures Entertainment Execs on Getting Your \u2018Hands Dirty\u2019 With New Tech Like AI: \u2018Start Tackling Hard Problems\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe call to join LE SSERAFIM came the next day.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cIt literally felt like the stars were telling me where to go,\u201d she says, sitting down for Variety\u2019s \u201cUp Next\u201d podcast on what is, notably, her very first podcast ever. (\u201cI love to yap,\u201d she announces immediately, by way of explanation.) Within two weeks of that call, she was on a plane back to South Korea getting ready to debut.<\/p>\n<p>That story, which she tells with the kind of good-humored disbelief that suggests she\u2019s still a little amazed by it herself, has taken on new resonance this month. On June 12, 2026, LE SSERAFIM released \u201cIconic by Mistake,\u201d a collaboration single with fellow HYBE girl groups KATSEYE and ILLIT \u2014 marking the first time K-pop girl groups have released an official song together without forming a supergroup. The track, a shot at the internet haters, debuted at No. 38 on the Billboard Hot 100. The success, it\u2019s safe to say, is no mistake. <\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe collaboration is part of a busy stretch for LE SSERAFIM, who released their second studio album \u201cPUREFLOW Pt. 1\u201d on May 22, 2026. The album began with Yunjin interviewing each of her members one-on-one. \u201cThe whole narrative started with us, and then we kind of worked around that.\u201d A world tour with new stops in Washington D.C. and Florida is currently underway, and Yunjin has one firm request for the Florida leg: \u201cTo my manager, who\u2019s watching, hopefully we can do Epcot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Yunjin, born in Seoul and raised in Wisconsin and upstate New York, was a creative kid from the start. She cycled through wanting to be a writer, a painter, an actor, then a stage performer, before landing on songwriting and music as the thing that finally stuck. She taught herself guitar and ukulele from YouTube videos, picking up Taylor Swift\u2019s \u201c15\u201d on the sly from her dad\u2019s old nylon-string classical guitar after watching her sister figure out chords the same way.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tK-pop entered the picture for her in 2017, when BTS made history with their performance of \u201cDNA\u201d at the American Music Awards. For Yunjin, who had been navigating questions of identity as a young Korean American, watching that performance was a turning point. She moved to Korea alone at fifteen, tried training at a label for a month, went back to the States to start sophomore year, returned at sixteen, and stayed. In 2018, she competed on the Korean reality survival show \u201cProduce 48\u201d \u2014 where she met two of her future LE SSERAFIM members \u2014 before being eliminated on episode 11 at rank 26 and continuing to train. Her first dance teacher, assessing her coordination, nicknamed her \u201cgiraffe.\u201d She has since outgrown the nickname considerably.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3053\">MS NOW Will Expand Video Podcasts on Weekends, While Veteran Alex Witt Plans Exit<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\tAfter four years of near-misses and no debut, the burnout caught up with her. She returned home to New York, applied to colleges in a two-month sprint, got in, paid the deposit, and made peace with a different future. Then her phone rang. \u201cI can\u2019t really let go of music,\u201d she says of what she realized during those months away. \u201cI can\u2019t let go of this storytelling dream I have in me.\u201d Two weeks later she was back in Korea making music with LE SSERAFIM.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cThey truly are my sisters,\u201d she says of her fellow members. \u201cA lot of it is non-verbal. It\u2019s just something that we feel.\u201d For someone whose path to that sisterhood involved survival shows, multiple years of training, and a college deposit paid the day before her life changed, that feeling took a long time to find. <\/p>\n<p>\n\tHer favorite film is \u201cEverything Everywhere All at Once,\u201d and while she believes there are versions of her in alternate universes out there living entirely different lives, she\u2019s not losing sleep over them: \u201cThe life that I\u2019m currently living now is the best version of me that there is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3051\">\u2018Macbeth,\u2019 \u2018Gaslit,\u2019 \u2018Silent Rebellion\u2019 Win Raindance Awards With \u2018Serena\u2019 Winning Inaugural Best Horror Prize<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LE SSERAFIM&#8217;s Huh Yunjin opens up about nearly quitting K-pop for college, BTS, her Korean American identity, and the group&#8217;s rise to global stardom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3056,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[2552,2553,2554,2555],"class_list":["post-3057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-k-pop-2","tag-le-sserafim","tag-music","tag-yunjin"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Huh Yunjin From Le Sserafim on Her Crazy Pre-Debut Story, Almost Quitting K-Pop and Collabing With Katseye - Relocation Observer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3057\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Huh Yunjin From Le Sserafim on Her Crazy Pre-Debut Story, Almost Quitting K-Pop and Collabing With Katseye - Relocation Observer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"LE SSERAFIM&#039;s Huh Yunjin opens up about nearly quitting K-pop for college, BTS, her Korean American identity, and the group&#039;s rise to global stardom.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3057\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Relocation Observer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-26T15:06:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=3057#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=3057\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2243ff062b31c5195cd0d9f83884e83e\"},\"headline\":\"Huh Yunjin From Le Sserafim on Her Crazy Pre-Debut Story, Almost Quitting K-Pop and Collabing With Katseye\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-26T15:06:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=3057\"},\"wordCount\":779,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=3057#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/23fad7a19a8e3ecb2119de672d52cae1.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"K-pop,\",\"le sserafim,\",\"Music,\",\"Yunjin\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Music\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=3057#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=3057\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=3057\",\"name\":\"Huh Yunjin From Le Sserafim on Her Crazy Pre-Debut Story, Almost Quitting K-Pop and Collabing With Katseye - Relocation Observer\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=3057#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=3057#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/23fad7a19a8e3ecb2119de672d52cae1.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-26T15:06:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2243ff062b31c5195cd0d9f83884e83e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=3057#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=3057\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=3057#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/23fad7a19a8e3ecb2119de672d52cae1.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/23fad7a19a8e3ecb2119de672d52cae1.webp\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":563},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?p=3057#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Huh Yunjin From Le Sserafim on Her Crazy Pre-Debut Story, Almost Quitting K-Pop and Collabing With Katseye\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Relocation Observer\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2243ff062b31c5195cd0d9f83884e83e\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationobserver.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Huh Yunjin From Le Sserafim on Her Crazy Pre-Debut Story, Almost Quitting K-Pop and Collabing With Katseye - Relocation Observer","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3057","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Huh Yunjin From Le Sserafim on Her Crazy Pre-Debut Story, Almost Quitting K-Pop and Collabing With Katseye - Relocation Observer","og_description":"LE SSERAFIM's Huh Yunjin opens up about nearly quitting K-pop for college, BTS, her Korean American identity, and the group's rise to global stardom.","og_url":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3057","og_site_name":"Relocation Observer","article_published_time":"2026-06-26T15:06:08+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3057#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3057"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2243ff062b31c5195cd0d9f83884e83e"},"headline":"Huh Yunjin From Le Sserafim on Her Crazy Pre-Debut Story, Almost Quitting K-Pop and Collabing With Katseye","datePublished":"2026-06-26T15:06:08+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3057"},"wordCount":779,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3057#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/23fad7a19a8e3ecb2119de672d52cae1.webp","keywords":["K-pop,","le sserafim,","Music,","Yunjin"],"articleSection":["Music"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3057#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3057","url":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3057","name":"Huh Yunjin From Le Sserafim on Her Crazy Pre-Debut Story, Almost Quitting K-Pop and Collabing With Katseye - Relocation Observer","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3057#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3057#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/23fad7a19a8e3ecb2119de672d52cae1.webp","datePublished":"2026-06-26T15:06:08+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2243ff062b31c5195cd0d9f83884e83e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3057#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3057"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3057#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/23fad7a19a8e3ecb2119de672d52cae1.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/23fad7a19a8e3ecb2119de672d52cae1.webp","width":1000,"height":563},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3057#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Huh Yunjin From Le Sserafim on Her Crazy Pre-Debut Story, Almost Quitting K-Pop and Collabing With Katseye"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/","name":"Relocation Observer","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2243ff062b31c5195cd0d9f83884e83e","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/relocationobserver.com"],"url":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}