Release Date: May 22, 2026
Track Listing
- Pureflow
- Boompala
- Celebration
- Creatures
- iffy iffy
- Need Your Company
- Sonder
- Saki (LE SSERAFIM and Aliyah’s Interlude)
- Irony
- Trust Exercise
- Liminal Space
Review
After a whirlwind 2025, LE SSERAFIM make an early impact in 2026 with their second full-length studio album, PUREFLOW, Pt. 1. Led by the pre-release single Celebration and title track Boompala, the album marks the group’s evolution into their “Fearless 2.0” era.
This new chapter sees LE SSERAFIM present a more mature version of their “Fearless” concept, shifting from outward self-confidence toward mindfulness and self-awareness, while continuing to push forward despite fear and anxiety.
All of this culminates in showcasing how powerful the group has become after enduring years of trials and tribulations. Much like LE SSERAFIM itself, the album title PUREFLOW, Pt. 1 uses anagram wordplay derived from the word “powerful.” That evolution is reflected most clearly in the pre-release song Celebration.
Celebration explores the idea of becoming stronger by acknowledging and embracing fear and vulnerability. With subject matter like this, the delivery can easily come across as pandering. Thankfully, Celebration presents its message in an accessible package that holds up well across repeated listens and views.
Opinions differ when it comes to the album’s title track, Boompala. The song samples the Bayside Boys remix of Macarena by Los del Río and is sung mostly in English with occasional sprinkles of Spanish. Up until the release of this song, I considered Spaghetti to be the weakest of LE SSERAFIM’s A-sides/title tracks. Boompala has easily overtaken it.
Lyrically, there is nothing inherently wrong with the song. Strip away the Spanish portions, and the English lyrics still fit within the album’s thematic structure, albeit in a somewhat fractured way.
My issue with Boompala is that, musically, I do not find it remotely fun to listen to. While I am certainly not the only person who feels this way, I suspect I am still part of a vocal minority.
Neither Celebration nor Boompala are fully representative of PUREFLOW, Pt. 1 as a whole. The album’s strongest moments are found within its deeper cuts.
The tracks that stood out most to me were Creatures, iffy iffy, and Trust Exercise. Creatures, in particular, stands out not only for its catchy, guitar-driven instrumental, but also for its running time of just over three minutes. Compared to many of the other songs on the album, it is given significantly more room to breathe, resulting in a far more satisfying listening experience.
iffy iffy has a very slick house/pop groove, while Trust Exercise shows off LE SSERAFIM’s sweeter pop side. However, both songs are way too short. While neither is the album’s most egregious offender in that regard, there is an abruptness to them that leaves you with the sense of, “That’s it?”
I would say the biggest offender is Need Your Company, which barely clocks in at two minutes and stops just as a normal song would be getting its hooks into your brain. That is a real shame, because the song would be much better if it were developed further.
The follow-up, Sonder, partially makes up for that lack of development, but it still feels too short.
Taken as a whole, PUREFLOW, Pt. 1 is a decent album that should still satisfy much of LE SSERAFIM’s core fanbase. While the project presents an interesting evolution of the group’s “Fearless” identity, the execution does not always live up to the ambition behind it. The stronger album cuts showcase flashes of what this new era could become. Still, underdeveloped runtimes prevent PUREFLOW, Pt. 1 from fully reaching its potential.
As the opening chapter of LE SSERAFIM’s “Fearless 2.0” era, the album ultimately lands somewhere in the middle of the group’s overall discography. Still, with a second part on the horizon, there remains enough promise here to believe the full picture has yet to come into focus.
