LE SSERAFIM’s Kim Chae-won has opened up about reuniting with former IZ*ONE bandmate Miyawaki Sakura for the new girl group.

In a new interview with Weverse Magazine, Kim spoke about joining Source Music as a member of LE SSERAFIM and working with fellow ex-IZ*ONE bandmate Sakura again. She revealed that the pair had not been particularly close during their time in IZ*ONE, adding that it was “amazing” how they got to know each other after moving to the new agency.

Back in 2018, Kim had joined the Mnet reality TV competition Produce 48 as trainee under Woollim Entertainment, while Sakura participated as a member of Japanese girl group HKT48. Both singers eventually made the final line-up of the girl group IZ*ONE, which were active from 2018 to early-2021.

“There were a lot of members, plus we didn’t have a lot of time together. It was amazing the way I got to know [Sakura] better only after coming here,” Kim explained. “I never could have imagined I would be working with her again.”

“Life throws you curveballs,” she adds. “We both said we made the right choice and wished each other luck. We’re so close now that I can’t understand why we were never close back then.”

Elsewhere in the interview, the LE SSERAFIM leader also discussed how she had felt anxious after returning to life as a trainee after her two-and-a-half year stint with IZ*ONE, sharing that Sakura’s presence had given her reassurance.

“There were times where adjusting to trainee life and starting from the beginning again were challenging, since [Sakura] never actually went through a proper trainee period and I went through mine really quickly,” said Chae-won.

Earlier this month, LE SSERAFIM became the first girl group to debut under Source Music, following its acquisition by HYBE, with their mini-album ‘Fearless’. In a three-star review of the record, NME’s Rhian Daly praised the project’s title track for “not taking the en vogue route of in-your-face girl crush bangers”.