After the unexpected mixed success of LE SSERAFIM’s latest comeback, Korean netizens are blaming BTS’s J-Hope for the song’s poor commercial performance.
LE SSERAFIM made their comeback with “SPAGHETTI (feat. BTS’s J-Hope)” this week, and while the track has drawn praise from some fans for its fun and unconventional sound, it’s also sparked criticism in several ways — from the concept to J-Hope’s rap lyrics.
The single’s commercial performance has also been equally mixed. Despite earning the group their biggest debut on the Global Spotify chart with 2.70 million streams, the physical SPAGHETTI album recorded LE SSERAFIM’s all-time lowest first-day sales at just 92,346 copies and currently sits shockingly low on the Melon chart.
Now, Korean netizens are turning the blame to J-Hope. In a trending post on Pann, one netizen alleged it “feels like unpopular J-Hope is dragging LE SSERAFIM down.”
Comparing the US performance of “SPAGHETTI” to the higher Spotify streams for their previous comeback, “HOT,” the poster went on to criticize J-Hope’s feature for taking up a full minute of the three-minute track, questioning why he was chosen for the collaboration at all.
“Because J-Hope was trying to show off, LE SSERAFIM’s results are worse than their previous albums.
He even takes up a whole minute out of the 3-minute song ㅡㅡ
The lyrics are weird, the rap is weird, why did they even use him for the feature?
Honestly, the clean version without J-Hope sounds way better.
I thought maybe they’d at least get some clout from international BTS fans but there’s not even that.”
— Pann
While many netizens agreed with the post, comments were divided. Some slammed J-Hope’s rap as the reason for the song’s poor performance, especially in the wake of the recent W Korea controversy, while others argued that the song would have been even less successful without the BTS member’s feature.
- “His rap is seriously f*cking bad.”
- “I remember that clip of him leaving for the airport with no fans there, looking awkward. He’s been super off-putting ever since that breast cancer event.”
- “For real, their results actually got worse.”
- “What are you talking about? Their current results are because J-Hope’s on it. If anything, it’s a benefit. This take is ridiculous.”
