However, instead of this making the public sympathize with the members, it had the opposite effect.

When Easy first came out in February of this year, the song itself received lukewarm responses, but it wasn't the worst thing.

Problems quickly emerged as the music video, which was shot in a church, faced backlash for being disrespectful towards Christians.

The b-side track, Smart, was also accused of plagiarism due to similarities with songs like Water by Tyla, Woman by Doja Cat, and Calm Down by Rima and Selena Gomez.

Additionally, critics went on to claim that the members had also copied Tyla's choreography and even imitated her accent, leading to charges of cultural appropriation.

Some also found the dance moves inappropriate due to EunCha being a minor.

The backlash only intensified from there, reaching its peak on February 29th when Le Seraphime won first place on Mnet's M Countdown and had an encore performance to celebrate their win.

That infamous stage drew a lot of criticism, with netizens coming together to talk down on the members' vocals and how disappointing the performance had been for idols who had been in the industry for some time now.

The negativity continued with their Coachella performances on April 13th and April 21st, despite making history as the fastest Korean act to perform at the festival.

Their live vocals were once again heavily criticized and social media were flooded with negative comments, with some even going as The group also got caught up in the feud between Min Heejin and HYBE and faced accusations of cult involvement and were even criticized for debuting before New Genes.

Things managed to calm down a bit after a while, even though the hate continued to be present.

Then things got worse once again when Source Music dropped the trailer for Le Seraphime's second documentary titled Make It Look Easy.

This wouldn't be the first time that a K-pop group, Le Seraphime included, put out a documentary to showcase the hardships of the idol life.

The group's first documentary was The World Is My Oyster, and it showcased their journey from pre-debut till the release of their debut album Fearless while Make It Look Easy shared the group's experiences from 2022 leading up to their mini-album Easy.

The documentary explores both the personal and professional obstacles the members encountered along the way, as well as moments where they persevered through difficulties.

In one scene, Eun Chae is seen struggling with hyperventilation during a rehearsal for the Unforgiven showcase but pushes through to finish her performance.

Her fellow members and staff then applaud her once the show is over, moved by her resilience, which brings her to tears.

Another part of the documentary shows Chae Won getting an IV drip while shooting the music video for their 2023 album Unforgiven, while in another scene, a staff member urgently pleads with the documentary director to stop filming as Sakura appears to be in severe distress.

Despite the documentary being relatively short, it was met with very strong reactions by netizens.

Fans, as expected, were both touched and enraged by some of the scenes.

Some liked how seemingly honest and raw the whole thing was, with a Reddit user commenting, I'm impressed at how honest they were about how tough it all is on a day-to-day basis.

Make It Look Easy is the perfect title.

So much hard work goes into a few moments on stage, I can't imagine the pressure of all that knowing there are people out there looking for ways to criticize.

However, there was also some criticism over how HYBE had shown these moments to the public in the first place, especially knowing they could have done something to stop it.

As a counter-argument, fans highlighted a moment where staff advised Chae Won to cancel filming a couple of scenes due to her not feeling well.

Despite knowing she would likely insist on continuing, they stressed that her health should come first and she shouldn't work while unwell.

In addition to showing the girls' struggles with insecurity, illness, and criticism, HYBE's documentary reveals something rare, artists often push themselves too hard even when they're not well.

Even though the company might tell them to prioritize their health, they continue to promote and practice, determined to show their hard work even if it means battling their own limits.

As expected though, the documentary and the members received a good amount of criticism.

For once, HYBE was accused of trying to gain sympathy for the members through the documentary.

Many felt the release of the documentary seemed calculated, with some commenters suggesting it was way too soon for a quote-unquote sob story.

They argued that without a comeback since Coachella or Visible Progress, the whole thing might backfire on the members.

To these people, the issue of the documentary is the constant emphasis on their hard work, especially since hadn't apparently shown results that people can recognize.

It was also pointed out that the documentary was filmed during the Unforgiven Era, when they were already getting criticism for poor live singing.

So, the argument goes that if the girls had indeed practiced or improved as much as the documentary showed, then it would have shown during the Easy Promotions, but instead, it was one of the eras in which they got the most criticism.

A commenter wrote, It's just another HYBE propaganda.

The company need to stop selling sob stories to gain sympathy and start sending them to vocal classes.

A part in the documentary, which became the point of a lot of discussion, was when Hyunjin talks about the backlash she got for saying that she wants to change the idol industry in her debut teaser.

The phrase has become the topic of ridicule by K-pop fans, who insist that she has done nothing noteworthy to keep her word, and apparently, Hyunjin has seen all these comments.

In one scene, she's heard telling HYBE's founder, Bang Si-hyuk, At the beginning, I didn't really pay attention to what people are saying, but as time passes, I feel more responsible about what I said, so I feel like I should do more and wonder if I'm doing enough.

In response, he tells Hyunjin to just keep on writing songs and to pay no mind to what the company and the public are saying.

Both Hyunjin and Bang Si-hyuk got backlash for this, though, especially the latter.

In netizens' opinion, it was unwise for the founder of the company just to tell an idol to not take into consideration criticism that comes from the people who listen to their music.

Commenters said, Why shouldn't they pay attention to public opinion?

His logic is strange, and this is exactly why people say you need to be around good adults to guide you, but Le Seraphim is stuck there.

Hyunjin was also labeled as naive for even thinking that she can change the industry despite being a part of it and playing into the industry's demands.

Another heavily discussed part of the documentary is when Sakura breaks down in tears and talks about how she regrets becoming an idol.

During that part, Sakura said, I don't know why I chose to be an idol.

For what?

Rather than say that it was the wrong choice, I want to ask if being an idol is what I do best.

Whenever I make a mistake, I think to myself that had I chosen something else, I too could have been good at something.

Sakura goes on to share that despite the criticism, being an idol is what makes her happiest.

She admits she doesn't usually doubt her talent, but negative comments sometimes make her question herself, so she finds it hard to understand why she puts herself through so much pain and struggle.

Instead of this being just another moment in the documentary showing how the hate that the girls received impacted their feel bad for her.

They felt that Sakura was being paid a lot for a job she wasn't excelling at and saw the situation as just an attempt by HYBE and Sakura to seek pity and sympathy.

A Korean netizen commented, You can leave once your contract is over and if you can't wait that long then just pay the penalty.

It's not like you were scammed into becoming an idol.

Another one said, If you're that scared then just give up.

The argument stands that Sakura has been an idol for 13 years now and is still scared to sing live, despite having plenty of time to improve her singing skills and overcome her fear.

To the majority of people, companies should definitely train and prepare idols, but idols also need to take responsibility for their own skills, whether that's improving them or trying not to regress.

So, to most people, it's strange that some idols who clearly lack talent still pursue careers as artists in the K-pop industry and then expect to be babied and coddled.

However, a lot of Le Seraphim fans were baffled at the netizen's lack of empathy when it came to Sakura.

A Twitter user criticized fan culture for lacking compassion, questioning how anyone could see a girl losing her confidence due to the constant harassment and think it's just a ploy for sympathy.

Another one argued that it was weird to see the girls go through turmoil and hardships and then call it a PR stunt.

Fans also pointed out that Sakura used to be a very confident performer during her days in AKB48 and IZ1, but that confidence was lost with the intense hate train against her and the rest of the Le Seraphim members.

It's not like this is the first time that Sakura has expressed these insecurities either, and the other members, who netizens and antis claim are much more talented, expressed similar feelings.

They have all shared their struggles and doubts about not feeling good enough, so feeling sympathy for them isn't the same as coddling or babying.

The most mentioned argument was that instead of HYBE offering a sob story to try and turn public opinion in favor of the girls, they should have shown them improving, practicing, and accepting the valid criticism.

Fans believe the documentary has already addressed the issues, but the public is dismissing it because it doesn't match their view of the documentary, during which they're shown in the practice room sometimes from 9am to 5am.

The members also say that they want to improve multiple times during the documentary, leading fans to say the whole documentary is them practicing and taking lessons, them being vulnerable is also part of their journey as an idol.

Another thing that was brought up a lot was the double standards that the members are currently dealing with.

If the documentary had aired and it showed the members just having fun, performing in random gigs, and goofing around, they would have been eaten alive by everyone and told to get to the practice room and improve.

As a netizen put it, they can't plan around their hate train if they had their way, they'd never release any content or music again.

The documentary was created for their fans to share their journey up until the easy era, highlighting both the successes and struggles.

It's understandable if the criticism against them would come from a good place and with the genuine intention of wanting to see the members do better, but this is a hate train that just on their social media accounts including TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram.

The members had already disabled comments on their personal accounts, but deciding to do the same on all their social media was definitely a cause for concern.

This might just be Source Music trying to make it impossible for users to delete their comments so they can get sued for malicious comments, but even that hasn't helped in trying to tone down the hate that Le Seraphim has been receiving.

Multiple TikToks have been made to harass the members, whether that is about the documentary or unrelated issues.

Even though Source Music and HYBE's tactics backfired once again, it would be a lot more reasonable to direct the hate against the company instead of criticizing the members for being vulnerable and human.