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Lee Ka-Yoon (이가윤), known professionally as Seraphine (stylised commonly as SERAPHINE; Korean: 세라핀), is a Korean singer-songwriter under Olympic Records. She debuted on September 20, 2023 with SMILEY.
She is a former member of the pre-debut trainee team DEMIGXDS.
Early Life[]
Lee Ka-Yoon was born on April 16, 2003 alongside her twin brother Ka-Hyeon to B.O.S.S member Lee Eun-Pyo and his non-celebrity fiancée. Though her father lived with them, her and her brother's existence was well-kept from the media; Eunpyo himself not wanting to draw attention to either his children or fiancée as he recognised his role as an idol. Though Kayoon's actual memories of her father remain few and far between, Eunpyo was a doting dad who, as soon as they were born, lived exclusively for his children. Wistfully, her mother would recount all the dreams that he had; moving them to some rich neighbourhood in another country and allow their children to fully immerse themselves in academia so they too could be successful. Any free opportunity that Eunpyo had, it was spent at the sides of his children.
Kayoon was thrust into the spotlight alongside her mother and brother at the age of two in 2005 upon the death of her father. Although she was much too young to understand what was going on around her during that time, some of her earliest memories revolve around cameras craning to catch glimpses of her and her brother. Unable to stay in the family home out of grief, Kayoon's mother moved the family of three to live with her own parents, thus meaning Kayoon grew up in a Korean-American blended house. Her mother, in an attempt to honour the dreams Eunpyo had for their children, sent Kayoon and Kahyeon to a prestigious international school in hopes that they would achieve the academic success he had hoped for them. There, Kayoon was taught English and took enjoyment in being able to speak to her grandmother in her native tongue.
Growing up, Kayoon never knew what she wanted to do with her life; interests seemingly pulled her interests every which way. At school, she was captivated by literature and science, equally in love with the way words could create an image in her head and how the world around her worked. After school, she loved nothing more than to play sports with her friends and hone her skills in some favourites like baseball and netball. And, at home, Kayoon spent hours upon hours trying to craft the perfect pop songs, inspired by some of B.O.S.S' hits. Whilst her brother fell in love with law and the fight for international justice following some projects, Kayoon remained indecisive about where she wanted to go in life. Her mother and both sets of grandparents never pressured her or tried to influence her one way or another. Her maternal side of the family, fuelled by notions of following one's dreams and doing what made one happy, and her paternal grandparents who were just happy to have a tangible link to their son, all affirmed to her that they would support whatever she chose to do.
During the tenth anniversary of her father's passing and the simultaneous fifteenth anniversary of B.O.S.S in 2015, Kayoon fell in love with the K-Pop industry more so than she had before. A lover of music and enjoyer of the choreographies she saw the idol groups on stage perform, it wasn't until she immersed herself in trying to learn all she could about her father and his own idol group at twelve-years-old that she began to envision herself on stage. The idea itself was a slow burn; to begin with, she only imagined herself on stage and performing alongside her father. Then, she'd imagine herself as some sort of songwriter or composer before, by aged fifteen, Kayoon saw no other alternative than her being an idol herself. Once being resolute in her dreams, Kayoon clutched onto it, viewing it as a link that she shared alone with her father. She, very simply, viewed being an idol herself as a means of continuing her father's legacy.
Choosing to audition for Olympic Records was never something Kayoon had considered, not seriously, at least. When consulting agency options in the vast expanse that Korea had to offer, her preference initially wandered to smaller agencies where there was a bigger opportunity to make a name for herself and not live in her father's glory. For a time, during 2019 at the age of 16, Kayoon was a trainee under a small K-Indie agency that saw both potential in her own abilities and fiscal potential in her name. Initially enamoured with the company she had signed with, trainee life soon turned harsh for Kayoon. The company's CEO, far too greedy for his own good, aimed solely to utilise her as a means to bolster his agency's potential. What started as an inadequate idol training programme soon turned to him trying to pressure her to either debut early under the stage-name 'Celestia' (a call back to her father's stage-name 'Celestian') or be revealed online - something she had vetoed when she signed the contract. Life quickly became miserable and the exact embodiment of what Kayoon had tried to avoid; the love she had for music was quickly being sapped away. It was during this time that she took up song-writing more seriously, using it as a means to escape her mind and create characters and stories through lyrics. She wrote so many songs that he was able to curate her own anthologies of them, using them as rocks during a turbulent time of her life.
Eventually, one of her father's former members, Ryu Duck-Gyu, contacted her to inform her that news of Celestian's daughter being an idol trainee was sweeping through the entertainment agencies, near enough an exact year after she signed her contract. Though this indicated that, at the very least, her desires to remain a private trainee would soon come crashing down around her, it also presented an opportunity. Duckgyu told her that Olympic's CEO, Shin Maegeun, was weary of the alleged company Kayoon had signed under on the account of going to business school with the CEO. It was with that in mind that she wanted to offer Kayoon a private audition to a company wherein top idol training could be offered. Though the thought of training under her father's company wherein privacy could not be guaranteed unnerved her, advice from her mother and grandparents revealed the level of thoughtfulness the Shin family had given them in the aftermath of her father's death; something that was unparalleled.
Not looking back, Kayoon took Shin Maegeun up on her offer and hasn't looked back since.
Trainee period[]
Officially becoming a, Olympic Records trainee in May 2020, Kayoon readily applied herself to trying to be the best version of herself she could be. Although the legacy of her father was important to her and underpinned everything she did, she made it apparent to the trainers early on that she intended to debut based on her own merit, not that of her father's. Her drive and optimism was regarded as aspirational, with a consensus developing among the trainers that her debut was a case of 'when,' not 'if.'
She was announced as a member of the pre-debut trainee team DEMIGXDS on January 10, 2021. Although she wasn't initially recognised as the daughter of B.O.S.S' Celestian, Kayoon herself revealed the link on a livestream on February 26. Through associations with her father and her own infectious personality, she quickly became a popular member of the DEMIGXDDESS team.
Career[]
2023: QUEENDOM of CORDELIA & Pending Debut[]
In February, she was announced as a contestant on QUEENDOM of CORDELIA - Olympic Records' premier survival show to find the members of its newest girl group. Kayoon had a favourable beginning to the competition, ranking seventh in the pre-show fan opinion polls and being denoted as the first 'Beauty' of the trainees, recognising that she had impressed CEO Shin Maegeun. Throughout the competition, Kayoon remained popular and hovered around the 10th-13th ranking. On episodes 5 and 6, she ranked within the Top 9 for both the first and last time. She reached the finale with her final rank being 10th - a single spot from the debuting team. Following the competition, Kayoon returned to the DEMIGXDS line-up.
SERAPHINE's Logo
On August 19, Olympic Records announced that Kayoon would be graduating from the DEMIGXDS programme. Though little details were given regarding the nature of her departure, many fans latched onto the wording of 'graduating' rather than 'departing' as a sign of her debuting in some capacity. The same day, a teaser was released that announced a new artist - SERAPHINE - was slated to come soon.
Kayoon was revealed as being Seraphine on August 25, confirming that she would be debuting within the final quarter of 2023 as a soloist.
Personality[]
Stage Name[]
Kayoon chose 'Seraphine' as her stage-name both because she found the name pretty in both English and Korean, but also because it connects her to her father in a non-explicit way. Her father's stage-name, Celestian, was derived from the word 'celestial' which refers to beings in the heavens and the bodies of stars and planets in space. The name Seraphine finds its roots in the Hebrew word śərāfîm; a word used to reference heavenly or celestial beings in the Abrahamic religions.
Thus, through naming herself Seraphine, Kayoon believes she is fully celebrating and acknowledging her relation to her father whilst retaining some independence.
| “ | Seraphine is Celestian's daughter, both in whatever lore the company can make and in real life. Both belong to the same story, it's just Seraphine is going to pick up writing the chapters where Celestian retired. | „ |
| – Seraphine, August 26, 2023 livestream regarding her stage-name |
Discography[]
Studio Albums[]
- LANE CHANGE (2024)
Mini Albums[]
- SMILEY (2023)
- Rainbow Road (2024)
Single Albums[]
- NEMONEMO (2024)
Digital Singles[]
- SMARTPHONE (2024)
Filmography[]
Achievements[]
- TBA
Awards & Nominations[]
TBA
Trivia[]
- Seraphine is bilingual; she speaks Korean and English
- She is 1/8 French, due to having a Korean-American grandmother
- She chose her English name, Artemis, based on stories on how her father used to refer to her and her twin brother as Apollo and Artemis.
[]
| Olympic Records | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Olympic Records · Olympic Records Japan · Olympic Studio · Label LG · ROSE&SHIELD Entertainment · The Pink Label | |||
| Olympic Records | Current | Groups | HERCULES · BRITOMARTIS · EROS · The Muses · CASTOR&POLLUX · After School Club · CORDELIA · PENDRAGON · AUTONOË
|
| Subunits | |||
| Project Groups | ZEUS · HERA
| ||
| Soloists | |||
| Actors | TBA
| ||
| Trainees | DEMIGXDS · Kim Yera · Peyton Wayan · Walter Park
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| Former | Groups | ||
| Artists | |||
| Trainees | |||
| Project Groups | |||
| Olympic Records Japan | Current | Groups | |
| Former | Artists | ||
| Olympic Studio | Current | Groups | |
| Soloists | NALELI
| ||
| Label LG | Current | Groups | |
| Soloists | |||
| ROSE&SHIELD Entertainment | Current | Groups | |
| Soloists | Kwon Chanwook · 2HYUN · Paris
| ||
| Trainees | Zhoi Xiao Yi · Kim Euimin · Hamada Taizo · Tyler Alexander King · Levy Seo
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| The Pink Label | Current | Groups | |
| Actors | Tegan Kim
| ||
| Former | Groups | Girl Talk · Voix · NVRLND
| |
| Artists | |||
| Related Topics | |||
| Mount Olympus · The Pantheon | |||