Despite being a high achiever at her school, she deviated from her initial plan of getting into a prestigious college and debuted as the leader of the girl group in 2010 with the track “No Playboy.” Although the group did not achieve meteoric stardom, it still rolled out a string of hits such as “News” (2012), “Dolls” (2013) and “Wild (2013).” Only four years later, however, Sera was forced to leave the group. And during a recent interview with The Korea Times at a studio in Mapo-gu, northern Seoul, the outspoken former idol explained what happened.

“I was kicked out of the leader position of 9MUSES, because I openly vented all my grievances about our excessive use of sex appeal,” Sera said in a composed manner. “In hindsight, I was a bit immature to do so, but back then, putting on skimpy outfits was extremely distressing to me. I could not help thinking that I was what I wore.”

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