2024-04-29 17:57:37
Today, the best album that summarizes Chapter 1 is released… ‘Seventeen Is Right Here’
Since debut, the thirteen members have had a strong friendship… Not a single member left
Teamwork is also a strength… “Be sure to hold a regular meeting once a month and have conversations.”
Preparing for festival appearances and performances in Europe and the US
“We are talking about many goals even in the 10th year.”
“Of course I tried writing and composing artificial intelligence (AI) lyrics. Rather than complaining, I will practice keeping pace. I am looking at the shortcomings and thinking about the advantages. Technology is developing quickly. We are worried about how to maintain our unique identity amidst this. “While filming the music video with the directors, I thought we worked well together because we had a good sense of common sense.” (Woozi)
The group ‘Seventeen’ (SVT), which started out as a ‘refreshing group’ through its debut song ‘I Love You’, has reached a point where it sympathizes with and worries about hot topics in our society as it reaches its 9th anniversary since its debut. The title song ‘MAESTRO’ from the best album ‘17 IS RIGHT HERE’ released at 6 PM on the 29th is proof of this.
SEVENTEEN producer Woozi and Pledis Entertainment producer Bumju wrote the lyrics together and the two of them took the lead in creating the melody. This song is a dance R&B song with an impressive piano sound intro. ‘Maestro’, which means ‘conductor’ and ‘a person recognized by everyone in a field’, was used as a keyword. It means, ‘Let us, all of us who are diverse, come together to lead our world and become the best that leads the trend.’
As the title song of the best album that contains the footsteps of ‘self-produced idol’ Seventeen’s 9 years, Seventeen has released title songs from past albums such as ‘I Love You’, ‘Very Nice’, ‘What Should I Do’, ‘Poison: Fear’, It melted the source material of a total of 7 songs, such as ‘Rock with you’, ‘CHEERS’, and ‘Son Goku’, while also highlighting the individuality of ‘Maestro’. This shows that they are steadily growing based on their own footsteps.
Seventeen has become a representative K-pop group, with cumulative album sales exceeding 16 million last year. The 10th mini album ‘FML’, released in April of the same year, recorded the highest sales of a K-pop single album in history with cumulative sales of 6.27 million copies. The 11th mini album ‘SEVENTEENTH HEAVEN’ exceeded 5 million copies in the first week of release (sales in one week from the release date) for the first time in K-pop history.
However, Seventeen is not a team that attracted attention immediately after its debut. Her agency, Pledis, was acquired by Hive, the largest K-pop agency, and she became an artist under a large agency, but had difficulty assembling a team in the beginning.
First of all, the thirteen members, including general leader S.Coups, Jeonghan, Joshua, Jun, Hoshi, Wonwoo, Woozi, The8, Mingyu, DK, Seungkwan, Vernon, and Dino, seemed like a lot. The question followed, “Wouldn’t it be difficult to build a music world because there are so many members?” At the time of the first solo performance in December 2015, six months after debut, the number of fandom ‘Carats’ gathered at the venue was less than 800.
At a meeting held in Yeouido, Seoul before the album release, S.Coups said, “Having 13 members is a challenge in itself. It’s amazing that everyone is working together without missing a single person. “It is also a challenge for Woozi to create music and promote with it,” he emphasized.
The performance that matches the magnificent sound of ‘Maestro’, which was created mainly by Uzi, is also a hot topic. The first stage of ‘Maestro’ was unveiled at ‘SEVENTEEN TOUR ‘FOLLOW’ AGAIN’ held at Seoul World Cup Stadium on the 27th and 28th. The main prop is the baton that ‘Performance Leader’ Hoshi holds in the intro, and a dramatic performance was created by passing this baton to other members as if passing the baton.
Woozi said, “I don’t want to show that I am complacent, so I always want to show a new side of me. I still want to go to more places and bigger places. Our members are full of energy and passion, rather than losing strength over time. “I want to show that I continue to work hard during this annual leave,” he said.
Seventeen has an excellent sense of entertainment, such as the self-produced web entertainment show ‘Going Seventeen’ and tvN’s ‘Nana Tour with Seventeen’, but recently, their musicality has been gaining prominence. This best album is a compilation of the title songs and hit songs from existing albums, but also focuses on new songs by each unit team other than ‘Maestro’. As is well known, the formula for naming Seventeen is ’13 (members) + 3 (units) + 1 (one team, carats) = 17 (Seventeen).’
The vocal team’s unit song ‘Youth Hymn’ with a cheerful rhythm, the hip-hop team’s unit song ‘Lalari’ with a harsh sound that penetrates the ears, and the dreamy performance team’s unit song featuring Amapiano, a local genre in South Africa. With new songs such as ‘Spell’, this album becomes something more than just a best album. Mingyu emphasized, “This is an album that organizes everything about Seventeen and announces a new beginning.”
Seventeen, who is about to start a new Chapter 2, looked back on the happiest and most difficult times of Chapter 1. Hoshi, who always thought that Seventeen did well as an idol, said that the COVID-19 period was difficult. “It was because of concerns that the era of meeting fans only online would continue.”
S.Coups chose the time when he was most happy when he won the ‘Album of the Year’ category, one of the grand prizes, at the ‘2023 MAMA Awards’ held at Tokyo Dome in November last year. The ‘MAMA Awards’ is like a dream stage for K-pop idols. “I wondered if we would really be able to win the grand prize in 2018-2019. Since we have great seniors, there was a time when we wondered if we would be able to receive it while we were singers. ‘Mama Daesang’ was the one that put an end to those worries.”
Another one of Seventeen’s strengths is teamwork. The thirteen members are showing off their strong camaraderie, with not a single member leaving so far. Hoshi said, “I met good kids. These are friends that will last a lifetime. “Maybe it’s because we’ve lived together since we were young, but whenever we’re together, it feels like we’re in high school,” he said happily. Seungkwan “We support, stir, fight, watch, complain, and even hear people say, ‘Should I at least kneel?’ “I can laugh more now because there are a lot of things like that,” he said, adding, “I love the members so much, no matter who comes, our teamwork can’t be broken.”
We hold a regular meeting together once a month and consider time to talk as important. S.Coups said, “It’s difficult to communicate if you don’t talk. As we started talking, our teamwork became stronger. We understood each other more. “Work is work, but we are such close friends that I don’t even think of our relationship as work,” he said with satisfaction.
Following the Incheon Asiad Main Stadium on the 30th and 31st of last month, Seventeen, who thrilled 70,000 spectators at Sangambeol last weekend, will continue their ‘Follow ‘Again” tour to Japan. It will be held at Osaka Yanmar Stadium Nagai on May 18th and 19th, and at Kanagawa Nissan Stadium on the 25th and 26th of the same month. In particular, Kanagawa Nissan Stadium is the largest concert hall in Japan, with over 70,000 spectators per performance, so it is called the ‘dream stage’ for many artists. Seventeen, who sold out all 23 performances last year, including fan meetings and tours, and exceeded 10 million cumulative audiences, is establishing himself as a ‘super-large stadium artist’ through this tour.
Seventeen will also appear at major music festivals in Europe. This June, they will become the first K-pop boy group to appear on the main stage at Glastonbury, Britain’s largest music festival. In September, the group will participate as a headliner at Lollapalooza Berlin, Germany. With this as a starting point, a European tour is also planned. They are also performing in the US for the first time in two years. Mingyu said, “There are more albums coming out besides the best album. There is also a new concert tour. There is also Carat Land (a fan meeting). This year is a meaningful year for us. I have a lot of schedules, but I will do my best every time. You can do it, right? I could. You will be doing it. haha.”
However, SEVENTEEN’s perfection is always carats. Seungkwan said, “I know this well because I used to be someone’s fan. “There are many difficult and tiring times, but we will continue our activities as Seventeen with a sense of responsibility for Carats,” he pledged.
The past nine years have been an opportunity to build relationships and trust that will move forward. S.Coups smiled and said, “Even though it has been 10 years, we are talking about many goals.”
[서울=뉴시스]
2024-04-29 17:57:37