The K-Pop phenomenon Seventeen is back, offering us a more refined, mature energy – and spotlighting various depictions of love for their 8th Mini Album, Your Choice.
The 13 member group has been an active tour de force for over six years, currently under the super-label hybrid Pledis Entertainment and its new home Hybe, known for housing artists that drastically shape current industry trends. Seventeen’s unrivaled, core essence includes three essential units that establish a synergy of hip-hop, vocals, and performance, developing into a bona fide brotherhood that has proven to cherish individuality. As one of the rare groups to understand the prerequisites behind multi-faceted artistry, there’s sincerely nothing that Seventeen hasn’t attempted to pick up. Whether it’s through choreography, self-producing, composition, or general input, they remain directly involved in their own respective image, which typically sets them apart from current personalities in music.
It’s a pure elevated sense of self-motivation that has resonated with audiences, already earning several number one’s on the Gaon Album Chart with their celebrated discography. In addition to their massive success in Korea, the group has dropped widely successful albums in Japan and has landed amongst the best commercially successful artists on the Billboard World Albums chart, making global dominance a natural next step. In the pursuit of expanding their masterful craft, Seventeen has now decided to boldly declare they’re goal of snagging a spot at the top of the charts, and expressed aspirations to sell a million units with Your Choice. If able to hit that milestone amount once more, it would put the group in another bracket of top-tier achievements for being quadruple-million selling artists that seems so tangible.
In the new Mini Album, Seventeen (also known as SVT) hopes to not only achieve these impressive new records, but describes a crucial goal focusing on the importance of maturity through love. The group individually and collectively appears to have familiarized themselves with each member’s abilities, viewing Your Choice as an opportunity to acknowledge beliefs about various “tiers” to love in ways that they haven’t attempted before. “[The album] will be a more mature type of love. Your Choice means sharing what’s on our mind and respecting your choices.” Woozi explains, adding, “It’s a sweet side of Seventeen.”
Their new lead single “Ready to love” is the most mainstream, and initial exposure to the group’s dedication to bridging different elements of love, and DK accurately describes the return as, “an energetic R&B-pop song that feels very fresh.” Paired with a colorful music video, a captivating dance break in the rain, and more, Hoshi shares the pursuit of perfection, noting, “We wanted to make music with better quality so we would make changes to lyrics, then we would have to make changes to choreography.”
The opening song on Your Choice titled “Heaven’s Cloud” perfectly displays their choice to spotlight a compassionate side, introducing the members’ version of a generally feel-good love song. That being said, their interpretations of love aren’t limited to romantic constructs. Joshua in particular goes on to emphasize that love in all forms, (family, friends, romantic, etc.) fueled this process across the board, and that the group is interested in discovering people’s perceptions of their new music.
Conversely, the track “GAM3 B01” demonstrates a bouncier, upbeat and 8-bit style – becoming an instant adrenaline shot for a Mini Album that largely follows a nuanced narrative. On “Same dream, same mind, same night” we get to see the group’s distinct flair for R&B, with a soft, melodically synthy backing to highlight the pristine vocal range that embodies some of their finest work yet. “Now that we’re Hybe artists, we’ve been given the environment to work in new ways,” says Woozi, before praising esteemed producer Bang Si-hyuk for working side by side with the group on the collaborative body of work. He continues, “While I was working on this album, it was such an honor to work with him because I had listened to his creations while I was growing up. I’m very grateful to him.”
Considering the thought process that went into every piece of content, the group does note hopes to experience touring again soon – but in the immediate future, they plan to really promote this album outside of traditional South Korean timeframes in favor of attaining reputable rankings overseas. With appearances scheduled for Jimmy Kimmel (and more that they plan to announce soon) Seventeen wants to really embrace the aforementioned booming presence of K-pop in the US market, which is something that they have already proven to be a very attainable move for the consummate performers.
Now, after the group has just hit their sixth year as a joint act and has embraced the ability to pursue an expansion of their global reach, there comes a greater respect for embarking on this journey together. “I think we’ve come this far thanks to carat, our fans.” S Coups insists, adding, “The members also walk the same path, and we have each other’s backs.” With a stronger showing of Seventeen’s evolution and promise for the continued growth of these talented men, there will be a lot of passion tethered to each and every move the group makes – which we know will effortlessly contribute to an uncanny legacy.
Seventeen’s 8th Mini Album Your Choice is available across all streaming platforms now, so make sure to check it out – and watch the music video for “Ready for love” included above!
