Music Recs: SEVENTEEN (세븐틴)
Aug. 23rd, 2022 04:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
forestsofpineA friend of mine has spent the last month getting me into the K-pop group SEVENTEEN, because my MDL watchlist wasn't already enough of a mess of partially watched shows without starting to stan a group that has seven years of variety show content to catch up on, lol. Not to mention all the music videos, choreography videos, concerts, solo projects...
My friend was laughing at me a little bit for going pretty much from "Seventeen... that's a K-pop group, right?" to getting grumpy about bad Western camera angles in their recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel in less than a month, but I'm still very far from an expert and have probably only listened to about... a third? of their songs. Give or take a bit. I've been focusing the most on songs with accompanying choreography videos or dance practices, since I'm a sucker for dance and Seventeen not only has an outstanding performance line, but also has no real dance holes despite the group's large size and a lot of very fun, creative choreography, much of which is done by Hoshi, the leader of the performance line, in collaboration with the other members.
Anyway, despite being extremely late to this party, I thought I'd throw some links out into the ether in case anyone else might be interested. At the very least, it might be fun to come back in a year or two to see if/how my tastes have evolved after I've done more catching up on the aforementioned seven years of content. 😅
Intro
If you're like I was and know that Seventeen is a K-pop group and not much else, this Seventeen primer was a huge help when I was getting started trying to put names, voices, and faces together, and also has a lot of info about their music, variety shows, and even shipping, though I haven't delved into that. (I don't know the OP and am not the friend it was made for, but I sure did appreciate the effort that went into it!)
There's thirteen members of the group in three subunits:
The primer above recommends this video as a good starting point to start exploring and I agree, since it 1) includes clips of a bunch of their popular songs in 20 minutes, 2) has straightforward camerawork and styling, making it easy to start figuring out who everyone is, and 3) has a lot of charming interactions and is a good showcase of how close and friendly they all are with each other.
This comment lists the tracks with timestamps and titles in English.
Favorite Songs and Choreography (So Far)
"So far" is very much the operative phrase here!
⚠️ for physical triggers such as flashing lights and strobes in many of the music videos and live performances; the choreography videos do not have any triggers like this that I've noticed
Anyone
I was scrolling through my Twitter list one day minding my own business when I saw a clip of Dino's part at 2:07 in the video below, and I was like, "wow, that's pretty catchy". So I sent it to my ARMY friend asking her if Seventeen was one of the other groups she liked and she was like "YES, THEY'RE SO GOOD" and threw a bunch of links at me and that was the beginning of this little adventure, haha. Many Seventeen songs later, Anyone is still one of my favorites, and I also still have a soft spot for Dino.
Choreography video
VERY NICE
This is one of their best-known older songs and is a good candidate for the one Seventeen song you're the most likely to have heard if you've only heard one. It's very cute and catchy!
Here's a dance practice and a relay dance.
Oh My!
This song is so bubbly and catchy, and the choreography is also really fun and makes cool use of formations.
Here is a live performance, a dance practice, a funny version where they switch the parts, and a very cute relay dance version.
Snap Shoot
This is another song that's so catchy and bubbly it's irresistible. Dino has an iconic bit that ends with one of the cutest smiles I've ever seen on a grown man. It is so cute I literally cannot decide whether the Dino version or the baby penguin version is more adorable, and you know how hard it is for a human being to rival a baby penguin in cuteness. Practically unheard of. Help. Also, the music video was directed and edited by Mingyu! A very multi-talented group.
I also really love this live performance and here's a dance practice.
Rock With You
Another song that's just catchy and fun (are you sensing a theme?)
Here's the choreography video, a relay dance version, a band live session, and a fun James Bond themed performance.
Pretty U
The choreography for this song is SO FUN and resembles a Broadway performance in style. Seventeen is often called the theater kids of K-pop and performances like this certainly make it clear why!
Here's a dance practice to better appreciate the choreography, a funny version where they switch parts, and a live performance where Joshua famously started a beat too early while in the center (at about 2:04 in the video) but it looked so good that they kept the mistake in their performances from them on.
HOME;RUN
Another really fun bit of choreography set to a catchy, jazzy tune.
Here's a choreography video, a performance with more stylish camerawork that's set against a nice clean background to enjoy the choreo, another fun performance on The Late Late Show With James Corden, and a fun relay dance version.
Hit
After a bunch of pretty cute, cheery sounding songs above, this one's a bit of a departure, in that it's loud and extremely high octane.
The choreography video is well worth checking out for how fast the chorus sections are, and here's a pair of live performances that will make your eyes bleed from the strobes (in a good way, if you can tolerate strobes, or possibly literally, if you cannot).
Hot
This is one of their current big singles and there's a ton of fun performances out there, so it's hard to pick which ones to share! It also has very high energy choreo, especially Hoshi's first part and Dino's part near the end. I also love Hoshi's second part, which involves him "pushing" two lines of dancers apart as he goes down the center.
Here's a great live performance, a special video performance with a Western theme... ~sifts through more YouTube history~ hmm, and I like the red and black styling in this performance... and this one's good... and this one... and here's the choreography video and a fun relay dance version!
Oh gosh, this section is already getting huge and I feel like I'm barely scratching the surface of even my extremely incomplete knowledge. I haven't even mentioned the award winning choreography in Don't Wanna Cry, the cool use of formations in 24H, the spins in Getting Closer, the throw and the trust fall in Fearless, the beauty of Fallin' Flower and Lilili Yabbay, the use of Korean sign language in Thanks, and so many more...
Variety Shows
I've barely made a dent in Seventeen's variety show content, but the first episode of Going Seventeen that I watched was the go-kart one and it was a lot of fun, especially part 2, which started to resemble a live version of Mario Kart, and a good choice for a first episode, imo.
Part 1:
Part 2:
I'm currently watching Seventeen in the Soop, which is a reality show in which the group goes on a glamping-style vacation in the woods where they're encouraged to just rest (poor S.Coups says it's the best sleep he's gotten in two years) and do what they want, and are given the opportunity to try some things they've always wanted to try but never had the chance before, which for this group includes pottery, paragliding, and racetrack driving.
Before watching, I thought it might be boring to just watch a bunch of guys on vacation, but the show's actually really pleasant and relaxing. There's lots of cute interpersonal interactions among the members, beautiful forest scenery, and if you like food shows, there's tons of cooking (and eating), since we are talking about a large group of physically active guys in their early 20s here, and several of them are excellent cooks. Mingyu and DK even build a brick oven by hand and then cook tomahawk steaks on it. There's a BTS version of the show as well and I'm enjoying the Seventeen version enough that I'm now tempted to watch that one, too.
You can get the episodes on Weverse or via 🏴☠️, here's the trailer:
Seventeen in the Soop is quite a contrast to one of their earlier reality show appearances, One Fine Day - Castaways, in which they were told they were going on vacation and instead got dumped in a tiny fishing village on a remote island with little more than the clothes on their backs. I haven't watched all of this one yet either, but in the episodes I've seen, I've been impressed with how well they handled it. This show also has a lot of cooking and it's interesting to watch because a lot of it is done outside on traditional Korean cookware.
The whole thing is available on Youtube with English subtitles.
Besides the shows above, I've also watched a bunch of random compilations on YouTube, of which my favorite was probably this clip of Joshua, who was raised in LA, and Vernon, who has a Korean father and an American mother and lived in the US until he was 5, doing English language skits with Dino and Jeonghan, who were both born and raised in Korea. Dino is too cute ("look at my fit!") and I just about lost it at Joshua's "arrest this man!" in his skit with Jeonghan. 😆
Edit: Later Additions
Some more Seventeen related variety show content I enjoyed:
Anyway, there's my extremely incomplete starter pack for SEVENTEEN. Hope you have some fun checking out the videos and links!
My friend was laughing at me a little bit for going pretty much from "Seventeen... that's a K-pop group, right?" to getting grumpy about bad Western camera angles in their recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel in less than a month, but I'm still very far from an expert and have probably only listened to about... a third? of their songs. Give or take a bit. I've been focusing the most on songs with accompanying choreography videos or dance practices, since I'm a sucker for dance and Seventeen not only has an outstanding performance line, but also has no real dance holes despite the group's large size and a lot of very fun, creative choreography, much of which is done by Hoshi, the leader of the performance line, in collaboration with the other members.
Anyway, despite being extremely late to this party, I thought I'd throw some links out into the ether in case anyone else might be interested. At the very least, it might be fun to come back in a year or two to see if/how my tastes have evolved after I've done more catching up on the aforementioned seven years of content. 😅
Intro
If you're like I was and know that Seventeen is a K-pop group and not much else, this Seventeen primer was a huge help when I was getting started trying to put names, voices, and faces together, and also has a lot of info about their music, variety shows, and even shipping, though I haven't delved into that. (I don't know the OP and am not the friend it was made for, but I sure did appreciate the effort that went into it!)
There's thirteen members of the group in three subunits:
- Vocal line: Woozi (vocal line leader and their main songwriter and producer), DK, Seungkwan, Joshua, Jeonghan
- Rap line: S.Coups (the oldest member of the group and overall leader, as well as the leader of the rap line), Mingyu, Vernon, Wonwoo
- Performance line: Hoshi (performance line leader), Dino (the maknae), The8, Jun
The primer above recommends this video as a good starting point to start exploring and I agree, since it 1) includes clips of a bunch of their popular songs in 20 minutes, 2) has straightforward camerawork and styling, making it easy to start figuring out who everyone is, and 3) has a lot of charming interactions and is a good showcase of how close and friendly they all are with each other.
This comment lists the tracks with timestamps and titles in English.
Favorite Songs and Choreography (So Far)
"So far" is very much the operative phrase here!
⚠️ for physical triggers such as flashing lights and strobes in many of the music videos and live performances; the choreography videos do not have any triggers like this that I've noticed
Anyone
I was scrolling through my Twitter list one day minding my own business when I saw a clip of Dino's part at 2:07 in the video below, and I was like, "wow, that's pretty catchy". So I sent it to my ARMY friend asking her if Seventeen was one of the other groups she liked and she was like "YES, THEY'RE SO GOOD" and threw a bunch of links at me and that was the beginning of this little adventure, haha. Many Seventeen songs later, Anyone is still one of my favorites, and I also still have a soft spot for Dino.
Choreography video
VERY NICE
This is one of their best-known older songs and is a good candidate for the one Seventeen song you're the most likely to have heard if you've only heard one. It's very cute and catchy!
Here's a dance practice and a relay dance.
Oh My!
This song is so bubbly and catchy, and the choreography is also really fun and makes cool use of formations.
Here is a live performance, a dance practice, a funny version where they switch the parts, and a very cute relay dance version.
Snap Shoot
This is another song that's so catchy and bubbly it's irresistible. Dino has an iconic bit that ends with one of the cutest smiles I've ever seen on a grown man. It is so cute I literally cannot decide whether the Dino version or the baby penguin version is more adorable, and you know how hard it is for a human being to rival a baby penguin in cuteness. Practically unheard of. Help. Also, the music video was directed and edited by Mingyu! A very multi-talented group.
I also really love this live performance and here's a dance practice.
Rock With You
Another song that's just catchy and fun (are you sensing a theme?)
Here's the choreography video, a relay dance version, a band live session, and a fun James Bond themed performance.
Pretty U
The choreography for this song is SO FUN and resembles a Broadway performance in style. Seventeen is often called the theater kids of K-pop and performances like this certainly make it clear why!
Here's a dance practice to better appreciate the choreography, a funny version where they switch parts, and a live performance where Joshua famously started a beat too early while in the center (at about 2:04 in the video) but it looked so good that they kept the mistake in their performances from them on.
HOME;RUN
Another really fun bit of choreography set to a catchy, jazzy tune.
Here's a choreography video, a performance with more stylish camerawork that's set against a nice clean background to enjoy the choreo, another fun performance on The Late Late Show With James Corden, and a fun relay dance version.
Hit
After a bunch of pretty cute, cheery sounding songs above, this one's a bit of a departure, in that it's loud and extremely high octane.
The choreography video is well worth checking out for how fast the chorus sections are, and here's a pair of live performances that will make your eyes bleed from the strobes (in a good way, if you can tolerate strobes, or possibly literally, if you cannot).
Hot
This is one of their current big singles and there's a ton of fun performances out there, so it's hard to pick which ones to share! It also has very high energy choreo, especially Hoshi's first part and Dino's part near the end. I also love Hoshi's second part, which involves him "pushing" two lines of dancers apart as he goes down the center.
Here's a great live performance, a special video performance with a Western theme... ~sifts through more YouTube history~ hmm, and I like the red and black styling in this performance... and this one's good... and this one... and here's the choreography video and a fun relay dance version!
Oh gosh, this section is already getting huge and I feel like I'm barely scratching the surface of even my extremely incomplete knowledge. I haven't even mentioned the award winning choreography in Don't Wanna Cry, the cool use of formations in 24H, the spins in Getting Closer, the throw and the trust fall in Fearless, the beauty of Fallin' Flower and Lilili Yabbay, the use of Korean sign language in Thanks, and so many more...
Variety Shows
I've barely made a dent in Seventeen's variety show content, but the first episode of Going Seventeen that I watched was the go-kart one and it was a lot of fun, especially part 2, which started to resemble a live version of Mario Kart, and a good choice for a first episode, imo.
Part 1:
Part 2:
I'm currently watching Seventeen in the Soop, which is a reality show in which the group goes on a glamping-style vacation in the woods where they're encouraged to just rest (poor S.Coups says it's the best sleep he's gotten in two years) and do what they want, and are given the opportunity to try some things they've always wanted to try but never had the chance before, which for this group includes pottery, paragliding, and racetrack driving.
Before watching, I thought it might be boring to just watch a bunch of guys on vacation, but the show's actually really pleasant and relaxing. There's lots of cute interpersonal interactions among the members, beautiful forest scenery, and if you like food shows, there's tons of cooking (and eating), since we are talking about a large group of physically active guys in their early 20s here, and several of them are excellent cooks. Mingyu and DK even build a brick oven by hand and then cook tomahawk steaks on it. There's a BTS version of the show as well and I'm enjoying the Seventeen version enough that I'm now tempted to watch that one, too.
You can get the episodes on Weverse or via 🏴☠️, here's the trailer:
Seventeen in the Soop is quite a contrast to one of their earlier reality show appearances, One Fine Day - Castaways, in which they were told they were going on vacation and instead got dumped in a tiny fishing village on a remote island with little more than the clothes on their backs. I haven't watched all of this one yet either, but in the episodes I've seen, I've been impressed with how well they handled it. This show also has a lot of cooking and it's interesting to watch because a lot of it is done outside on traditional Korean cookware.
The whole thing is available on Youtube with English subtitles.
Besides the shows above, I've also watched a bunch of random compilations on YouTube, of which my favorite was probably this clip of Joshua, who was raised in LA, and Vernon, who has a Korean father and an American mother and lived in the US until he was 5, doing English language skits with Dino and Jeonghan, who were both born and raised in Korea. Dino is too cute ("look at my fit!") and I just about lost it at Joshua's "arrest this man!" in his skit with Jeonghan. 😆
Edit: Later Additions
Some more Seventeen related variety show content I enjoyed:
- The Tag (Part 1, Part 2)
- Don't Lie I (Part 1, Part 2)
- Don't Lie II (Part 1, Part 2)
- Don't Lie III (Part 1, Part 2)
- Mafia Dance
- Hybe Picnic (alongside other Hybe groups, including TXT and Le Sserafim), especially the dance battle (Part 1, Part 2)
Anyway, there's my extremely incomplete starter pack for SEVENTEEN. Hope you have some fun checking out the videos and links!
