Seventeen Face the Sun Album Reaction + more

Seventeen

Youtube - Seventeen Guide - Intro Only (less than 10 minutes)

A brief intro to who Seventeen is. Ignore the title of “Super Long”, this is 1 of several videos that make up the guide. We are only using the brief intro.

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Seventeen was set to debut in 2013 but it was postponed because Pledis, their agency, was in serious financial difficulties. After their debut, there was a constant struggle with a lack of support, finances, and an inexperienced CEO. They spent years practicing in a basement with every moment broadcast online. Their company did not give them proper microphones or in-ears for live performances so they had to buy and perform with their own lower-quality earphones/earbuds and microphones or sometimes go without.

Despite these challenges, Seventeen was determined and talented enough to succeed as a true underdog story. A big part of their success comes from their ability to do things for themselves, such as writing/production/choreography. 92% of their songs have a member as 1st lyricist and 84% as the main composer. Of 111 published songs, only 2 are completely untouched by members. And they are Original Soundtracks for dramas.

In 2020, Hybe became the majority shareholder of Pledis. Seventeen now has good equipment, support, practice rooms, and personal studios in the same building as BTS, TXT, Enhypen, and others.

In July of 2021, all 13 members renewed their contracts with Pledis a year early. Instead of each member individually meeting with the company to discuss the terms of their contracts, they collaborated and discussed their collective vision for the group’s future and agreed to negotiate as one for a 5-year contract.

The latest album, Face the Sun, sold over two million copies in the first week. BTS is the only other Korean artist to achieve that. It debuted at #7 on Billboard 200, becoming Seventeen's first top 10 hit in the US as well as their highest-charting album yet in their career. It has stayed on the charts for 6 weeks so far. A repackaged version with additional songs, Sector 17, was released on July 18th and has now broken the four-year record for the highest first-week sales of any repackaged album previously held by BTS' "Love Yourself: Answer".

Face The Sun is Seventeen’s fourth full-length album. With this album, they aimed to show a more mature side of themselves, in contrast with their previous work which was typically more cheerful. In the promotion of the album, they released 13 videos on the HYBE Youtube channel called “13 Inner Shadows” where each member shows their deepest fear. Overall, the album’s goal was to show their less polished, raw side where they convey their ambitions, and determination, but also their worries.

The following song descriptions are from the members themselves in an interview conducted by Mary Siroky from Consequence:

'Darl+ing' Official MV

JOSHUA: Seeing the reception [to “Darl+ing”], it felt like we have gotten a bit closer to our CARATs around the world. We feel “Darl+ing” was a good starting point to our music and performances to come this year, especially as we gear up to start touring around the world again. We want to return the love we’ve received over the years to our fans in other parts of the world, so we are also looking forward to working on more English songs to which they can better connect.

HOT - Live Performance (you have seen the MV already)

WOOZI: As always, our goal for the album is to convey who we are today. “HOT” was the result of trying to create a song that best resembles the “sun” from its very sound. It’s reminiscent of the imagery of the sun — the overarching theme of this album — and makes a statement about SEVENTEEN’s determination to become an artist that resembles the sun.

DON QUIXOTE

WOOZI: The idea of always wanting to continue our adventures lies beneath the song, even if others may see us and think we are not headed the “right” way. That’s just how the 13 of us grew up together, always walking forward as one. That’s why the optimistic and idealistic character resonated with us. We aspire to be an artist unafraid to step away from the norm to find our own creative direction.

March

DINO: As the title suggests, this song is intended to be the soundtrack to TEAM SEVENTEEN’s march forward. Face the Sun tells the story of SEVENTEEN’s journey, but we also want to encourage all our listeners to courageously walk forward along with us, and that is the sort of energy we tried to deliver through the track.

Domino

MINGYU: With the restrictions we all faced in our everyday life over the past two years, we wanted the music in our new album to feel a bit more straightforward and expressive. The process of falling in love fills you up with happiness unlike any other experience, and this is a song that captures that restless excitement transparently.

Shadow

VERNON: Our focus for this track was the contrast between the track and theme of the song. Perhaps the contrast that makes the sounds feel slightly exaggerated is also where the sentiments of ‘80s and hyperpop stem from. The track is quite rhythmic in nature with its roots in 2-step, which builds a contrast to the weight of the idea of embracing our inner shadows.

‘bout you

S.COUPS: Face the Sun marks a new chapter for SEVENTEEN. By looking back to our debut and alluding to our very first song in this one (Adore U), we wanted to not only fully express our gratitude and affection for TEAM SEVENTEEN — our 13 members and all our CARATs — but also reflect on the journey ourselves.

IF you leave me

SEUNGKWAN: “IF you leave me” addresses how big of a role our fans — CARATS — play in all we do, and directly speaks to CARATs about how we feel about our relationship with them. We have our fans always waiting to hear more music from us, supporting us to see us improve. They are what drive us to always strive for more.

Ash

WOOZI: The keyword of “Ash” was the starting point for building the last few moments of the album. It’s meant to be a stepping stone to our next stage, in the sense that after we’ve declared to face our fears and become the sun ourselves, we would have to burn down remnants of our past fears to move on. Face the Sun closes with the song so as to open up the next chapter to what lies ahead.

After confronting and leaving the ashes of their fears behind in “Face the Sun,” Seventeen climbs to a new world of endless potential named ‘Sector 17.’ The Sector 17 repackaged album included 1 previously released Japanese song and 3 new songs.

Circles

Circle works as a transition song between Face the Sun and Sector 17. In this song, Seventeen has lost their way when faced with challenges and uncertainty only to realize that the sorrow and pain will all pass away and they can become happy again.

_WORLD

The lead single "_WORLD" is an urban R&B track that acts as a sequel to "Ash,". The underscore before “world” leaves it open to become any type of world that you want it to be. Seventeen has climbed to new heights and started a new beginning together with the same goals.

Fallin’ Flower (Korean ver)

Previously a Japanese-only release, Fallin’ Flower tells us that despite the thorns and challenges, flowers will continue to bloom. Even though flowers die and flower petals fall to the ground, they are light enough to float into the air, showing Seventeen is finding the hope needed to face a new beginning for themselves regardless of the circumstances.

CHEERS

A hype song featuring the 3 SVT leaders of each unit where they revisit the past, the challenges they had to overcome, and say “cheers” to their present success and their unknown future. Many of the lyrics include comments that were made to them during their career and the acknowledgment that they came from the basement (literally) but have now built themselves up to new heights.