The members of SEVENTEEN go hard in their performance of “Ready to Love,” the lead single off their album Your Choice released in June, without a moment’s pause to catch their breath. Each looking off in their own directions and sometimes moving out of step from one another, the members come together at the point they awaken to their own feelings with lyrics like “just friends that’s not enough” and “first time feeling my heart race.” As the beat falls heavy as a hard-pumping heart, they stare straight ahead to declare they’re “ready to love” and break into an all-out group dance. SEVENTEEN point out the object of their affections directly as they face “you,” the listener, and pull audiences into the performance’s storyline. The “Ready to Love” performance reveals the audience to be the one that’s kept the artist going, and the reason they can keep going strong, solidifying the audience as a part of the story.

At the end of the song, S.COUPS sings, “I want to run for you,” and runs offstage, only to return at the end of “Anyone,” walking straight to the front of the stage. “The opening to ‘Power of Love’ had to be the leader alone,” Yoon Hye Lim, leader of PLEDIS’ performance directing team, said. “There was no disagreement between the members and the choreography team that S.COUPS should be the one to wrap the song up.” SEVENTEEN have rarely described the word “love” so explicitly in their lyrics, so when they set it up to stand out in the title of their lead single, and S.COUPS, as general leader, runs toward “you,” only then is the performance fully justified. In that sense, the group’s performance is on par with “storyshowing.” This may be one of the reasons musicals that combine drama and acting come to mind for many people when they watch SEVENTEEN’s performances: They tell through song, and show through performance.

The performances that SEVENTEEN is now creating are not at all removed from the “self-producing” method they have pursued since before their debut. For the group whose members are directly involved in every part of their process, from production to composition, lyrics and choreography, performance is a self-documenting creation and a means of communication. A perfect example of this unique approach is “Shining Diamond,” with a performance created entirely by HOSHI, music composed by WOOZI, and lyrics written by WOOZI, S.COUPS and VERNON before their debut. “I wanted to break out from the square frame of the stage and show people a new, wider view,” HOSHI said. Because the members take on various rolls—performers on the stage, assistants off, audience, and judges—SEVENTEEN’s performances don’t end at the limits of the stage. As soon as they sing, “Let me show you how / It’s supposed to be done right now,” the members unite as a group, and using “enough time and pressure” to gain a foothold, they leap up high to become a brilliantly shining, and yet solid, diamond. “I grew a lot creating performances with teams when I was a trainee and performing them for examinations,” HOSHI explained. “I edited the song somehow while talking it over with DINO, even though I’m not at all tech-savvy, and MINGYU, who was on a different team, helped out by flicking the lights on and off at the right times.” As they are both the performers and writers for SEVENTEEN, they know the group better than anyone else, and the performances they come up with reflect that.

“WOOZI is a great dancer,” HOSHI went on, “so he makes unbelievable dance songs. Dancers know exactly the right moment to light things up. When I have an image in my head of what we should do on stage and explain it, WOOZI catches on and turns it into a detailed song.” A shared in-depth understanding of their songs and choreography allows SEVENTEEN to create polished performances, while their accumulated experience on the stage results in creative achievements in turn. One such example can be seen in their 2018 MAMA performance of “Getting Closer,” which was released early for the event. “With ‘Home’ already chosen as the lead single for the next album,” WOOZI explained, “Getting Closer” had “started from the idea that it would be good to emphasize the performance as the main point, since it’s SEVENTEEN’s strength.” Once the concept was in place, HOSHI showed them a video from a dance competition that embodied the feeling he wanted to portray on the stage, at which point WOOZI and producer BUMZU became inspired and rearranged the track HOSHI had previously written. “It’s SEVENTEEN’s creation,” HOSHI said. “A lot of good ideas come to us, even when we’re just goofing around. We toss ideas around freely, deciding what we’ll do on stage, saying, This isn’t too serious, this is good, that makes sense,” he elaborated. “To be honest, self-production was never a big deal for us,” WOOZI added. “If I look back now, it’s just kids being cute with each other and messing around. But I think it’s safe to say, given the things we were making, even at that young age, we were looking at things somewhat professionally when it came to creating things, like it was a regular part of life.”

When the group debuted, “it was a time when strong, dark-sounding music was popular, but I didn’t think it suited our group, SEVENTEEN,” WOOZI recalled. He had helped to produce their debut album, 17 CARAT, as well as the composition, lyrics and arrangement of “Adore U” from the same album. “The 13 members of our group were strong enough to endure the harsh trainee life, but at the same time, they were really bright and full of laughter. I thought we should be showing off that kind of charm, and that’s when I made ‘Adore U.’ ” The performance for “Adore U,” then, is more than just a song about a young boy cautiously expressing his innermost feelings—it also shows off who SEVENTEEN, this group performing it, really is. Once that boy makes audiences curious about SEVENTEEN, the song continues to introduce the group, drawing the audience’s attention where needed, as when S.COUPS lies down as though he’s fainted and HOSHI performs CPR, or when WONWOO pushes JUN’s shoulder as if embarrassed, or when DINO lifts JOSHUA into the air. Not only does the performance make good use of the team’s many members as a strength to create something spectacular, it also fleshes out the members as three-dimensional characters on stage, leaving an imprint of their individuality and relationships on the viewers despite the short timeframe. HOSHI said that “meeting [choreographer Choi] Youngjun allowed us to create a distinctive performance that caught us off guard with moves like lying down on the ground, while still having wide appeal.” Yoon, the performance directing head, explained that “the chemistry between SEVENTEEN, who had a clear vision of what they wanted to do on stage since even before their debut, and choreographer Choi Youngjun, was amazing from the outset. If Mr. Choi gave them 100 new challenges, the members managed 100 and then some, with a desire to do even more.”

After the first broadcast of “Adore U,” SEVENTEEN added variations to the performance with new moves imitative of bowling, tug-of-war, a concert, and soccer. The members, who at that time put their heads together three or four hours at a time throughout those eight weeks to come up with original moves, could conjure fresh ideas on the spot by the time they were working on “Left & Right,” supporting one another and sharing high fives. According to WOOZI, “during that time, CARAT liked ‘Adore U’ a lot and the general public was into it as well, so there were times we felt a bit obligated to make those parts. I think now we feel free to change things in an instant thanks to those times, like, Should we give this a try?” As though they were growing up together, SEVENTEEN’s performances continue on organically, sharing their life and their trajectory.

“There’s a feeling like we need to tell our story,” WOOZI said. “Like, It’s time for us to do it this way now.” The group knows what kind of performance they should make “depending on how SEVENTEEN is feeling at the moment.” In “Don’t Wanna Cry,” when S.COUPS tells himself “this road is unfamiliar,” the members become streetlights and light the way for him. “WOOZI and BUMZU worked on the song all night, then I got it and choreographed it with Youngjun,” HOSHI said. “And then when I went back home as the sun started coming up, I could feel it, even though I didn’t talk about it—that our members really respected that.” He explained how the dance moves came to him after he stayed in the practice studio till dawn and saw the streetlights turn out one by one as he made his way home. WOOZI said that, “it’s hard to explain, but ‘Don’t Wanna Cry’ is a very high-quality performance, in a different way. The reason HOSHI, Youngjun and I all chose ‘Don’t Wanna Cry’ is that we share the feeling that only people who’ve pushed themselves can know,” adding, “We’ve been together a long time, especially HOSHI, so we get along well, musically speaking. Because he sees it from the view of a dancer, the concept of which parts of the music can bring out the dance moves is embedded in his whole body.”

“The later work on the performance is done by all the members in a free exchange of ideas in the practice studio,” according to Yoon. “And since SEVENTEEN has been practicing endlessly and they get together in the practice studio often, they don’t have to make time specifically—they just have brief meetings here and there and add to the performance as part of their daily routine.” On top of that, HOSHI says, “things that didn’t come into my mind when I came up with the choreography originally sometimes end up coming out better when the other members are around. Everyone’s good at learning dance moves, and they also chime in with new moves, asking things like, What if I raise my arms more? There’s lots of instances where the other members make things look better.”

“Fallin’ Flower,” originally a Japanese song and whose Korean language performance debuted at 2020 The Fact Music Awards and the 35th Golden Disc Awards, is another clear indicator of what SEVENTEEN is pursuing with their performances. In the song, the group calls themselves flowers: It opens with JEONGHAN sprouting up and the boys, roots planted and stems and leaves outstretched, singing, “I wish you loved me sincerely the way I am,” at which point they become flower buds; the rising music subsides, leaving only JUN’s voice, and then it blooms in full and, finally, withers away. Even if it blooms only to die away moments later, it sends the message that the spirit spent on blooming was meaningful because he met “you.” And so they hold on dearly to the flitting petals in one hand as they “fall in,” even as they know themselves to be “falling.” Considering the members see all of SEVENTEEN’s songs and dances as existing for their fandom, CARAT, the performance can be viewed as an earnest love letter from the artists to their listeners; on stage, SEVENTEEN is always facing their fans. That’s why HOSHI chose their first performance of “MANSAE” back in 2015 as one of their best performances, recalling the climactic moment they ran out with arms outstretched to the deafening cheers of wide-eyed CARAT. The boys, once strangers to wearing their hearts on their sleeves, have already had to face feelings of sadness head-on, and now channel their emboldened spirit to bring comfort to others in their time of need by telling them it’s all right to rest for a while. But at the same time, they never stop preparing to bloom anew—for the day they’ll someday meet again.

SEVENTEEN has been going steady and strong since their debut. “I have no choice but to work hard,” WOOZI said. “This is something I’ve been sure of since I was a trainee. It’s the pride of SEVENTEEN. I’ll push myself to the very limit to be ready to perform.” Hearing this, HOSHI nodded and added his own thoughts. “There’s no one right answer. There’s times when you’re looking for something new in one place, but it appears in another. I don’t think there’s any way about it but to practice and study.” It’s from all that practice that their ideas spring up, full of thoughts on their lives and their relationship with their fandom, CARAT. The growth, relationships and life of the idols, all embodied in performances the members create together: This is the value SEVENTEEN brings to the K-pop world with their performances.