The world was first introduced to SEVENTEEN through SEVENTEEN TV, streamed live on Ustream from December 2012 for a total of five seasons spanning two years. In a previous interview with ize, PLEDIS Entertainment president Han Sung Soo explained the reality of their situation. “At the time there wasn’t really any way to get the word out about new artists who debuted at medium-sized agencies, let alone small ones,” he said, revealing that the purpose for making the show was “to get fans familiar with SEVENTEEN through the Internet before they debuted.” Performance was at the center of SEVENTEEN’s pre-debut broadcasts, which presented the members as trainees in a reality show format as they went through their training and various related activities. It shows the fresh-faced young boys huddled together in teams in the honeydew melon-colored practice studio and drawing up their own plans for the performances, practicing the choreography as they go and putting on passionate shows on a small stage. “Ever since we were trainees, we felt strongly that we were a team working together toward a performance, not facing each other as competitors,” WONWOO said, reflecting how SEVENTEEN’s unique three-unit structure—vocals, hip hop and performance—came about naturally in the process. As they worked on their performance, they were hyperaware that they were one team working toward their debut, not a group of competitors, and the units came about as everyone looked for ways to contribute to the team effort. From theme parks to hospitals, they began to perform in more and more unique places on LIKE SEVENTEEN, a series of concerts that aired on SEVENTEEN TV each season. As they planned out their own performances , the members were strengthening their teamwork and improving their skillsets. Although WOOZI became a trainee in 2011, he said he “worked past midnight the first day I showed up at the label, and from the first day until the day just before our debut, I practiced like I was about to debut a month later.” The members gathered together in a room on the roof of their home, made a song using only a MacBook and choreographed a dance to accompany the song, experiences that allowed the group to debut with a self-produced album. An Soyoung, head of the artist protocol team, who has been working with SEVENTEEN since before their debut, explained that the group had a history of experience with putting on performances since the beginning. “They performed for their fanbase, small though it was,” she said, “and we made sure they could get experience putting on different performances in different ways so that the members would progressively improve over time.” In other words, SEVENTEEN was born out of a process of self-improvement wherein they stretched the limits of the resources and budget at their disposal each time they worked on a performance. This is where SEVENTEEN’s long history of self-producing begins.

“I went to a famous composer at the time and got several songs from them,” PLEDIS production office head Kim Daun, who’s been with SEVENTEEN even before they debuted, said. “But when I watched the members perform them alongside the song the members wrote, ‘Adore U’ was objectively the best one,” emphasizing that the idea that they would be a self-producing group was not specifically laid out by the agency. “While thinking about what would suit the boys best, I found out they were able to compose songs, write the lyrics and make the choreography, which was the result of focusing on and encouraging those abilities.” WOOZI disclosed that he had made “Adore U” with the aim to make a song that best represented who SEVENTEEN is as a group, and the other members revealed the affection they have for their debut song. “I sang a song written by someone else, then sang ‘Adore U,’ and that’s when I felt it fit me like a glove. I became convinced that we should debut with the song we wrote.”

SEVENTEEN makes the songs, makes all the decisions, and makes plans about their performances and their direction accordingly. This perfectly encapsulates the group’s step-by-step approach. Ahead of SEVENTEEN’s debut, the members appeared on MBC MUSIC’s SEVENTEEN PROJECT: Debut Big Plan. Rather than fighting one another to make it into the debut group, the members all pulled together with a mind to perform a debut showcase that would meet the challenge. In the final “mixed unit” mission, the youngest member, DINO, is placed in charge of a team with leader S.COUPS, vocal leader WOOZI and himself. DINO has a fun idea to represent the meaning of the lyrics through the performance by using a gat, a traditional Korean hat, but a conflict arises when the other two members oppose the idea. After a long conversation, they find a good compromise: to feature the gat in one segment of the performance. SEVENTEEN’s self-production goes beyond what they make for inclusion on their albums; it’s more of a method of group-driven production, where all the members work together in a creative and decision-making process rooted in mutual trust. According to WONWOO, “Whenever we think of something, even if it’s small, we always tell the others and talk it over and make a decision together,” and that particular method of self-producing has a direct effect on the final product, to the point that there have even been heated talks around changing a lead single as late as the day before shooting its music video. The members were fiercely split between “CLAP,” the eventual lead single, and “Without You,” another song off the album, but finally arrived at a decision by a majority vote. “We go through this process as a group dozens of times while making an album,” said WOOZI, identifying the core of SEVENTEEN’s album-making process. “We’re honest no matter what our opinion is, so we find what suits us best and that leads to the best result.”

“I’ve always thought that what makes SEVENTEEN so unique is our ability to always show a different side to ourselves,” said JUN, singling out “the charm of the units and the individuals in SEVENTEEN” as their most remarkable point. The 13 members come together with their unique traits and personalities to form three units focused on specific skills to create individual orders and flows that are reflected in the final product. “The hip hop team’s songs tend to reflect a lot of the members’ personal tastes,” S.COUPS explained. “And we respect one another’s tastes while moving forward, since we can’t always line up perfectly. It feels like each album touches on a fusion of all our specialties.” He used the song “GAM3 BO1” as a case in point: VERNON is a particular fan of the genre, so it’s no surprise how well the song turned out given how elated he had looked discussing it with the other members. The performance team, meanwhile, begins by placing all their focus on the dance. “The four of us in the team first talk about the dancing,” HOSHI said. “We usually figure out what kind of feeling we want the dance to give off first, then decide the genre based on that.” The members of the vocal team had a good laugh after this earnest explanation, explaining how, for their unit, inspiration comes to them over team dinners. “We tend to come up with a lot more ideas when we’re eating together and laughing and having a good time than when we’re at work,” JEONGHAN said about the vocal team’s process. “We often say something like, ‘What should we try this time?’ and then, ‘This and that would be good.’ I think I’m able to respect these guys so much because I trust them more than I trust myself.” In the middle of the interview, S.COUPS said he still ends up “holding my breath when we all watch a playback of our choreography together and it gets to my part because I’m afraid I’ll be criticized” the other members, feeling the same, broke into a bout of sympathetic laughter. “We’re always bickering with one another that they’re off their mark,” SEUNGKWAN said, laughing. “It’s through that process that our performances come to be,” WONWOO added in a low voice, locating the reason SEVENTEEN’s abilities steadily improve.

The first week of sales of SEVENTEEN’s 2015 debut album, 17 CARAT, reached 1,600 copies. Fast-forward five years to June 2020, and their seventh mini album, Heng:garæ, surpassed one million copies in first-week sales. When they were trainees, SEVENTEEN would perform for just 30 audience members; but the group had a stadium tour planned for Japan before the pandemic hit. The group’s growing external success is fueled by their continually improving self-production skills. By taking their own direction and deciding on the themes for each of their albums and bringing those ideas to the stage, the songs quickly became a medium through which to update fans on their group’s development. “I still have fond memories of being in the US for an extended period for songwriting camp and making our album Al1 and filming music videos,” said JOSHUA, and the other members cited 2017 as among the most transformative years for SEVENTEEN since their debut as well. The title of the album A/1 released in May 2017 that means both “All” and “All one”, the 13 rings the members left behind, and individual teasers all portray loneliness and sadness the members feel when they are alone. The studio album that followed, TEEN, AGE, put forth SEVENTEEN’s method of self-production as its central theme. Starting with “CHANGE UP”—a song recorded by the three unit leaders—and followed by songs from the hip hop, performance and vocal teams respectively, a series of songs were released in advance of the album to prove what each unit could do for SEVENTEEN as a whole, finally culminating with the release of the lead single, “CLAP,” in which everyone synergizes as one group for a music video that emphasizes the idea of self-production. The members challenged themselves with a new format for the October 2020 special album ; [Semicolon] by forming new units based on their ages. “The three of us tried to fill in every little detail using just the feelings we had in our minds,” DK said. “We came up with the key words quickly, like, We’re friends, so, Hey Buddy. Oh, not bad!” He explained how the subject matter for the song made by the unit composed of members born in 1997 was conceived out of affection for friends. The work that emerged from their relationships was a new source of inspiration for them. DINO worked with the unit made up of the youngest members and explained the bond between them, saying that “it was lots of fun working with VERNON and SEUNGKWAN for the first time. I felt really comfortable when we were recording together and goofing around, and it meant a lot to me to have that chance to see how having fun can lead to better results.”

SEVENTEEN’s self-producing becomes more and more meaningful thanks to the teamwork and free exchange of opinions between the group’s members. “I used to think that self-production meant making SEVENTEEN’s albums and performances ourselves, but now I think it’s about managing everyone’s opinions and reflecting them to better suit the image and identity of the team, including the fine details like clothing, sets and music videos.” Like MINGYU says, content in the K-pop industry is highly advanced across many different areas, and SEVENTEEN’s collectively produced content reflects their present moment, as a part of this industry. Naturally, many staff members are there to help with their work, but SEVENTEEN’s “MADE BY SVT” slogan emphasizes the collective nature of their production and forms the basis for the group to preserve their identity despite all the changes they’ve undergone between “Adore U” and “Ready to love.”