FEATURE
13 ways to fall in love with SEVENTEEN
A guide to SEVENTEEN for CUBIC who aren’t sure where to start with their YouTube search
2022.07.27
Credit
Article. Song Hooryeong
Photo Credit. PLEDIS Entertainment

SEVENTEEN debuted in 2015 but continue to sell more and more with every new album they release. Face the Sun, their latest album, has already sold 2.06 million copies. It’s safe to say, then, that more people are discovering SEVENTEEN’s music, performances, music videos and the joys of watching their antics on GOING SEVENTEEN and MMTG on YouTube while sitting down to eat and becoming CARAT even now. And it’s even more likely lately, what with the release of their album, their ongoing concerts and now the release of their repackaged album SECTOR 17 all happening simultaneously. So, without further ado, here are 13 things that new CARAT can look for on YouTube to get closer to SEVENTEEN by checking out their music, dances, episodes of GOING SEVENTEEN and everything in between.

SEVENTEEN’s appearance on Killing Voice

Opening with “Adore U” and closing with an encore of “VERY NICE,” SEVENTEEN’s appearance on dingo’s Killing Voice series is essentially an online mini-concert and a comprehensive overview of what makes the group so appealing. Just one month after the video was uploaded, it already had more than 10 million views. The video is a good demonstration of the fun SEVENTEEN has during their performances, like their energetic reactions during “MANSAE” (“Vernon, let’s go!” “S.COUPS, let’s do it!”), all their voices belting out the lyrics to “Our dawn is hotter than day” in unison and HOSHI suddenly asking WONWOO, “How are you feeling?” as they start to sing “Don’t Wanna Cry” and the other members try not to laugh. The video is likewise a testament to the affection they all have for one another, as can be seen when DINO sings the opening of “Snap Shoot” while DK and MINGYU watch on in amazement and VERNON chucks a thumbs up his way. But even with everything else going on, the absolute highlight of SEVENTEEN’s appearance on Killing Voice is their enduring energy that comes from their incredible skill. The group sings a medley of “CLAP,” “Left & Right” and “HOT,” chanting, “everybody clap, clap, clap, clap” all together, and they all move their shoulders to the rhythm as they sing, “left and right.” It’s exciting to watch S.COUPS kick off “HOT” with, “DK, let’s go!” followed by DK’s cool vocals (“No night just day, the sky scorched red”). Even though it’s only a 20-minute video, it feels like sitting through a full SEVENTEEN concert, right down to the typical encore of “VERY NICE.” Can’t you imagine how fun it must be to go there in person?

SEVENTEEN’s never-ending “VERY NICE”

The never-ending “VERY NICE” is when a SEVENTEEN concert seems to go on indefinitely while repeating an encore of “VERY NICE.” Recorded in 2018, the ending of the 13th episode of GOING SEVENTEEN SPIN-OFF, “SEVENTEEN and CARAT’s IDEAL CUT” (27:32–28:22) is a short but frantic fragment of their concert that feels like something straight out of a rock festival. This event is so popular that it even spawned a saying: “‘VERY NICE’ isn’t over till it’s over.” So, if you’re new to CARAT and seeing a SEVENTEEN concert for the first time, make sure you’re prepared for a marathon. In fact, at the Seoul leg of their BE THE SUN concert, SEUNGKWAN, otherwise known as the drill sergeant of “VERY NICE,” could be seen singling out a seated fan, apparently tired out from the never-ending “VERY NICE.” That’s why CARAT say “fitness training for their concerts is a must” and that “‘VERY NICE’ is a prison you want to escape from but also want to be pulled back into.” But keep one thing in mind: Once you get pulled into a never-ending “VERY NICE,” don’t let your guard down until you see the subway timetable pop up on the stage screen.

SEVENTEEN’s self-made content

SEVENTEEN’s system of self-production is a pivotal part of their group in which the members take organic control of every step of the process from writing, composition, putting on performances and making plans for themselves. The members of SEVENTEEN have been producing their own group since their debut. They now not only plan and produce their songs and choreography—that is, the things they do on stage—but even their own original series and music videos. Episode 27 of the 2019 season of GOING SEVENTEEN (“THE SECRET LIFE OF GOING SEVONG #1”) marks the beginning of SEVENTEEN Monthly, a project brought to life by the members’ own ideas. Legendary GOING SEVENTEEN episodes, like Insomnia-Zero (March 2020) and Four Wheeled Rider (June 2020) were all born out of the project. MINGYU personally shot and edited the “Snap Shoot” music video to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the group’s debut, which was well received for the locations and styles that were expertly selected for each member. The video for “Holiday,” which WONWOO directed, likewise captures SEVENTEEN at their most essential, showing the members in their everyday lives. CARAT say just watching these two videos fills them with happiness, and have left comments like, “You can tell there’s a lot of affection among the group members,” and, “The natural, laid-back atmosphere in these videos is so SEVENTEEN-ish.” SEVENTEEN’s approach remains sincere thanks to their system of self-production, which ensures that the members use their full understanding of their own group and are directly involved in the entire process. In other words, SVT makes SVT.

​SEVENTEEN’s unit reverse
SEVENTEEN’s concerts have the never-ending “VERY NICE,” and their fan meeting events, called CARAT LAND, have what’s called a unit reverse. A unit reverse is a signature event at CARAT LAND where the units of SEVENTEEN perform each other’s songs. It’s a fun event that’s unique to SEVENTEEN thanks to all the unit songs they have released, both on albums and otherwise. Many CARAT take the unit reversals seriously; some saw the recent “CHEERS” music video released by SVT LEADERS (S.COUPS, HOSHI and WOOZI) and said, “Even though I haven’t seen the leaders perform this song live yet, I’m already eager to see a unit reverse.” The fifth episode of the 2019 season of GOING SEVENTEEN, called “CARAT LAND BEHIND,” gives a taste of these unit reverse performances and shows off each unit in turn. The group’s passion for the performances is clear in the INSIDE SEVENTEEN behind-the-scenes video for the unit reverse at SEVENTEEN in CARAT LAND. Most notably, the vocal team performs the hip hop unit’s song “Check-In” in a style reminiscent of a five-person comedy routine after intense preparation. Cheeky changes to the lyrics (“Check-in LA city, BCD Tofu House!”) and a game where one member at random has to wear a chicken costume make the performance a fun and legendary unit reverse.
​SEVENTEEN’s summer songs
Summer is surely the season of SEVENTEEN, and the season to share in SEVENTEEN’s songs! For anyone tired of the exhausting midsummer heat, two song recommendations come to mind: “A-TEEN,” which encourages us to live in the moment because “we are the one and only and we are the summer,” and “Holiday” (“though it’s not a place with a coconut and palm trees,” it’s fine because “anywhere with you is paradise”). Flipping over to something a little spicier is SEVENTEEN’s performance of “Call Call Call!” in 2019 at Summer Sonic, a major Japanese rock festival. Even though it was hot enough that you can practically feel the heat coming off the video, the group was so energetic and into their performance that it spawned countless fancam focus videos and is still talked about to this day. But the group also has songs that go perfect with breezy summer nights after the midday heat has all dissipated. Why not fall deep into a midsummer night’s dream with “Heaven’s Cloud” (“it’s always summer night with you and me”) or “Our dawn is hotter than day” (“between countless stars and grains of sand … let’s engrain ourselves in the summer night”)? As you can see, SEVENTEEN’s summer songs have you covered from day till night. And, as they say, it goes “spring, SEVENTEEN, autumn, winter.”
SEVENTEEN’s memes

SEVENTEEN self-produces so many memes that they’ve been labelled a meme machine and been the subject of “memecyclopedia” videos. The group’s self-made memes include singibangi bboongbbongbangi, which took the K-pop scene by storm in late 2021. The origin story goes something like this: The date was November 5, 2021. JEONGHAN declared “singibangi bboongbbongbangi” a trendy phrase and asked CARAT to spread it far and wide through Weverse comments. Later that month, on the 26th, he and SEUNGKWAN devised the full phrase—bagibagi chadolbagi singibangi bboongbbongbangi—on V LIVE (“Let’s Just Eat”). The meme then spread to numerous idols, including SUNOO from ENHYPEN, BAEKHO from NU’EST, Weeekly and MIRAE, leading to the so-called Great K-pop Universe Unification. The incident ultimately ended with JEONGHAN issuing a heartfelt apology (though with mischief in his eyes) to his colleagues, who suffered at the hands of the singibangi bboongbbongbangi trend. As usual, the world revolves around JEONGHAN. But singibangi bboongbbongbangi only scratches the surface of the SEVENTEEN memecyclopedia. Thanks to the great chemistry between the group members, they generate laughs just by being together, and they’re constantly churning out new memes. It helps to know their memes in advance when you watch their variety shows so you can catch the hidden jokes. For instance, they use “What do you guys think?” to tease each other by pretending to solicit opinions, or “artists can’t help themselves” (or “ACHT”) when they want to show how passionate they’re feeling. 

​SEVENTEEN’s dance formations
The dynamic formations in SEVENTEEN’s performances act like the setting of a novel, behaving as a cornerstone on top of which to layer the narrative to create a sense of wholeness. At the beginning of “Fallin’ Flower,” each member of SEVENTEEN becomes a flower petal who together become a beautiful, blooming flower. The members waver from side to side with arms raised to give the appearance of petals flittering in the wind. By showing a flower in full bloom as the performance opens, it relates with the lyrics that tell of meeting again after a flower withers. Another must-watch performance is when they staged “24H” at the 2020 edition of SBS Gayo Daejeon. SEVENTEEN makes good use of all 13 of their members in the performance, showing off many different dynamic formations. Around the 1:33 mark, 12 of them lie on the floor to represent the numbers on a clock face, while they take turns being the remaining member who dances solo in the circle the others have formed. It’s a very immersive display for the audience and really sets the mood when HOSHI is in the middle singing, “Time is not the same for everyone,” or when THE 8 switches in and sings, “All those times are short to me.” At the climax of the performance, WOOZI sings, “For 24 hours I want you more,” while the others surround him in jumping rotations one by one, capturing exactly the way the hour hand goes around the clock to show the passage of time, but here envisioned as a dance. This is exactly the kind of choreography only SEVENTEEN can pull off, with all 13 members playing their parts in perfectly executed formations.

SEVENTEEN’s MBTIs

When the group took MBTI tests in 2019 in the “MBTI of SVT” episode of GOING SEVENTEEN, they found four members of the group were INFPs, two were ENFPs, three were INFJs, three more were ENFJs and one was an ISFJ. Surprisingly, every member was found to be an F, and all 13 of them fell under just five classifications. Three years later, in 2022, they took the test again on an episode titled “Know Thyself.” This time they took the tests posing as one another, and all but three of them received a different result. The MBTI distribution in the group is now much more diverse, with more Ts (nine) than Fs (four) and nine different types total. In episode 154 of You Quiz on the Block, novelist Kim Young-ha suggested that people answer the questions on MBTI tests with a certain idea of themselves in mind, but that you can ask someone who knows you well to take the test in your place instead and then compare the results to gain a more nuanced understanding of yourself. The way SEVENTEEN took their MBTI tests allows us to see how the members view one another. HOSHI, for example, says JOSHUA remains calm when angry; MINGYU knows about JEONGHAN’s propensity for planning; SEUNGKWAN says JUN gives emotional support when he goes to JUN with his concerns. This makes it possible to guess what kind of personality each member of the group has and what role each of them plays within it. Some of them are focused on succeeding, while others value living a life without resistance and going with the flow. This combination of different personalities creates one connected team where all 13 members respect and complement one another and their traits.

​SEVENTEEN’s dance breaks
SEVENTEEN is the epitome of lockstep group choreography, and their performances at year-end awards ceremonies are no exception. For these performances, the group rearranges their songs to include new dance breaks to add an engaging twist to already fantastic shows. For their performance of “VERY NICE” at MMA 2016, the group members each wore solid suits of either black or white and put on a sophisticated dance break in perfect synchronous on a white staircase topped off a laser light show. In cases like “VERY NICE,” the group use’s their dance breaks as opportunities to add a further challenge to their existing performances that contrasts with the nature of the songs, but they also sometimes lean into the original intention behind the song and build on top of it to make it even more fun for the audience, like when they performed “Crush” at KBS Song Festival or “Anyone” at AAA in 2021. In “Crush,” they open with the dance break to draw the audience in from the intro, singing, “You are my crush, I got a crush on you.” By contrast, the dance break for “Anyone” forms the climax at the end of the song: Everyone is dressed in racing suits, and the way their choreography makes it look like they’re sprinting around makes for an explosively energetic highlight.
​CARAT’s self-made content
If SEVENTEEN and CARAT were to be described in one phrase, it would be “self-produced idols and their talented and crafty fans.” CARAT’s long history with self-made goods began in earnest with Heng:garæ and the included DIY kits and the weaving kit that was included with ; [Semicolon]. After that, the group distributed a SVT Audio Kit for their “Rock with you” comeback and another for “HOT,” giving CARAT total freedom to reinterpret the singles by working with the audio sources themselves. The group even released a sogo as part of their official merchandise lineup after the small drum became wildly popular on episode 25 of GOING SEVENTEEN 2020, “THE 8 and the 12 Shadows,” and held a sogo decorating contest for fans. CARAT said that “SEVENTEEN got me on board with sogo decoration because they even made their own cheering supplies” and got to work decorating their sogos to match their own tastes.
​SEVENTEEN’s covers
SEVENTEEN has always gone all out for their covers. They rearrange the original songs to suit their own style and reinterpret the choreography in the same way. At the girl group dance medley they performed at the 2016 SBS Awards Festival Gayo Daejeon, they created a seamless performance of Girls’ Generation’s “Into the New World,” Lee Hyori’s “U-Go-Girl” and S.E.S.’s “(’Cause) I’m Your Girl” to fit SEVENTEEN’s style. Their cover video of BoA’s “No.1” showcases SEVENTEEN’s beautiful vocals and perfectly synchronized choreography, and fans still call it “a video I keep coming back to regularly after all these years” and boast about how their “polished movements are better than any other cover.” What really makes their covers shine is their attitude—taking every performance seriously and a constant desire to do their best. During their fan meeting event SEVENTEEN in CARAT LAND earlier this year, the group held an event where each member had to perform a song they were in no way suited for. But even then they didn’t treat it as a joke, instead practicing hard for the performances. MINGYU covered “Bon voyage,” WONWOO did “DUMB DUMB” and DINO performed “LALISA,” and they were all received favorably by CARAT, who said the songs “suit them better than expected” and that “SEVENTEEN can do anything they set their minds to.” They pulled a SEVENTEEN once again.

SEVENTEEN’s rings

Every member of SEVENTEEN wears an identical ring on his pinky finger, and they all have a visible mark on their fingers since they promised to wear the rings at all times. The rings have since become a key symbol of the group, starting with the first set they received before their debut in 2015 and the new designs that accompany each of their album releases. In a special video from 2019 titled “SEVENTEEN NEW RINGS CEREMONY,” the SEVENTEEN members all put new rings on one another’s fingers, and though they look a little shy about it, the video is very uplifting and they all say good words for the future ahead of them. Another video, titled “SEVENTEEN NEW RINGS CEREMONY: The Sun Rises,” was filmed for their fifth set of rings to commemorate the release of their fourth album. In it, the 13 members explain their ambitions to CARAT, promising to continue sharing their music and their message with the world together. This most precious symbol of SEVENTEEN and their beginnings is still shining on all 13 pinkies after seven years.

SEVENTEEN’s fan songs
In the Weverse Magazine article “A refreshing playlist of SEVENTEEN’s recommendations,” VERNON said that “you could call any of SEVENTEEN’s songs fan dedication songs, since they’re all written for CARAT.” SEVENTEEN’s songs often contain messages of love, support and consolation for an unnamed “you.” Following on what VERNON said, that person in their songs is the listener, and their songs are the group’s way of showing love and support toward CARAT. SEVENTEEN’s sincere love for CARAT is on display in songs like “Run to you” (“Please wait there / I’m running even though I’m out of breath”) and “To you” (“If there’s everlasting love in the whirlwind, it’s you”). SEVENTEEN never speaks indirectly to CARAT, like when they sing to them in “Together”: “Even if the world turns upside down, we walk straight without losing our way.” They give their heart in “Pinwheel” (“Circle back and come visit me again”) and that sincerity comes back as trust in “Circles” (“It’ll be okay / It’ll spin like a clock’s needle and come back to its place”). SEVENTEEN’s songs always eventually circle back in an echo facing CARAT.
Copyright © Weverse Magazine. All rights reserved.
Unauthorized reproduction and distribution prohibited.
Read More