SEVENTEEN’s Youthful Vigor Shines in Heng:garae
K-Pop’s resident kings of funky fresh, SEVENTEEN, are back for the summer! Marking their triumphant return to the scene, the group’s newest EP Heng:garae and new single “Left & Right” celebrate the beauty and freedom of youth.
Left and Right, Left and Right
Recent comebacks like last September’s “Fear” saw SEVENTEEN move toward darker concepts. Though the group has undoubtedly mastered every genre and mood they’ve attempted, there’s little dispute that they shine their brightest when it comes to their “freshteen” roots. After all, SEVENTEEN’s infectious presence is hard to match, and it’s for this reason that tracks like “VERY NICE,” “Adore U,” and “Pretty U” are some of their most popular. Though their youthful fervor can be found in recent B-sides like “Snap Shoot,” their new title track “Left & Right” thrusts the group’s unparalleled zeal back into the spotlight.
Before its drop, press releases coined “Left & Right” as a 2000s hip-hop influenced song, but perhaps more accurately it can be described as a rollicking, modern-day line dance tune practically made to grace every platform of social media. The song has an impossibly catchy hook that will likely keep you up at night, but it’s one that will also have you dedicating hours of your time to learning the just-as-catchy choreography that goes along with it (there’s a reason the song has a corresponding #LeftnRightChallenge on TikTok). With repetitive English lyrics set against bright horn synths and a snappy hip-hop beat, the song is hard to dislike on principle, but if you’re looking to be impressed, look further than the chorus.
“Left & Right” opens with its namesake lines, but after a quick, much-missed “Seventeen!” namedrop courtesy of Vernon, the song immediately shifts into funkier territory with a verse from Jeonghan. The rappers quickly take the reigns, with Wonwoo’s melodic rapping opening to S.Coups’s hypnotizing verse, with Mingyu closing things out before the group’s main vocalists take charge. If there’s one thing SEVENTEEN has never been short on, it’s vocal power, and that’s what makes the build to the chorus one of the best parts of the song. The pre-chorus from DK and Seungkwan (later mirrored by The 8 and Hoshi, who impressively hold their own against the group’s powerhouse main vocalists) packs so much punch that it’s easy to miss the instrumentation below it upon first listen. Plug in some earphones, however, and you’ll hear funk guitars, heavy drum beats, and even some signature SEVENTEEN adlibs. While the chorus is catchy, it pales in comparison to the build before it, and Vernon’s punchy verse over bubbling percussion only makes this contrast more apparent (as does Seungkwan’s return as “Rapper Boo” in the following verse). The bridge takes much the same direction as the pre-chorus, with Joshua’s soft vocals paired against startling smooth synths before building with soaring vocals from Woozi and DK. The song ends with a pleasant surprise in the form of a fade-out guitar solo.
While “Left & Right” is a nice listen in its own right, the blaze-your-own-trail message behind it makes the song all the better. Amidst various dance scenes, this sentiment is echoed throughout the song’s music video such as when Joshua takes fate into his own hands by turning street signs pointing in different directions so that they all face the sky. Unfortunately, this ultimately leads to S.Coups’s handcrafted car-turned-rocket crash-landing as the remaining 12 members of SEVENTEEN watch relatively unbothered. Fear not, though; he rises from the rubble and bursts right back into the choreography, which brings about another important message from the song—failure is sometimes inevitable, and that’s okay.
The graffiti originally reads “DO YOUR BEST” before the members paint over it with the phrase “BUT MAYBE NOT SOMETIMES”
In honesty, “Left & Right” is just what summer 2020 needed. If the song’s infectious chorus doesn’t sink its fangs into you, SEVENTEEN’s charisma in the music video certainly will.
A Celebration of Youth
The album’s title comes from the Korean word 헹가래, a term used to describe the act of tossing someone up into the air in celebration. It’s this overflowing yet innocent euphoria that resonates throughout each track on the album, albeit in very different ways. While they have never shied away from experimenting with their sound (look no further than last year’s An Ode), Heng:garae proves the boys of SEVENTEEN still have even more tricks up their many, many sleeves.
SEVENTEEN’s very enthusiastic take on 헹가래 in the “Left & Right” music video
“Fearless,” a self-empowerment track powered by fierce guitar riffs and booming percussion, acts as a counter to the group’s last title song, “Fear.” As opposed to the lyrics of “Fear,” which sing of a toxic relationship, “Fearless” shows SEVENTEEN rising from the ashes. The song harkens back to “Fear” in several ways lyrically, perhaps most obviously in Joshua’s opening “Fear” lines being reworked to fit the “Fearless” narrative in Jeonghan’s part in the bridge. The choreography for the song even pulls from some of the group’s older performances, with parts from “Fear,” “Getting Closer,” and even “Good to Me” making appearances.
“Fearless” starts off boldly and “Left & Right” easily matches that energy; however, the third song on the album, “I Wish,” throws a curveball not only into the tracklist, but SEVENTEEN’s discography. The dazzling city-pop track is nothing like SEVENTEEN has attempted before and will have listeners seeing the boy group in a different light. Gone are the trap beats of today, replaced by a muted trumpet, disco vibes, and a light jazz flute. The song even sees the group’s rappers trading in their verses for soothing vocals; Vernon, who has admitted on more than one occasion that singing is not his strong suit, shines particularly well in the second chorus. On the same front, “I Wish” also has plenty of vocals from the group’s performance team members Hoshi, Jun, The 8, and Dino—something that is actually quite noticeable throughout the whole album. It’s widely accepted that SEVENTEEN are some of the best dancers the K-Pop industry has ever seen, but it’s not so commonly known that all 13 members—not just five members in the vocal unit—are great singers. “I Wish” is a refreshing reminder of this fact, even for some of the most diehard Carats.
The soft city atmosphere of “I Wish” coalesces into the summery, feel-good pre-release track, “My My.” Prior to the release of Heng:garae, the group dropped the music video for “My My,” an unapologetically bright song tinged with tropical vibes and vibrant synths. It’s the kind of lighthearted sound that fits SEVENTEEN like a glove, something that’s only furthered by clever lyrical work from songwriters Woozi, Vernon, S.Coups, and the group’s longtime partner-in-crime Bumzu. The music video somehow makes the already cheerful track even more fun, showing the boys building a boat which they use to sail to the sky. With the unbridled joy that 2020 so desperately needed, “My My” could’ve easily been Heng:garae’s title track—instead, it sits as the album’s not-so-hidden gem that proves SEVENTEEN has still got “it.”
“Kidult” is another surprise from the group in the form of a pop-rock ballad about balancing the feelings of youth and adulthood. Like much of the album, the track has an added layer of guitars instead of the group’s usual synth-driven sound (truth be told, the song doesn’t sound too far off from something that could be found on a DAY6 album). Although the song itself is enjoyable—the vocal runs courtesy of DK alone are enough to floor any listener—it’s the message behind “Kidult” that really pulls at the heartstrings. Primarily written by leader S.Coups, there’s a vulnerability in the lyrics that’s all-too-relatable to anyone who’s struggled to remain young at heart. “Kidult” is not the best song on the album, but it is undoubtedly going to be a very important song for plenty of fans.
Heng:garae ends on a bright note with “Together,” a song full of sparkling synths which most fans have agreed sounds like a sister track to SEVENTEEN’s “Run to You.” In an album that’s notably the first to not feature any unit songs, “Together”—perhaps unsurprisingly, based on its title—is the pinnacle of all 13 members coming together as one. It’s a good song that has some enjoyable moments like the sparse instrumentation in the bridge and final chorus, but it’s far from being SEVENTEEN’s best and regrettably leaves something to be desired as the closer of the album. Personally speaking, I would’ve liked to see their recently released ballad “Us, Again” end the predominantly upbeat album, although in the same breath I can easily admit that the emotionally wrought fan song feels all the more special knowing that it was not released officially.
It would be a stretch to say that Heng:garae is SEVENTEEN’s strongest album, but the release is easily a testament to the group’s staying power. Songs like “Left & Right” and “My My” prove they’re still masters of their trade, but tracks like “Kidult” and “I Wish” are evidence that they have yet to reach their final form as one of K-Pop’s current powerhouses. It’s a little scary how consistently well SEVENTEEN manages to deliver at this point, no matter which genre or concept they decide to dip their toes in. And for this reason, one thing is sure: Heng:garae feels like another step in a journey that SEVENTEEN has proved is far from over.