On April 25, 2016, SEVENTEEN released their first full-length album, LOVE&LETTER, and the music video for title track “Pretty U.” Like they have since their debut, many of the members of SEVENTEEN contributed to the lyrics, composition, and production of the album, with Woozi holding the most credits across the board. A repackage of LOVE&LETTER was released on July 4, 2016, with “VERY NICE” serving as the title track.

The Music Video

The music video for “Pretty U” opens with Mingyu, Joshua, DK, and The8 pulling into an empty warehouse with equipment strapped to the top of their car before switching to Hoshi, Jun, Jeonghan, Dino, and S.Coups spray painting an elevator and stairwell with the group’s name; meanwhile, Seungkwan, Vernon, Wonwoo, and Woozi cause general havok elsewhere for the sake of fun. The music video mostly shows the members goofing off, showing a level of comfort with each other that’s refreshing and sucks the viewer into their energy. The colors are muted for the most part, though there are scenes where we’re treated to bright lights and neon colors, especially in the scene where they’re pushed around in shopping carts while holding sparklers.

SEVENTEEN also released a dance practice and a part switch version for “Pretty U.” While it’s no secret that member Hoshi plays an integral part when it comes to SEVENTEEN’s choreographies, it is interesting that he choreographed at least part of “Pretty U” while the boys were sitting on a couch at a restaurant.

The Comeback Performances

SEVENTEEN had their comeback on M!COUNTDOWN on April 28, 2016, where they performed “Pretty U” and “Chuck.” For their performances of “Chuck” and “Pretty U,” SEVENTEEN wore casual and comfortable outfits, with members wearing a mixture of jean jackets, hoodies, cardigans, and opened button-up shirts paired with sneakers and jeans or shorts. The outfits were able to accomplish two things for both performances: for “Chuck,” the darker-colored casual wear gave them an edge while the brighter-colored outfits for “Pretty U” gave them a softness, but both sets of outfits made sure that SEVENTEEN had a full range of mobility to perform their brilliant choreography. All of the music show appearances for this comeback were stunning, but truly one of the high points of them was Seungkwan’s high note right before that final chorus, hitting it for all performances.

The Legacy

Almost a year to the day after the group debuted, SEVENTEEN took home their first music show win, earning first place on May 4, 2016 for “Pretty U” on Show Champion. The following week, they’d go on to win first place on Show Champion again. Needless to say, the members were emotional as they took the stage for their encore performance after their first win, with many members unable to sing as they tried to come to terms with the fact that all of their hard work had paid off.

 LOVE&LETTER peaked at No. 1 on the Gaon Weekly Album Chart, No. 3 on the Billboard U.S. World Albums Chart, No. 5 on the Billboard U.S. Heatseekers Albums Chart, No. 42 on the Billboard U.S. Independent Albums Chart, and No. 45 on the Billboard Korea K-Pop Hot 100. 

“Pretty U” peaked at No. 11 on the Gaon Weekly Digital Chart, No. 5 on the Gaon Weekly Download Chart, and No. 44 on the Gaon Weekly Streaming Chart. It also appeared on the Billboard U.S. World Digital Song Sales Chart, peaking at No.4. Tracks “Still Lonely,” “Say Yes,” “Drift Away,” “Chuck,” “Love Letter,” and “Hit Song” also appeared on the Gaon Weekly Download Chart, peaking at No. 71, No. 75, No. 77, No. 86, No. 87, and No. 92 respectively. “Adore U” was another popular song for SEVENTEEN on the Billboard charts, as it also appeared on the Billboard U.S. World Digital Songs Sales Chart, peaking at No. 13.

At the end-of-year awards, SEVENTEEN was nominated for “Popularity Award - Music” and “Best Star Award - Music” at the Asia Artist Awards, taking home the trophy for the latter. The group also took home the “Popular Singer Award” at the Asia Model Awards. At the Gaon Music Awards, SEVENTEEN were nominated for “New Artist of the Year,” “World Rookie Award,” and “Album of the Year – 3rd Quarter” for their 2015 mini-album Boys Be, leaving with the “World Rookie Award.” At the Golden Disc Awards, SEVENTEEN was nominated for four awards—“Disc Bonsang” for Boys Be, “Best New Artist,” “Popularity Award (Korea),” and “Global Popularity Award”— and won “Best New Artist.” In the following year, SEVENTEEN was once again nominated for “Disc Bonsang,” but this time for LOVE&LETTER, and won.

SEVENTEEN and “Pretty U” were nominated at the 2016 Melon Music Awards for “MBC Music Star Award” and “Best Dance – Male,” with the group taking home the former. The boy group was nominated for a slew of awards at the Mnet Asian Music Awards as well, including “Album of the Year” for LOVE&LETTER, “Song of the Year” for “Pretty U,” and “World Performer Award,” with the group taking home that final award. Rounding out the list of award nominations, at the Seoul Music Awards, SEVENTEEN was nominated for “Bonsang Award,” “Popularity Award,” “Hallyu Special Award,” and “New Artist Award.” The boys won the “New Artist Award.” 

Even after six years, “Pretty U” remains on SEVENTEEN’s setlist, and why shouldn’t it? With a history as meaningful as this, and with so many highs and firsts for the group, it’s a reminder to Carats that SEVENTEEN remembers them, remembers where they came from, and are still celebrating all of these wonderful memories to this day.