SEVENTEEN Ignite a New and Daring Identity with Face the Sun
The lineup of annual K-Pop summer comebacks isn’t complete without the presence of SEVENTEEN, whose previous summertime hits including “아주 Nice”, “Oh My!” and “Left & Right” were as refreshing as a sip of ice cold lemonade on a hot day. After three years since their last full album “An Ode” in 2019, the self-producing idols returned on May 27 with a full album consisting of nine tracks, including a title track that courageously competes with the scorching summer sun.
Warming Up with an English Pre-Release Single
As a prelude to their fourth full studio album, SEVENTEEN released the single “Darl+ing” on April 15, a month before the official comeback. Notably, “Darl+ing” is also the group’s first English song as a collective, aside from other previous English works from member and main composer Woozi with his solo “Ruby” and American members Joshua and Vernon’s pop-punk duet “2 MINUS 1.”
“Darl+ing”’s sweet sounding melody and earth tone color palette are easy on both the ears and eyes. The track’s charming title, named after an endearment term towards a loved one, was a love letter to CARATs all around the world. In the Peter Pan-esque music video with warm color accents, released alongside the single, the 13 members were seen frolicking in a reed field to a synth soft beat. The choice of synth for “Darl+ing” fits the beatific vibes of the song. Main vocalists DK and Seungkwan stun with their falsettos during both chorus build-ups of the song. Produced by member Woozi, who is no stranger to using anti-drops in SEVENTEEN’s previous music (like title track “Home” from their sixth mini-album and Japanese single “24H”), the dynamic pre-chorus of “Darl+ing” goes into a floaty chorus with yearning lyrics that contrast the gentle and airy main chorus. The overall song is pretty like the springtime, and the vibrant music video transitioned to a dark and ominous ending–hinting to fans a connection to the upcoming album and its possible surrounding themes.
HOT, HOT, HOT
One thing SEVENTEEN knows how to do best is get a song stuck in your head for days with their catchy hooks and addicting beats. Tackling the balmy summer weather with even more heat, title track “HOT” lives up to its bold name. In a pre-release press article, the song was described as a hip-hop genre song with Western guitar sound. “HOT” exudes 2000s club music with its punchy beat and a catchy repetitive chorus that was done with tasteful autotune: “We drop it like hot, hot, hot / This song is burning like hot, hot, hot, hot / Yeah, I’m running too hot, hot, hot, hot.”
The song starts with a Western guitar riff and the music video begins in a desert scene that sets the overall mood. It isn’t long before the song picks up its pace with Mingyu and Vernon’s zestful vocals. The8’s isolated and mesmerizing beatboxing with a moment of instrumental pause is guided to a high energy dance scene with powerful hand movements that is led by Woozi. SEVENTEEN once again gave a dance routine that affirms their title as the “K-Pop Performance Powerhouse.” The anthem-like pre-chorus, with a rhythmic clapping beat and strong vocals, builds momentum for the two-part chorus. The music video also gave a nod to the pre-release track “Darl+ing” as shown by a scene where a bullet was shot at the “L” in the “DARLING,” turning the word into “DARING.”
The Tracklist that Broke the Temperature Scale
If mentioning the word “HOT” more than enough times in the same-titled single isn’t enough, the rest of the B-sides from the album also showcase a handful of varying degrees of heat, from blazing “March,” bright and sunny “‘bout you,” to searing “Ash.” Different from most SEVENTEEN album releases, all tracks from the album were group tracks instead of dividing into the group’s respective units (vocal, hip-hop, and performance) or mixed units. Main producer Woozi once again participated in every track on the album with both lyric writing and composing credits. Other SEVENTEEN members were also involved in the lyrical creative process, with their names scattered throughout the tracklist. Most notably, maknae Dino excited fans when his name was spotted in the producer credits for “Shadow.”
Weaving the word “sun” in lyrics of many of the songs, the album ties together with its unison in theme and meaning. The OT13 tracks gave the members a chance to experiment with positions differing from their assigned sub-unit ones. Melodic track “DON QUIXOTE” showcases rapper S.Coups and Mingyu’s vocals. In a comeback show live streamed on YouTube on May 28, leader S.Coups explained that the song holds the message of not forgetting your original values and continuing to move forward in a courageous manner like the novel character it is named after.
Energetic and powerful “March” opens with a blaring electric guitar and drum instrumentation, meshing well even with falsetto parts throughout the song. The forceful chant bridge lead by Vernon and Hoshi makes for an anthem-like and satisfying listening experience, as if one were about to get ready for battle without hesitation. “Domino” and “‘bout you” are refreshing tracks weaved between other fiery tracks in the album. The group once again collaborated with “Rock With You” co-producers Jordan Witzigreuter and Cameron Walker on “Domino,” which features an unexpected beat drop. “‘bout you'' is a nostalgic and heart fluttering nod to SEVENTEEN’s debut track “Adore U” and expanded on the lyrics “I'll sing ‘bout you, yoo-hoo” from the seven-year-old song.
A personal standout of mine was “Shadow,” a song that was impactful in both vocal performance and lyrical meaning. Written about the process of acknowledging and accepting one’s inner shadow, “Shadow” is a fast tempo song accompanied by passionate and intense vocals with acoustic guitar strums that lead to a belting chorus. Performance unit member and producer Dino shined with his impressive flow in the song’s rap verse. Vocal-heavy “IF you leave me” is the sole ballad out of the nine-track album and features grand harmonizing between the members. The album’s final track “Ash” is a heavy trap song with the notion of setting everything ablaze that is keeping one trapped so that they can move forward into a new world as explained by Vernon, the song’s producer, in their comeback show. Vocal unit leader Woozi also skillfully took on one of the rap choruses in the song. “Ash” marks the perfect song to round out the fourth full album.
Face the Sun once again showcases the seven-year idol group as versatile artists who are always experimenting with different sounds while still keeping their quintessential SEVENTEEN sound. The lyrics, “We’ll go through the fire / Jump the limits once more,” sung by Seungkwan in “HOT” makes a bold statement about the group’s determination to reach higher grounds and asserting their spot as all-rounders in the industry.
Check out the music video for “HOT” on YouTube. Face the Sun is available to stream on Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music.