Seventeen ready to rock the stage with ‘Rock with You’

K-pop sensation Seventeen welcomed the fall foliage, autumn breeze and the romance of October by dropping their ninth EP, “Attacca,” on Friday afternoon, returning in nearly four months after their previous work.

“Attacca” is a follow-up to the band’s previous album and its “Power of Love project.” The EP is aptly named -- attacca is a direction in music at the end of a movement to begin the next without pause.

In a press conference on Friday, the 13-member group likened the album to “exploring feelings of passionate love and affect toward your lover.”

Power of Love is the band’s project for 2021 to fill the year with different kinds of love songs. Wonwoo and Mingyu started it off with the release of a digital single, “Bittersweet,” which explored the dilemma between love and friendship. In July, the band dropped their eighth EP, “Your Choice,” taking the story’s narrative to the next level -- a confession of feelings.

Mingyu said the new album is filled with passion, and Woozi said fans should look forward to “how Seventeen will be expressing the various feelings of love this time.”

Wonwoo also said that apart from stories of love, he wants deliver the “precious” emotions of love and friendship to listeners.
 

Leading the album is the title track “Rock with you,” which Jeonghan described as a “rock-based instrumental in the background with bursting and powerful energy interweaved with synth and guitar sounds.” The lyrics talk about wanting to stay and be with your lover, the vocalist added.

As a self-made idol group in the music scene, Vernon and Joshua wrote the words for the song, and producer Woozi is listed as both the lyricist and composer. The seven-song package also contains “To You” and “Crush,” along with three other songs by the band’s three subunits.

The song “PANG!“ is sung by the band’s performance unit -- Hoshi, Jun, The8, Dino -- while “Imperfect love” is peppered with the voices of the band’s vocal team -- Woozi, Jeonghan, Joshua, DK, Seungkwan -- and the hip-hop unit shows off their rap skills in “I Can’t Run Away.”

The group’s seven-song package also features their first English-language track, “2 minus 1,” which was co-written and performed by Joshua and Vernon, with Woozi contributing to the composing. 

Speaking about the band’s English track, Vernon said he came up with the idea as a way to thank Carats, the band’s fandom around the globe. Joshua, who wrote the melody, said he had also thought about how fans would react to the song to bring it all together.

“Vernon suggested a pop-funk genre at first, which reminded me of the 2009s when I listened to Avril Lavigne’s songs. I think I was able to think of the past and thought the genre would fit the overall theme of our song,” Joshua said.

Talking about what fans should pay attention to, DK said the group has become more mature this time. “We talk about love in our songs, but compared to our previous album, this album is about passionate love,” he added. 

“Attacca” is Seventeen’s first album since all bandmates renewed their contracts with management company Pledis Entertainment. For the remainder of the year, the group will continue on as an 11-piece act so that Chinese members Jun and The8 can focus on activities in their homeland that had been postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

When asked about the other two Chinese bandmates, Seungkwan said, “From being on stage to my daily life, I miss them. We prerecorded our stage before attending the press conference, and the two members thanked us for singing their parts. They are doing well in China, and so are we.”

Wonwoo added that the band has already filmed various content with the Chinese members ahead of time so that fans “won’t feel the emptiness.”

The band’s leader, S.Coups, said he hopes the rest of the promotional activities will run smoothly, without anybody getting sick or injured.

“I wasn’t able to be on stage for our previous song, and our fans were worried about this,” he said, referring to when he had to take a break during the last comeback due to a shoulder injury.

S.Coups went on to say that a “good result” would come if the band’s album and songs are listened to by many people, and hoped that this could be the driving force for the next album.

Seungkwan also expressed high hopes for the group’s performance on the music charts.

“During the press conference for our previous album, I think I said ‘sitting at the highest spot’ on the Billboard chart as my goal. We actually logged our song at No. 15 on Billboard 200, so why not aim for No. 1 this time?” he said.

With the new album, the group achieved its fifth “million seller,” as preorders for the album surpassed the 1 million mark in just a day.

The seven-track collection was released at 1 p.m. on Friday.

By Park Jun-hee (junheee@heraldcorp.com)