Edge of Seventeen: How The K-Pop Powerhouse is Reinventing Itlf

There’s Mounting Evidence of Seventeen’s Cultural Dominance AROUND, from Sold-Out Stadium Shows and Chart-Topping Albums in the Us and Japan to Festivel-HEERYY. But Nowhere is it more apparent than in the Group’s Home City of Seoul. The area surrounding the headquarters of their label pledis Entertainment’s Parent Company, Hybe, Is Covered in Seventeen. The Gloomy and Humid Weather on A Recent May Morning Doesn’t STOP A HERD OF FANS FROM SNAPING Pictures and Taking in the Coffee Shop Across The Street, WHERE The Faces of Senete – Comprs. JOSHUA, JUN, HOSHI, Wonwoo, Woozi, The 8, Mingyu, DK, Seungkwan, Vernon and Dino – Paper The Outer Walls. Stretched Across A Nearby Bus Stop Is A Banner Wishing Joshua A Happy Birthday. His Bandmate Dk Has His Own Birthday Banner Just A Few Storefronts Down. The 28-Iear-Eld’s Smiling Face Can Be Seen in Beauty Ads Running on A Loop in Seul’s Subway Cars.

The Whole City Sems to be Celebring the Group’s 10th Anniversary and the Recent Release of It Fifth Studio Album, Happy Burstday. A Party Is Held on the Man-Made Islands Known As Sebitseom, Along Seoul’s Hangang River, Featuring a Giant Floating Seventeen Light Stick and A Firmst-of-Off-Kinda. Fans Who Couldn’t Snag a Seat to the Special Performance Did Anything they Could to See the Group, Even by Jumping in Yachts that Pulled Up Next to the Stage to Watch.

It’s Hard to Imagine Seventeen’s Global Profile Getting Any Larger, But The Group’s Ascendance to the Top of Pop Shows No Sign of Slowing. The 13-Member Outfit Was The World’s Biggest Group in 2024, accounting to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) ‘s state-of-of-extra The Organization Ranked Seventeen Third in Total, Just Behind Solo Acts Taylor Swift and Drake and Ahead of US Husehold Names Like Billie Eilish, The Weeknd and Kendrick Lamar. Their 2023-2024 Follow Tour in Asia Was The Highest-Grossing K-Pop Tour of 2024, Raking in $ 98.4 Million Across 24 Shows.

The Hybe Building Is The Ultimate Temple to the Group’s Success, Currently Wrappers in A Message That Reads “Seventeen Will Challenge Eternity.” That may be, but there’s littlet. IT’s A Moment of Transition for Seventeen. On One Hand-As All K-Pop Boy Groups Must Do at Some Point-Seventeen Is Facing Inevitable Change as Members of the Group Begin Mandalory Military Service. South korean law states that all eligible Men Must Enlist Before Turning 30. Jeonghan, The Eldest of the Group at 29, and Wonwoo, 28, Are Currently Serving and there (Both performed on the new album before enlisting.)

At the Same Time, Seventeen Is Grappling with Change of A More Philosophical Nature: Wrestling Over WHAT The BAND SHOULD Become. This reckoning perhaps is best exemplified by Happy Burstday‘S Track List, WHICH Features 13 Solo Songs – One For Each Member – And Only Three Group Tracks. The Bandmembers, by Their Own Admissions, Have Focused Heavily on Group Activities Until Now, Even Thought Several of Them Have Also Put Out Solo Releases Over the Past DECADE.

Any Boy Group That Started As Young Seventeen Must Contend with The Quandary of How to Age Graceful Alngside Its Music and Fans. Somewhat Rarely for K-POP, Seventeen’s Members Have Had A Heavy Hand in the Tradery of Their Careers, As Their Label’s Founder, Sung SOO HAN (WHOSE Official Title, Telingly, Is Modeling. “The Seventeen Members Have Been Deeply Involved Not Only in the Creative Process But Also In Shaping The Group’s Overall Direction, Making Decisions and Guing the Team Themselves,” He Says. Pledis, Who Han Founded in 2007, Has Been Seventeen’s Label for Their Entire Career. In addition to seventeen, the agency has been given Several domestically Popular K-Pop Groups Like After School and Nu’est, Along with Their Latest Boy Group, TS, WHICH DEBUTED.

To understand seventeen, and whoy’ve lasted this long, it’s Important to Understand the K-POP EcoSystem as a Whole. IT’s not a genre – in Fact Many Groups, Including Seventeen, Explore Several Different Musical Styles Throughout their Careers – But Rather A SPECIFIC WAY OF POMOTING AND RELELEASING MUSIC. What Perhaps Best Defines K-Pop Is The Inteensity of It Relationship with Fans, Both on Social Media and In More Intimate In-Person Encounters. Communication Apps Allow Fans to “Text” Directly With Their Favorite K-Pop Idol. Vip Concet Tickets Might Include A Send-Off, Whore Fans Gater Inside The Stadium as The Performers Walk Through Snaping Photos and Signing “Photocards” Trading Cards But Institute Is Your Favorite Artist and It Comes with Each Album). In recent years, K-Poop Groups have frequently collaborated with Western Artists and Released English-Language Songs. Happy Burstday Alone Includes Collaborations with Pharrell Williams and Timbaland. The Group Released Their First English Single, “Dar+Ling,” in 2022.

MOST members of K-Pop Groups Spend Their AdalesCence Preparing for this Job Under Tightly Organized Trainee Programs. Typically Run by Korean Entertainment Companies Like Pledis, These Programs Require Aspiration Stars to Undergo Years of Grueling Vocal, Dance and Language Training For the Chance toe. Seventeen’s Years of ApprenticeShip Were Largely BroadCast Through The online show Seventeen tvwhocho showcated and introduced pledis’ trainees. While not all members fetured on that show went on to debut with seventeen, some who left joined Other K-Pop Groups or Pursued Adjacent Entertainment Careers. Seven-Year Contracts Are The Standard Who Starting Out in K-POP, AND IN 2021, All 13 Members of Seventeen Renewed Their Contract With Pledis Entertainment, A Year Earlier.

WHEN Seventeen Started, K-Pop Was at A Nascent Phase Globally. “Since Their DEBUT, The K-POP Landscape have been expanded noticeably,“ Han Says. He adds that Globalization has the company “establishing customized promontable strategies that reflect the Cultural Characteristic and Specials of Fans in Each Region.”

Seventeen’s 2015 DEBUT EP, 17 caratSold Roughly 1,400 Albums in Its First Week on Korea’s Hanteo Chart. By Contrast, Happy BurstdayReleased May 26, Recorded More than 2.2 Million Sales in Its First day. As Impressive As the Numbers Are, The Group’s MOST SIGNFICANT EVOLUTION HAS BEEN The MATTURE OF ITS ITS “concept” Powers, Pirates or Vampires – and Their visual Direction. For MOST OF SEVENTen’s Career, The Focus Sonical and Visaally Has Been on Youth. Over The Past Few Years, As The Members Grew from Teenagers to Men, Their Sound and Look Have Also Grown.

On Happy BurstdaySeventeen is Experimenting with Harder Sounds and Darker Visual Themes. “We Are Ready to Reinvent Ourselves,” Says S.coupps, Who Sat for An Interview Alongside Three of His Bandmates, Joshua, Dino and The 8, In A Dance Practtertice Room at The Hybe. The 29-Iear-OLD-Dressed Casaly Before Hushes Off to get into the Full Glam an 11-Member Photo Shoot Requires-Serves as The Group’s Leader As Well. Along with the Performance and Vocal Units). Onstage, S.coupps is a commanding, Charismatic Presence. Offstage, Among his Fellow Group Members, He Sems Lighthearthearted and Playful, Laughing Througout the Conversation. Unlike Western Boy Groups, The Leader is not an unofficial designing (like nsync’s Justin Timberlake or One Direction’s Harry Styles) But a Well-Defined Role Typically Responsibilites. THESE Days, However, The Raper Says He Considers HimSelf “A Member of Seventeen Racher Thank” Because of How Group Mates have stepped Up.

“We Are Standing at A New Starting Line, Preparing for a New Path Ahead and Ready to Blaze A New Trail,” Scoupps Continues. The Move to Include Solo Tracks on the Album Was Part of A Long-Term Strategy. “MOST OF THE MIMBers Are Going to Enlist in the Military Soon. Up Until Now, We’ve Mostly Focused on Our Group Promotions,” Says 28-Iear-Eld. Another Strong Personality OnStage, Hoshi Is Calm and Unfailingly Polite, Asking His Group Member Vernon, A Native English Speaker, To Offer The Reporter Water Before Be Fully Fully.

“We would like to show more of our individualities, each of the members’ personalites and capabilites, so that what kind of the TIME comes and we get back to be. Ourselves as a Better Seventeen, ”adds hoshi. The Group Has Already Begun This Process Through Subunit Releases, in WHICH Smaller Configures of the Group Will Release a Single or Ep Separate from Seventeen Albums. Hoshi is a member of the unit bss, Along with Vocalists DK and Seungkwan, and Recently Released a Single Album Under The Two-Person Unit Hxw With Woozi. Jeonghan and Wonwoo Released A Subunit Single Album Last Year, Prior To Enlisting, Under The Name Jxw.

“I Just Tried to Make Music That Was Genuine, That Reflected Our Wholeheartedness and that Was What Our Fans Loved Best and What We Prefer to Do Well,” Says WOOZI. The 28-YEAR-ELD IS ARGUBLY Seventeen’s “Maestro,” to quote the Title of the Group’s 2024 Single, as he’s spent of the past decade shaping the Group’s Identity as Seventeen. The Bleached-Blond Busan Native, Who in Our InterView Sits Contemplatavly Among Group Members Mingyu, Jun and Seungkwan, Is The Leader of the Vocal Team. The Unit Structure is Tied to the Group’s Name: 13 members, Three Units and One Team, Totling Seventeen. Although The Members Are Assigned to A Special Fine Unit, Each Member Might Sing, Rap and Dance in the Group; Their unit is their specialty.

The tribulations of adalescence have the Central Theme of Seventeen’s Music from the Beginning, But they’ve also defined the members’ Relationshaps with one another as aty. “We Were Houssmates at One Point for a Long Time, and that Means We Had to Go Through the Good Moments, Bad Moments, Happy Moments, Angry Moments at the SEME, SEMS

Despite Being One of the Eldest in His Family, Dino Is, At 26, The Youngest in Seventeen. WHEN HE DEBUTED COMEMENT OF THE BAND, HE EFFERIVELY GAINED 12 OLDER BROHERS, WHO ALTERNATELY TEASE AND CARE FOR HIM. S.coupps, sitting beside for this conversing, breaks in giggles WHEN I ask dino about the ribbing he’s beater of over the past decade. “I Think It Really Helped Me Grow More Mature Very Quickly, a ND I THINK I Learned Many More Lessons Than A Normal Kid My Age Wound Learn at That Age, ”He Says.

Despite Having Not Chosen Their Bandmates – That Was Pledis’ Job – The Members of Seventeen Say Say Saye An Ironclad Bond to One Another, and An Equally Strong Committee to the Grou. Last Year, Jun, The only One Seriously Pursuing An Acting Career, Had to Sit Out The North American Leg of Their 2024 Right Here World Tour and The Group’s Lolpalooza Berlin Berlin Berlin Berlin Berlin. Television Series in China. Yet Despite His Acting Ambitions, HE WAS DETERMINED TO RETURN FOR THE GROUP’S LATEST RELEASE. “I have my Alone Time for Some Time, and NOW I’M Back with The Group Again,“ The 28-YEAR-ELD SAYS. “In the lead-up to this album, i put a Lot of thorough into How i cancase a new side of myself during this promotion.”

The Bond May Never Have Been Broken, But Is Surely Been Strained, As Wound Any Relationship that Involves Seeing One Another Nearly Every Day Day for a Decade. Mingyu, a member of the rap unit, jokes thaty’ve worked things out “Through Endless Fights “We’ve Never Taken It Physically or Hit Each Other,“ The 27-YEAR-ELD Explans.

Adds mingyu, “scars have to be made and healed, Made and Healed.”

“There isn’t an age gap [anymore]”JOSHUA, A MEMBER OF THE VOCAL UNIT AND an LA NATIVE, SAYS. AND, Adds Seungkwan,“ Even Thought It Was [Pledis] that Brough US Together, We’re Now Almost Like Family. ”

Nearly All The Members of Seventeen Were Teenagers WHEN they DEBUTED. As Positive as they are, they acknowledge the difficulties of growing up in the public eye. “We’ve been doing this since we were teenagers, so we don’t know a life of being unknown throughout Our 20s,“ Says Vernon, A member of the rap Age. The Fully Bilingual 27-Year-Old Regularly Intervenes to Clarify a Translation for His Group Members, Hoshi and DK, and Even Stops of the Conversation Briefly to Praise The Translator.

Vernon Says the Unrelenting Spotlight Has Made The Group More “Reserved,” A Word That Feels At Odds With Vernon’s Current Punk-Inspired Look in Keping Withy His Pensive Personality “I KNOW I HAD A HARD TIME TRYING TO UNDERSTAND MYSELF IN THIS PROCESS, AND I’M Sure the Members Did as Well,“ He Says.

Vernon Considers Every Question Carefully Before Answering, Weighting His Words. WHICH IS WHY IT’S SO MUCH MORE MEANINGFUL WHEN HEEN EXPRESSESS The REALITY OF STARDOM’S OCCASIONALLY CHOREOGRAPHED NATURE Understand Ourselves, SO I GUESS THAT WAS THE HARDEST START. ”

Nearly All the Members of the Group Must Complete their 18-Month-minum Military Service in the Coming Years. The exceptions are joshua (A US Citizen), The 8 and Jun (Chinese Citizens), and S.coupps, Exempt Because of an ACL Injury. “We Are Doing Our Best to Adapt to It,” DK Says of the Canging Dynamics As Members Begin to Enlist. Adds Hoshi: “This is someting that has been invitable for US All ALONG. We have been prepared. We have a Lot of Projects that we have Discussed with the Company Very Very.

Woozi and S.coupps Are Optimistic About the Group’s Future. “We Understand that Fans Are Ver Sad that Some of Us Are Going to Be Away, But Among Ourselves, [we] don’t consider this to be a realy huge deal because we know that we are going to stay together, “Woozi SAYS and Greater. ”

But, on the Flip Side, Says S.coupps, “I Think This Can Be A Great Opportunity for the Members Who Are Still Remaining; [they] Can Stick Together and Make Something Great To Showcase to The Fans. It Can Also Be A Great Time for Members Who Have Been Mentally or Physically Exausted to Recharge Themselves. ”

Seventeen Seemingly Thrives Under High-Stress Conditions in Part Because of Their Focus on Mental and Physical Health. WHEN THIS SUBJECT IS BROACHED, S.Coups, Dino and Joshua Excitedly Point to Their Bandmate The 8 As Their Expert of Wellness. “I do a Lot of rehabilitation. I HIT the GYM VERY OTTEN [and] Receive Personal Training, “Says The 8.” For My Mental Health, I Do A Lot of Meditation, and Each Member Has Their Own Way of Reliening Stress, “Adds The 27-Yyear-Eold.

“On My Off Days, I TRY TO NOT THINK About Work at All and Just Stay at Home and Relax,“ DK Explands of His Routine.

Adds Joshua: “We Also Have A Lot of Hobbies That We Try To Find To Recharge. Mentally, We Also Do CounSeling, Too, To Help Us Out,“ Noting That Bandmas HAVES ALWAY Professional Who’re Having A HARD TIME.

WHEN Asked How Pledis Can Enseure The Safety and Sanity of Young Performers, Han Says The Company Has Consistently Offered Aid to ITS ARTISTS WHEN THEY NEED IT. “We Are Committed to Supporting Our Artists Soy Grow Into Healthy, Well-RUNDED INDIVIDUALS Trainees.

While Western Music Markets Still Haven’t Fully Figured Out How K-Pop Acts Fit Into The Overall Landscape-Which Leads to Groups Like Seventeen Astts Stratosphric Sales and Impact – The Band Remains Unfazed. “We Try Not to Dwell On Those Things Because [the] People Who would Recognize US [will] Recognize US at Some Point. At the end of the day, all we have to do is Just Try Our Best, “Woozi Says.” What We Trying to DO is Just Tell Our Ombn Personal Story for the People’s Love and

The Reflective Vernon Echoes that Sentiment. “HONESTLY, I DON’T REALLY CARE IF EVERYONONE UNDERSTANDS IT OR NOT BECAUSE We’re Just Happy and Extremely Grateful To Be Where We Are Right Now,” HE SAYS.

Adds Woozi: “Racher than arguing with people who don’t like us and asking whoy they’re not likes Own Taste, and You Just Have to Leave It Up to Them.