SEVENTEEN

Seventeen is a K-pop boy band whose sound touches upon dance-pop, R&B, and hip-hop. In 2015, the group debuted with two EPs, 17 Carat and Boys Be, both of which topped the Billboard World Albums chart. Their first three albums — 2016′s Love & Letter, 2017′s Teen, Age, and 2019′s An Ode — all reached the top spot on the Gaon chart and the Top Ten on the Billboard World Albums chart. Their chart-topping fourth album, Face the Sun, arrived in 2022 and was later repackaged as Sector 17. 2023 continued their chart run with FML and Seventeenth Heaven. Seventeen formed in 2015 in Seoul under Pledis Entertainment, boasting a whopping 13 members. Combining dance-pop, R&B, and even some dubstep and hip-hop, Seventeen is split into three subunits. The “hip-hop unit” comprises native South Korean members S.Coups (overall group and unit leader, born Choi Seungcheol), Wonwoo (born Jeon Wonwoo), Mingyu Kim, and American-born Korean Hansol Vernon Choi. The “vocal unit” consists of Korean-born members Woozi (the group’s producer and leader of the vocal unit, born Lee Jihoon), Jeonghan Yoon, DK (aka Dokyeom, born Lee Seokmin), Seungkwan Boo, and Los Angeleno Joshua Jisoo Hong. The “performance unit” is headed by main choreographer Hoshi (born Kwon Soonyoung), with fellow Korean Dino (born Lee Chan) and mainland Chinese members Jun (born Wen Junhui in Shenzhen) and the8 (born Xu Minghao in Liaoning) rounding out the troupe. Seventeen released a pair of EPs in 2015, with 17 Carat peaking at number eight on the Billboard World Albums chart (later becoming the longest-charting K-pop album of the year) and Boys Be topping the same chart a few months afterward. Their debut LP, Love & Letter, arrived in 2016. It climbed to number five on the Heatseekers chart and number three on the World Albums chart before it was re-released in a deluxe version mere months later. Before the end of the year, the Going Seventeen EP arrived, featuring the hit single “BOOMBOOM.” A fourth EP, A/1, was issued months later. The chart-topping, six-track set was accompanied by the group’s first tour, which included stops in both Asia and North America. They closed out 2017 with the release of their sophomore full-length, Teen, Age, which was re-released in early 2018 as Director’s Cut. Their Japanese debut, We Make You, landed in May. Months later, Seventeen scored their seventh number one release with the EP You Make My Day, which was quickly certified platinum. The group returned the following year with their third full-length effort, An Ode, which topped the Korean charts and reached number seven on Billboard’s World Albums chart. More mini-albums arrived in 2020, including Heng:garæ and Semicolon. Seventeen moved through 2021 with their “Power of Love” project, releasing the single “Bittersweet” and their eighth and ninth mini-albums, Your Choice and Attacca. The group’s fourth studio album, Face the Sun, arrived in May 2022 with the singles “Hot” and “Darl+ing.” The set topped charts in Japan, South Korea, and the U.S. The album was repackaged a few months later as Sector 17 with the lead single “World.” Continuing their global ascent, Seventeen released their tenth EP, FML, in April 2023, topping the charts once again in Korea and Japan and rising to number two on the U.S. charts. The Japanese-language compilation Always Yours landed soon after, featuring the single “Sara Sara.” They even appeared alongside New Kids on the Block for the Dem Jointz remix of “Dirty Dancing.” Without stopping, EP number eleven was released in October. Seventeenth Heaven included the smash hit “God of Music” and the Marshmello collaboration “SOS.” 2024′s “Maestro” became the lead single for the group’s third best hits album, 17 Is Right Here, which compiled all of the group’s Korean-language singles, alongside Korean versions of their Japanese singles and four new tracks. ~ Neil Z. Yeung