One of K-Pop’s biggest boy groups is back on the scene. But is the album worth a listen?

*Promotional image for “Attacca”. Photo: PLEDIS Entertainment.*

SEVENTEEN have returned with a bang, delivering a powerful comeback on 22nd October 2021 spearheaded by the title track “Rock With You”.

As the name implies, the song echoes the elements of the pop-rock genre heard by fellow BigHit/HYBE artists of recent months (TXT’s “0X1=LOVESONG (I Know I Love You)” and “LO$ER=LO♡ER”, and Enhypen’s “Drunk-Dazed” and “Attention, please!”) and most fans have been begging for the return of this sound in SEVENTEEN’s title track comebacks since the rock influences of “Clap” back in 2017.

Alongside a high-budget, visually stunning music video reminiscent of many previous SEVENTEEN productions such as “Fear”, “Hit”, “Pretty U”, and “Don’t Wanna Cry”, the title track is astoundingly impressive.

It excellently showcases each of the 13 members’ vocal abilities as well as the incredible writing and composing skills of members Woozi, Vernon, and Joshua in collaboration with a handful of new names and regular SEVENTEEN producer Bumzu.

The chorus is catchy, bouncy, and full of the joie de vivre the group are practically known for both musically and in the Korean variety show world.

This exuberance translates across to several songs on the Attacca mini album, firstly in the introductory track “To You”. A nostalgic, vocal masterpiece, the song harks back to tracks of the group’s 2019 3rd studio album An Ode, with a romantic sound that would be perfect to play at full volume with friends during a sunset.

The live performance of the song during the Attacca showcase, which was broadcast live on YouTube, ultimately embarrassed the studio recording thanks to its flawless delivery and Woozi’s incredible ad libs and riffs.

*SEVENTEEN’s Performance Unit: Jun, The 8, Hoshi and Dino. Photo: PLEDIS Entertainment.*

After the title “Rock With You” comes the last full member song on the EP, “Crush”, a mature yet funky track that nods to both 80s pop and modern deep house. With a near sultry vibe and an addictive, English-heavy chorus, SEVENTEEN prove once again they are experts in B-side tracks whilst continuing to demonstrate their vocal prowess.

“Pang!”, the performance unit song, offers a rather experimental sound for SEVENTEEN, delving into deep synth basslines in tandem with light, bright, almost cutesy vocals from the members (Hoshi, Jun, The8, and maknae Dino) one minute and contrasted the next by an impressive rap section by the group’s youngest member. Whilst the song has drawn a few dividing opinions from fans, “Pang!” is certainly a fascinating and refreshing choice for the dance-focused team and fans are intrigued to see how choreography for such a song pans out.

*SEVENTEEN’s vocal unit: Jeonghan, Woozi, DK, Joshua and Seungkwan. Photo: PLEDIS Entertainment.*

The vocal unit then provides the gorgeous “Imperfect love”, another song with various rock elements (deep drum beats and electric guitar riffs) that allow for epic sounding, emotional build-ups throughout the track. The gorgeous collective vocal blend of the five members (Woozi, Jeonghan, Joshua, DK, and Seungkwan) during the chorus easily creates the mental images of a SEVENTEEN concert finale: arms waving, lightsticks shining, tears streaming and confetti falling.

*SEVENTEEN’s Hip-Hop unit: Wonwoo, Vernon, S.Coups and Mingyu. Photo: PLEDIS Entertainment.*

This emotion carries through into the next track, “I Can’t Run Away”, written by the hip hop unit’s members S.Coups, Wonwoo, Mingyu, and Vernon alongside Woozi and Bumzu. A ballad-esque song not too dissimilar to the previous hip hop unit song “If I”, this track utilises a soft acoustic guitar from the onset, accompanied by an almost country sounding twang.

Whilst the track is not SEVENTEEN’s most progressively interesting work, it is a beautiful piece that shows off the extraordinary vocal and genre versatility of the members typically used to rapping over trap and hip hop beats on their unit songs.

The EP’s final track follows in the footsteps of recent English releases by several K-Pop stars, including TWICE and BTS, utilising the fluency of the fan-dubbed ‘English line’.

Joshua and Vernon (LA and New York born respectively) recreate the power and effervescence of their previous 2017 duet “Rocket” with “2 MINUS 1”. It is sonically one of the strongest tracks on the mini album, offering SEVENTEEN’s answer to Olivia Rodrigo’s “good 4 u” with a noughties sound that displays Joshua’s lower vocal pitch adjacent to a powerful Vernon led pre-chorus that could be straight from a modern-day Sik-K album.

Whilst there are often homogenisation/Westernisation debates regarding English songs within K-Pop, this song is so appropriate for the two English speaking members and is so exceptionally addictive (particularly when screamed at the top of your lungs whilst driving) that this argument can absolutely be overlooked.

The Attacca mini album perfectly exhibits the versatility and sheer talent of each of the SEVENTEEN members, whether it be composing, writing, vocals or rap, and once again highlights exactly why they are continuously at the top of their game and heralded as some of the best K-Pop has to offer.

Edited by Chelsea Cheetham.