In June of this year, K-pop group SEVENTEEN kicked off their Power of Love project. Aimed at showing various sides of love through the eyes of SEVENTEEN, the ambitious project launched with the band’s eighth EP Your Choice, which tackled the subject of romantic love.
Now, the group has taken it one step further and added burning passion to the mix, thanks to their latest EP, Attacca. Helmed by the lead single ‘Rock With You’, the EP comes seeped in SEVENTEEN’s eager, passionate view of love, also offering choice tracks by each of the group’s subunits – vocal, performance, and hip-hop.
“The Power Of Love project is about how we want to talk about the different kinds of emotions you experience in love,” said member Mingyu in a press conference shortly before the release of the EP. “This particular album deals with and highlights the word ‘passion’, and how that passion meets SEVENTEEN.”
“The name ‘Attacca’ refers to the musical term for one movement to the next without a pause,” added member Woozi, who appears as the primary lyricist on the album alongside longtime producer Bumzu. “The album is how we express this unstoppable love, illustrated using the word ‘Attacca.'”
Apart from being a milestone achievement in their career, Attacca is also a special release for the group – it contains their first English digital single, ‘2 MINUS 1’, an acknowledgment of the band’s global foray. True to their images as a self-producing group, the track comes helmed by Joshua and Vernon on lyrics, with Woozi assisting the two in music.
“The song was a way for us to pay back the love we received from our fans all over the world. We tried to convey in a brave way the sadness of parting,” said Joshua of the track, which sees the duo venture into territories unknown. Namely, pop-punk. Thankfully, Joshua had years of being an Avril Lavigne fan to fall back on.
“We decided on the theme first and thought about what genre would best showcase our different styles,” Joshua said of the making of the song. “Vernon suggested pop-punk as a genre. It reminded me of the 2000s , when I used to listen to Avril Lavigne, and I was like ‘Yeah! That’s really cool!'”
Despite the jubilant occasion, the absence of members Jun and The8 resonated with the band. While they participated in the making of the album, both Jun and The8 are temporarily promoting in China.
“Since our debut, we have always been 13 members.” said Seungkwan. “The fact that we don’t have them for this… we feel the emptiness. Not just in promotions, but in our day to day lives. We really miss them.”
“We always talk to them, are always communicating with them, and the two of them are working really hard in China, so we’re all working really hard in doing what we do.” he added.
Despite the absence of two members, spirits were high and confidence soared, thanks to their years of experience working on and helping their sound evolve to ‘add something fresh, unique, and different to make it a little bit more varied.’
“We all have sincerity for our music and performance,” said Vernon. “I am not sure how we can define the SEVENTEEN sound, but over the past six years as self-producing group – based on experience – I think our know-how, experience, and participation in making our own music appeals to the audience.”
“I don’t think SEVENTEEN has any limit when it comes to genre.” added Mingyu.
