kpop music

SEVENTEEN

SEVENTEEN

K-pop boy band Seventeen formed in 2015 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 Angelino 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. They 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 as 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 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. Later that summer, Seventeen scored their seventh number one release with the EP, You Make My Day, which was quickly certified platinum. The following year saw the group return with their third full-length effort, An Ode. ~ Neil Z. Yeung