K-POP BAND SEVENTEEN: THERE’S A LOT TO LEARN FROM INDIAN CULTURE

The South Korean group opens up about the desire to tour again, visit India and interact with live audience

Known as ‘K-pop’s performance kings’, South Korean boyband SEVENTEEN teased a world tour after two years of the pandemic, and India is on the artistes’ mind. The Rock With You and Don’t Wanna Cry hitmakers, who have been scripting success by writing, producing and choreographing their music, want to go big with live performances this year, and reconnect with their fans, known as Carats. Excerpts from an exclusive interview with the 13-member group, consisting of S.Coups, Jeonghan, Joshua, Jun, Hoshi, Wonwoo, Woozi, DK, Mingyu, The8, Seungkwan, Vernon and Dino:

You began a new chapter in your career with your English language single Darl+ing. How has the transition been?

Joshua: We wanted the song to help us take another step closer to our listeners around the world. The outlook of being able to connect with a larger audience through new music has kept us restless!

The K-pop phenomenon signals the blurring boundaries of language and style. How do you look at it?

Vernon: It’s exciting! There’s more room for creativity.

Hoshi: I think the blurring of these boundaries speaks to the power of music. And there is a great sense of strength that comes from these connections built past the boundaries.

As a self-producing group, what were the challenges you faced?

Woozi: Because we started from scratch, we lacked finesse at the beginning, and there was the pressure of producing highquality music.

Is there anything about India’s culture or music which inspires you?

Dino: I love the energy of Indian music and Bollywood. I think there is also a lot for us to learn from Indian culture!

How important is it to resume touring after the pandemic lull to revive the music industry? What about coming to India for a concert?

Jeonghan: It’s probably one of the first things on our wish list! We can’t wait to interact with a live audience again.

Jun: There is so much energy we derive from the concert stage, and we also want to share that with Carats in India as soon as we can.

What kind of pressure does a growing fandom create? Seungkwan:

The fact that we feel pressured means that there are listeners who await our music. Rather than being fixated on the word pressure, we think of it as anticipation.

When things get heavy, how do you find a sense

of freedom? Mingyu:

Rather than finding ways to lessen the pressure, we find reasons to keep moving forward. It may sound cliche, but I derive so much energy from Carats and my members.

As a 13-member group, how do you deal with creative differences? S.Coups:

When it comes to our creative processes, Woozi does an amazing job holding us together... We learned to work around our differences through conversations. We wouldn’t simply dismiss each other’s opinions.