Seventeen has high hopes for fourth full-length album 'Face the Sun'

Boy band Seventeen made a comeback Friday with its fourth full-length album "Face the Sun" and the lead track "Hot." Shortly before the album dropped at 1 p.m., the boy band held a press conference to discuss its latest music at the Conrad..

Boy band Seventeen poses during a press conference for its fourth full-length album ″Face the Sun″ on May 27. [ILGAN SPORTS]

Boy band Seventeen made a comeback Friday with its fourth full-length album “Face the Sun” and the lead track “Hot.” Shortly before the album dropped at 1 p.m., the boy band held a press conference to discuss its latest music at the Conrad Seoul in Yeouido, western Seoul.

“It’s meaningful because it's our first full-length album since we renewed our contracts [with Pledis Entertainment last year],” said the band’s leader S.Coups. “It feels special to be able to release a fourth full-length album, and it’s all thanks to Carat [Seventeen’s fandom].”

Many K-pop acts that debuted in 2015 have their contracts due for renewal this year, but all thirteen members of Seventeen re-signed with their agency in advance last year. S.Coups shared his story about how the renewal took place.

“All thirteen of us entered together [for talks about renewals],” he said. “If each member discusses [with the agency] privately, we thought there were bound to be misunderstandings, because words can change as they’re being relayed to other people. Thankfully, our agency really listened to us and respected our opinions.”

“Now with a new full-length album, this feels like a new start and a leap forward,” member Mingyu added.

Seventeen debuted with its 2015 EP “17 Carat” with members S.Coups, Wonwoo, Mingyu, Vernon, Woozi, Jeonghan, Joshua, DK, Seungkwan, Hoshi, Jun, The8 and Dino. Seven years later, the boy band’s career is stronger than ever, with “Face the Sun” selling over 2.2 million copies in preorders before it officially dropped.

A promotional photo for Seventeen's ″Face the Sun″ (2022) [PLEDIS ENTERTAINMENT]

“We don’t release albums thinking ‘We’re going to sell 1 million copies of this and 2 million copies of that,’” S.Coups said regarding the band’s highest CD sales ever. “It’s only possible because Carat loves us, and we are so grateful. It gives us so much energy for us to work on the next album.”

The lead track “Hot” is a hip-hop number with catchy guitar and whistle sounds throughout the song. True to its nickname as “self-producing idols,” Woozi participated in writing the music and lyrics for “Hot,” while other members participated on other tracks. Woozi said he had no doubt that out of the album’s nine tracks, “Hot” was best fit for the lead.

“I thought ‘Hot’ expressed exactly what Seventeen is like right now,” he said. “I was convinced while making the song and after completing it. This album is a new beginning for us, and our goals for this album are full of burning passion, just like the sun.”

“Our previous EP ‘Attaca’ reached 13th place on the Billboard 200,” said Joshua. “We want ‘Face the Sun’ to see even better results!”

“Let’s just say it, we want to reach No. 1,” laughed Seungkwan. “For the past two albums, we’ve been demonstrating what ceremony we’re going to do when we reach No. 1. We really want to actually do it this time!”

“We want to be idols that go down in history,” Dino added. “I’m still thirsty to make history!”

Seventeen [PLEDIS ENTERTAINMENT]

The album includes Seventeen’s first-ever English-lyric track “Darl+ing.”

“No matter what language we sing, it’s not that difficult to keep the K-pop essence in our music,” said Joshua. “It was really important for us to make an English song because, all the Carats worldwide, this one’s for you guys.”

Starting with Seoul concerts in June, Seventeen will embark on a world tour. Tours of cities in the United States, Canada and Japan are confirmed as of now, but Vernon added that the band will be visiting more places in the future.

“Nothing is fixed at the moment, but definitely [we want to],” he said. “Our last tour, we were supposed to visit Europe but due to the Covid situation, it was canceled. We were very sad about that. But as soon as possible we plan to visit Europe and South America.”

The boy band is to embark on its world tour “SEVENTEEN WORLD TOUR [BE THE SUN]”, starting with two Seoul concerts on June 25 and 26. [PLEDIS ENTERTAINMENT]

BY HALEY YANG [yang.hyunjoo@joongang.co.kr]