SEVENTEEN’s 10 Best Songs So Far: Critic’s Picks

Though their sizeable roster originally made them underdogs, SVT has always found strength in numbers. So how better to match the epic scale of “Super,” a jersey-club-supercharged battle cry, than with 228 extra dancers? The single is a manifesto on how this sprawling collective has propelled themselves to such record-breaking heights, down to its victory-lap chorus: “I love my team, I love my crew/ We already made it this high … it’s all thanks to you.” Setting aside all the Chinese mythology and anime references, this legendary hype song embraces a startlingly simple wisdom: the view from the top is better when shared.

The subtle minimalism of “Home” is roomy enough to live inside. An emotive future bass beat cleverly subverts expectations: as plinking synths and ghostly, mechanical harmonies build to their inevitable ends, the foundations suddenly fall away. Anti-drop choruses like this one have become something of a calling card for Woozi and Bumzu, who create masterful release from empty moments. Another genius aspect of this production? Beats of silence leave room for an intimate call-and-response: “What do I do/ Without you?” the members muse, a question that is volleyed right back to them. 

Half a decade before raising a toast to their skyward climb on “Cheers,” the unit leaders stared up the face of that cliff: “So that the light shining upon SEVENTEEN doesn’t go out/ Every day the light’s on in our studio,” Hoshi raps on “Change Up,” beside fellow creative stewards S.Coups and Woozi. Self-producing comes with great responsibility, of course, but they don’t make this grind sound like a slog. Instead, the trio rollicks along to a lively trumpet riff, pushing past hardship to joy, which is exactly the scrappy mentality that built them from the basement level up.

This wistful, starry-eyed and autobiographical anthem needs very little to fill stadiums. As the team nods to nights spent in practice rooms, driven by the idea of a brighter tomorrow, guitar chugs and sing-along chants sway them like the gentle summer breeze. A bop for the blue hour — itself released during a liminal time in their careers — this beloved B-side still reverberates to this day, particularly Vernon’s prophetic lines: “This time/ Our dawn is hotter/ When the day is bright/ The world is ours.”

It’s no exaggeration to say “Fallin’ Flower” is a whole world unto itself. Supplementing the core lyrical metaphor and lush synth loop, its storytelling unravels through the elaborate choreography, reaching full bloom right alongside the song’s climax. In a canon of conceptual Japanese singles that have cast the guys as everything from mods and rockers to race car drivers at the Last Supper, this breathtaking entry is still the best example of K-pop’s ability to spin a musical motif into a fully realized work of art.

“To You” is a creature comfort. Hardly alone in that regard — this is the group that’s given us balms like “Kidult” and “All My Love,” after all — it shines as an earnest ode to the faces waiting across the threshold at the end of a long day. (Just take the line, “I’m grateful to you, who greets me whenever I open the door,” which Woozi wrote about his cat.) A rich atmosphere of guitars and synths washes over the track like a warm bath; its catharsis comes both from those sublime vocal runs and how even the instrumental seems to take you into its embrace. 

It’s a testament to the range of the five vocal team members that a breakup song of such earth-shattering scope has moments so quietly devastating. Honeyed coos balance sentiments as bitter as lemon piths: “I would like it if you had a hard time/ And thought of me for a bit,” Jeonghan sighs, voice softly lilting. Despite its hushed opening, the potent ballad eventually unleashes an emotional wallop, deftly maneuvering between classic boy band harmonies and Seungkwan’s mighty “My baby, my baby, my baby” ad-libs.

Light goes hand in hand with shadow. One cannot exist without the other, which is why the band confronts inner demons with empathy on this twinkling drum’n’bass deep cut. “Oh, now I know you are part of me too/ I don’t want to hide you, I want to hold your hand/ Because even my darkness will shine brightly,” they sing over skittering percussion. While their first Billboard 200 top 10 album constituted a bold new path, “Shadow” balances this evolution with an ethos that’s been there since the start. Who says forging ahead has to mean forgetting yourself?

A hilariously reliable staple in their setlist repertoire, the guys could probably pull off “Very Nice” in their sleep. Still, that’s not to say the performance is a walk in the park: this high-energy extravaganza brings vocal acrobatics, jittery choreo and circus-esque brass to feelings of first love. (In the music video, hearts don’t merely flutter; they explode into clouds of confetti.) While ultimately shut out on the weekly music show circuit upon release, the signature track has since become one of K-pop’s national anthems, its joie de vivre powerful enough to get even skeptics on their feet. Ask anyone who’s survived a few rounds of SVT’s “infinite” concert encores; the impact of “Very Nice” is truly never-ending.

“Pretty U” sparkles with boyish charm. Released within a year of their frothy, funk-pop debut “Adore U,” this sleeker redux proved that the rookies were already raising the bar; SVT snagged their first music show trophy for it, something so far out of their imagined reach that S.Coups was rendered utterly speechless. With hindsight, though, the breakthrough was a no-brainer: an irresistible music box that bottles adolescent emotion, “Pretty U” synthesizes the many talents of K-pop’s resident theater kids, from a cappella harmonies to its show-stopping staging. Almost a decade on, this remains their greatest record of youth, one that still shows no signs of ever getting old.