K-pop idol group Seventeen made their much-awaited comeback with their special album “Semicolon,” which had garnered more than 1.1 million in pre-sale orders, earning them the title “double million seller.”

“Semicolon” was released on Oct. 19 led by the main track “HOME;RUN” and five other songs: “Do Re Mi”, “HEY BUDDY”, “Light a Flame”, “AH! LOVE” and “All My Love.”

Seventeen made their comeback in four months after releasing the album “Heng-garae,” which recorded 1.09 million copies in sales in the first week of release, according to Korea’s Hanteo Chart. First-day tally showed “Semicolon” had 297,370 copies sold on Oct. 19.

Manila Bulletin Entertainment attended Seventeen’s online global press conference on YouTube on Oct. 19 where they emphasized the messages of healing and comfort, the importance of CARATs (their fans) and goals for the album.

Leader S.Coups said when “Heng-garae,” released on June 22, sold a million copies, they were in disbelief and thanked CARATs for their support.

“When we reached the million-seller milestone, it was unbelievable and incredulous. We also realized how much love we are receiving from our CARATs and how much we have grown as a team. It was a variety of emotions that we were feeling. Thanks to the love of all our CARATs that we only have the best and happiest memories of ‘Heng-garae.’ And we're especially glad that we're able to say hello again in such a short time with ‘Semicolon,’” he said.

When asked about their expectations for “Semicolon” and the million pre-orders it got, Mingyu said, “Of course it will be a lie to say that we don’t have this expectation. Honestly, what I’m thinking about more is about the power of music, about the energy and the impact that Seventeen has now and how much it has grown. For expectations and goals, I think, what we want to do is reach out to as many people as we can. This is an album for young people and this is something that can become a part of the memories of young people.”

“With this album, we hope that we can give a lot of strength, and a lot of healing and consolation to everyone around the world. And I think that would be a more special and important achievement,” said Wonwoo:

Vernon said, “Semicolon is a symbol used when you interrupt a sentence, pause a sentence and then you keep going. It’s sort of a message for young people who are working very hard, sometimes struggling in this world. Give them sort of a break.”

“Semicolon” showcases four mix units of Seventeen and according to Jun, “We wanted to show a variety of charms of Seventeen in this so we have four mix units. I don’t think we have done this ever before. We are also looking forward to how our CARATs will find these new units.”

“We wanted to show them that now matter how we group ourselves, we have new things to show, great things to show you,” said Dino.

The album including “HOME;RUN” have a retro vibe and when asked what sets “Semicolon” apart, Seungkwan explained that “even if you are wearing the same clothes, it feels different depending on who’s wearing it. This is our understanding of the retro theme and our interpretation of it. We hope that all generations can hear this song and be able to relate to this song. I think this song is filled with a lot of different elements that people can relate to.”

About what fans can look forward to “HOME;RUN,” DK said, “If there’s something different, we have more responsibility for our performances and we have a wider spectrum of expressiveness and I think our stage and performances have become more mature. It may feel like you’re watching a musical and while I was preparing and practicing for this song, it felt like I was preparing for a show, a grand show like a musical. If you watch our performance of ‘HOME;RUN,’ I think you will be energized and feel joy and happiness.”

“(As you’ve said) our high quality performance will be better than what you expect. That is how much we are confident in our music and performance so please look forward to them,” said The8.

Seventeen’s music has become more diverse and Woozi explained that he doesn’t have one specific source of inspiration” when making music.

“Rather I get inspired by everything from everyday life. I get inspired by all this chatting with the members. I get ideas from different stories, or everyday lives. And most importantly, we could contain our experiences into our music only because CARATs send lots of love and we work very hard to make it up to them with music. I think that’s why we got good results,” he said.

Hoshi praised Woozi’s work on “Semicolon,” saying, “When we were preparing for this album, we got into subunits with Woozi leading us and we worked on the songs. It took a lot of energy and time to just work on one song. There are so many unreleased songs other than the tracks in the album. I saw Woozi very closely while he was working on the album and this time as well, I can say that he’s really amazing working on our entire album.”

On Seventeen’s goal for the new album, Jeonghan said, “We made ‘Semicolon’ hoping that it could give to the youth some time to catch their breath, have fun and laugh together. I think it can bring comfort and healing to the youth. I want Seventeen’s ‘Semicolon’ to be remembered as an album where you can feel the strong scent of our youth when they look back.”

Despite the ongoing pandemic, Wonwoo said Seventeen had a lot of memories for this year but he felt sad that they are unable to see their fans.

“2020 was the year full of amazement and dream-like moments since the beginning. We had our world tour, comeback, fan meeting and lots of memories are going through my mind. Lots of events happened. I feel like we kept going and working hard this year. But on the other hand, it is a bit disappointing not being able to see CARATs in person. I really hope we can see CARATs in person as soon as possible,” he said.

“We really miss CARATs’ cheers and we miss them so much. I think it will be hard to meet them for this promotion too but I hope they look forward to it as we have prepared many fun promotional activities that they love,” said The8.

“Heng-garae” and “Semicolon” have the same sentiment or goals: To cheer up fans amid the present situation.

Woozi explained that “as we continue to participate in the album and our participation increased, we also think more about how we can have our voices heard, about who we are and where we are at this point in time. ‘Heng-garae’ was about imparting some healing, consolation. For ‘HOME;RUN,’ as we say in the lyrics, the journey (doesn’t end) but you can still take a break. We are also young people living in these times, and these are things we experience for ourselves.”

The members were asked about the album records, global popularity and strength as a group, and S.Coups said, “I think our strength is the energy of our 13 members. We create music with our own stories, express them into performances, and we are solidifying our identity. Of course there are trial and error but I think we are creating our own color as we keep moving forward. And many people say we are a group that leverages the large number of the team members very effectively. Even in the synchronized performances, we are still able to show all our different personalities of the 13 members and that is our other strength.”

About their message to the youth through their music, DK said, “We wanted to share the message that you don’t need to just move ahead, and we wanted to impart this healing and consolation through the way we can, that is through music. This taking a break, I don’t think it needs to be very special or grandiose. Everyone will feel differently from us, from me. It is about working together with the members, sharing our stories, sharing a meal, going on a trip with these sort of mundane things are what taking a break means. Having these important people close to you and going through these experiences together has allowed me to continue to work on music.”

As to the youth and other people in the world going through tough times because of the pandemic, Jeonghan said, “I’m sure everyone is going through difficult times. I wish there will be no more damages and hope that our music can bring comfort and healing to a lot of people. Hope things get better.”

When asked if they think K-pop is becoming more popular in the US, Joshua said, “I can feel that K-pop is becoming more popular around the world. When we had our world tour concert in North America earlier this year, there were more people than two years ago. I was so glad and thankful to see the fans cheering for us. I hope we can communicate with more CARATS in different countries and regions as soon as possible.”

The members also responded to the question on when do they feel most proud as part of Seventeen.

“I’m most proud of being a part of Seventeen when our CARATs say they are proud to be fans of Seventeen. Whenever I hear that, I’m most proud of being a member of Seventeen,” said Seungkwan. “We always say and we always feel that our greatest source of pride are CARATs. When we hear that our fans are also proud of being our fans, that makes me feel glad to be in this line of work, being a musician.”

When asked that other things they want to achieve through “Semicolon,” Jun said, “For this album I really want to show how Seventeen can have fun on stage and how we can build a stage with our music and performance to many people and our fans as well.”

About their ultimate goal as a group, Joshua said, “Our goal is going to be being able lead music for a long, long time as Seventeen. Our CARATs often tell us that Seventeen loves Seventeen the most. When we hear that, we realized that it’s not just that we spent a lot of time together. In that time, we’ve really built these tight links, relationships with each other. If possible, we would like to perform to as many CARATs as we can around the world.”

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1Seventeen

Seventeen members at their online global press conference for the album “Semicolon” (Pledis Entertainment)