Seventeen is officially back with their brand new title track, Don’t Wanna Cry. The title track can be found as part of their fourth mini album, Al1. The new mini album consists of tracks from each of Seventeen’s subunits and also features a song performed by both Jun and The8. Seventeen’s last comeback was in December of last year with Boom Boom.

From the very first second, the song’s instrumental felt more western than KPOP and it is a complete change in the sound, compared to Seventeen’s past songs. The song itself sounds similar to some Chainsmoker’s more recent works and hits (emphasis on ‘similar’). But still quite different in its own way. The instrumental itself is right up my alley. What surprised me was that the rappers didn’t really rap, but they sang their lines instead, which caught me off guard the first time around. The vocal work in this song is quite good, but I love that small section just prior to the chorus where DK and Seungkwan sing. The buildup and rhythm there was amazing. I thought the silence just before the beat drops is quite nice, providing more strength to the song despite it also did feel like a gaping hole in the song. Finally, what I loved the most about the song is the bridge. Wonwoo and Minggyu’s part in the bridge provided the punch that the song needed and I thought that was pretty good. Overall, I think it is safe to say that I really like the song. It sounds cool and very modern.

The video was quite nice. I believe it was shot in the U.S (not too sure though). Overall, I thought the aesthetics that was present in the music video and the teasers preceding their actual release of their mini album were superb. There is a lot that is going, most of which I have very little clue to. Together, it is a bigger mystery. Hahahaha… I am really bad at interpreting hidden messages in music videos. The cinematography in this video is also amazing and I really liked the places where they shot the video, especially the choreography shots.

Once again, Seventeen is proving to be competition when it comes to the choreography. I personally think this is their most dynamic performance yet. Everything looks amazing from the very first second to the last. The choppiness present during the chorus matches the song really well. My favourite part would have to be when DK and Seungkwan sing the pre-chorus, which on stage, looked pretty cool.

Song – 9/10
Music Video – 8/10
Performance – 10/10
Overall Rating – 9/10